Back Forty - East Village

For years at his flagship restaurant Savoy in SoHo Chef Peter Hoffman has been cooking up critically acclaimed dishes of high end American cuisine with fresh, local, sustainably raised ingredients. He could frequently be seen perusing farmers markets around the city buying the ingredients that would later grace his tables. Hoffman's Back Forty brings this same fervor for local ingredients but combines it with a less high-impact, more low key atmosphere. The produce and proteins that he shapes into refined dishes at Savoy appear in more informal settings at his pub, and while his Alphabet City dining room may not match its older sibling for sheen and polish it sacrifices nothing in terms of flavor.

Marlow & Sons - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Down the street from Peter Luger's Steakhouse and standing in the shadow of sister restaurant Diner it might be easy to overlook Marlow & Sons along Broadway in Williamsburg. This would be tragic, however, as the little cafe has a feel all its own while still bearing the same local/sustainable food standard that it's owners have been advancing for years.