Bad Hombre

The East Village has enough good taquerias to rehabilitate you after a hangover—Taqueria St. Marks and Electric Burrito are our personal EMTs—but there are very few places around the neighborhood where you can eat a fried fish tostada in a little black dress. You'll want to keep Bad Hombre in your back pocket whenever you want good Mexican food and cocktails in an after-hours atmosphere. 

Small tables and banquettes line the walls of a narrow entryway, leading up to a horseshoe bar in the back. Behind it, an LED sunrise lights up the rest of the room just enough to differentiate between your scallop crudo and octopus aguachile. This place isn’t particularly innovative, but they have a solid balance of basic entrees like lime chicken skewers and steak chimichurri, as well as some unexpected highlights, like a tostada topped with an absurdly large brick of fish, fried until it gets a delicate tempura crust and some subtle curry flavor. You can do a date night here for under $150, and it's always easy to get a walk-in table.