Musings on the year's most special corner booths and restaurant memories
My favorite writers and creators join me in the corner booth to look back on a year in dining, from serendipitous discoveries around the world to late-night lingers.
I’ve spent nearly a full year now writing this newsletter (!!). From the very beginning, my goal was to create a corner of the internet that was not just another food blog, but rather a place to document and celebrate the entire restaurant experience—in indulgent detail. What keeps me coming back week after week isn’t the urge to compile endless lists of “the best of the best,” but the desire to recount special one-night-only memories from the corner booth, to craft mini itineraries around a specific mood, to share design inspiration from masterfully decorated rooms. All in service of capturing the people, atmospheres and magnetism that transform restaurants into more than just places to grab food.
As Corner Booth approaches its one-year mark and as we head into the holidays, it only felt right to celebrate by inviting my favorite writers, creators and restaurant lovers into the booth with me to share their own dispatches and stories from a year in dining. I asked them three questions:
Where is your favorite booth in the city?
What is your favorite restaurant or bar memory of 2025, in NY or beyond?
Where did you linger the longest in 2025, and why?
What came back? Moments of exceptional hospitality, booths that felt like sanctuaries, meals that deepened connections with loved ones, nights that stretched on longer than planned and returns to time-honored favorites. No one talked about chasing reservations or ticking off the newest, buzziest openings. They wrote about sitting down, settling in and surrendering to the surprising, singular delights of dining out. They shared stories that remind you why in the world we all love restaurants so much in the first place.
What follows isn’t a “best of” list. It’s a collection of memories, told by people who pay attention to how restaurants make us feel. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and I hope these tales inspire where you dine, drink and linger next.
Dispatches from the Corner Booth
Lorenzo Bongiovanni, Mr. Flood’s Party
Best Booth: Cervo’s — to my knowledge, it’s the only corner booth in town where you can drink 50/50 martinis and eat prawns a la plancha. It’s objectively the best, most comfortable seat in the house: banquette seating in the very back, a little more intimate, with a bit more room to breathe. Every time I make a reservation, I think to myself, damn, I hope it’s in the corner.
Favorite Memory: A return visit to Berbena in Barcelona this summer. I had a solo meal at the chef’s counter a few years back and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Just a few feet in front of you, the kitchen moves like a Swiss watch — smooth, efficient, precise. This time, I was traveling with my brother, and I was so stoked to share that experience with him. Carles and the Berbena team are the best in the business — no one is delivering an experience quite like it.
Lingered Longest: Salle Climatisée in Montreal — from 8 p.m. until way, way past close. Dinners in Montreal tend to be long and winding — it’s the French Canadian way. When you’re in that 25-seat room in Little Italy, there’s nothing else in the world that matters, and nowhere you’d rather be. The food is brilliant, the wine flows freely, and there might even be a round of Tsingtaos after dessert. Keep your next-day Montreal itinerary pretty light — you’ll be feeling it.
Madeline Marcella, Crumbs of NYC
Best Booth: The prettiest booth I sat in this year was the red leather banquette booth at the iconic new Bartolo — a spot my boyfriend and I celebrated the fade of summer into fall, and a spot my best friend and I cheers’d to the holiday this week! Both occasions were enjoyed over many, many dirty martinis and the most magnificent blue cheese cheesecake that I’m now counting on as my birthday cake for years to come (it’s that good!!).
My favorite booth, though, was at Café Sabarsky on the UES. I sat there alone one day in March and wrote one of my favorite pieces about ‘places to write on rainy days,’ and then walked over to Bemelmans alone for a martini. I think this day solidified how much I deeply enjoy going to restaurants by myself (becoming an adult maybe??) and don’t feel embarrassed to do so anymore.
Favorite Memory: This one was actually not in NYC — My favorite restaurant memory is a long lunch at La Colombe d’Or in the miniature town of Saint Paul De Vence in the South of France. My trip to France this summer was also my very first solo trip and incredibly healing. I remember sitting there with my third glass of rose and big bowl of strawberries and cream after many conversations with their wait staff (who were determined to make sure I was not lonely, despite being alone), and got a personal tour of the entire property to see some of Picasso and Calder’s art casually hanging throughout. A bit of a pinch me moment in what felt like a far corner of the earth.
Lingered Longest: My apartment! This was my year of hosting more dinner parties at home than eating out because I think I was feeling the “new openings” burnout. (Which ok, might be a little bit of an exaggeration), I still tried so many amazing spots this year, but really leaned into the concept of transforming my home space to host a supper club for restaurant lovers to connect around my dining room table over a shared interest. If it has to be a restaurant though, Win Son in Brooklyn is forever my most repeated restaurant, and you can find me at Oslo Coffee in the West Village almost every day.
Meredith Hayden, Wishbone Kitchen, The Group Chat
Best Booth: The origin of my deep appreciation for restaurant booths stems from the booth(s) at The Polo Bar. As someone who cooks for a living, whenever people ask me what my favorite restaurant in NYC is, it feels very loaded. Like I'm supposed to have some back pocket hole in the wall spot queued up to blow their mind (I don't). So instead of saying my real answer (The Polo Bar) and risk sounding pompous and cliche, I devised an alternative answer: "Anywhere I can sit in a big booth, drink an ice cold martini, eat steak, and turn my brain off."
Favorite Memory: Vini e Vecchi in Florence, Italy was by far the most memorable meal I had in 2025. The restaurant is about as authentic as you can get, the wait staff is delightfully sassy, and the pastas are the best I’ve ever had.
Lingered Longest: At Legacy Records after my cookbook launch party! My friends and I (Courtney included), were posted up in a big booth with a few bottles of wine chatting until we closed the place down.
Nazlee Habibi, Foodie Habibi
Best Booth: I feel like everyone will write Bernie’s so I’m proactively changing my answer. Crosby Street Hotel Lobby Bar, my favorite spot, they always have space and it’s the most gorgeous booth you could ask for.
Favorite Memory: Ho Foods really impressed me! The food was simple and completely delicious. Put your name down, pop into Goodnight Sonny or Death & Co. while you wait, it’s so worth it. Get the sesame noodles, cucumbers, scallion pancake with egg, and Lu Rou Fan!
Lingered Longest: Elios! The food completely exceeded my expectations, the space was perfect for a cozy uptown winter dinner, the atmosphere was relaxed but buzzy!
Olivia Weiss, Right on Franklin
Best Booth: On Pitt’s opening night, I ventured down to Red Hook with my two best friends to investigate the new work of Jeremy Salamon. A large front room full of booths and barstools opened to another room, and then another. In the far back corner at the very edge of the restaurant, our party was tucked into a sweet wooden booth, enclosed on three sides. It was like they’d give us a PDR. We sat, we gushed, we drank, we ate a soufflé covered in butter. It was like they built that booth with us in mind.
Favorite Memory: In August, in the middle of his work day, my boyfriend and I had a leisurely lunch at St. John, a beloved restaurant in London. My 12pm Bloody Mary made my cheeks flushed before the bread had even hit our table. Our waiting complimented our flawless sardine filleting. A waitress took a photo of four gentleman enjoying a bit of mid-day indulgence, grinning ear to ear. We sat far too-long for what was meant to be a quick lunch. But we sat, and we ate, and we ate a peach cobbler that rewired my brain. If I could conjure up any single dessert I ate from this year to appear in front of me at a moments notice, it would be that. More long lunches in 2026! More St. John peach cobbler!
Lingered Longest: 10pm on a Friday night at Cervo’s with two semi-new girlfriends is the best place to be in New York. Already several drinks deep, finding the corner of the bar waiting for us felt like a small and perfect miracle (though, yes, we’d been waiting for it for 30 minutes). We drank martinis and ate fried skate wing and told each other everything. We shut the place down, completely unable to shut the hell up.
Alyssa La Spisa, The Recommendista
Best Booth: Brass. The interiors are cozy yet elegant and really embodies quintessential NYC energy.
Favorite Memory: When I was in Paris, I went to the restaurant Vivant 2 that was recommended by a friend. It is a very small candlelit bar filled with locals, and it felt so intimate and romantic. The dishes change seasonally and the staff was so warm and welcoming, even translating the entire menu for us. They also made amazing wine pairing suggestions and it made the night feel even more special.
Lingered Longest: I definitely spent a lot of time at Isle of Us on the UES grabbing an afternoon matcha or my favorite quiche for breakfast!
Kayla Douglas, The Sunday Series
Best Booth: Hard to narrow down, but I think I’d say any booth at Waverly Inn. This is exactly where I started my 2025—many courses and drinks deep in a red leather-lined banquette on New Year’s Eve—and the neighborhood haunt I find myself magnetized to time and time again. There’s something so beautifully old-school New York about dining here or even just sipping a Negroni by the roaring front fireplace. Plus, it’ll always tickle me that the menu has a quote up top saying, “Worst food in the city” - Donald J. Trump. Anywhere that ownership is willing to double down like that on a decades-old feud with Trump is my kind of place.
Favorite Memory: Okay, so this one is a classic example of having no plan turning into exactly the right plan. I was with a few girlfriends passing through Palma—the main city on the Spanish island of Mallorca—when hunger took over. We’d already been in town much longer than we’d intended, and in turn, didn’t have a lunch res. What unfolded was the longest, latest, giggliest Spanish lunch at La Rosa Vermuteria & Colmado. We ordered so much food that the waiter basically refused to let us keep going, but we insisted we’d eat it all. It turned into this entire bit of banter about how much we could eat, and by the time we paid the bill, it was nearly 6 p.m. as we rolled out of there happily stuffed to the gills with Jamón ibérico and Spanish tortilla.
Lingered Longest: The place that comes to mind is somewhere that feels like I spent both endless hours and mere minutes—ephemeral in that way that the perfect table can feel so singular and difficult to recreate. As someone who usually obsesses over where I eat when I travel, it feels both foreign and revelatory to give up control over my next meal. But I did just that during a boat day on the Greek island of Zakynthos on a trip planned quite last minute, and the boat for hire even more so (like most of the best business deals, this one was struck over WhatsApp the night before we met our captain at 9 a.m. at some random marina).
We barely shared a language with our captain, but he assured us he had a place where we’d wind up for lunch. After hours of whipping around the island’s cave-covered coast, we were wrung out from the sun and intermittent swimming, ready for a real meal beyond the tzatziki-flavored Lays we’d been downing. Used to the stressful reservation systems of Ibiza, Mallorca, and Formentera, I was confused how we were just showing up to this place for lunch, but I was reassured when we pulled up to the dock, and Mikro Nisi felt like exactly where we were meant to be. Sure enough, they were expecting us. What ensued was the kind of salty feta-covered salad, grilled pita, freshly caught prawns, seared octopus over romanesco, crisp rosé, and dreamy gelato that Euro summer dreams are made of, all consumed while overlooking the most idyllic bay. I’d go back to the island just to recreate this meal, but I don’t know how it could possibly top the serendipity of being so pleasantly surprised by the magic of relinquishing control.
Si & Lauren Willis, Consuming Couple, Consuming Collective
Best Booth: At Bar Madonna in Williamsburg, there’s a booth that we love between the bar and the dining room. It’s not a booth for the night you want to settle into a cozy spot, more one for when you want to be in the midst of that New York energy. We’ve sat here so many times over the past year—just the two of us, with friends, for world class bar pop ups, cocktails or a full meal (the smashed meatball parm is always a must).
Favorite Memory: We’ve spent many nights at The Portrait Bar but when Alessandro Palazzi from the legendary DUKES Bar in London came to town and poured ice-cold martinis table-side to go with bites from Chef Andrew Carmellini, it made for a truly special evening.
Lingered Longest: Whenever we’re near Hudson St, Employees Only seems to have a gravitational pull over Si, so we often end up there. It’s one of the world’s best bars for a reason and even if it can be a bit hectic, Matt and Franky run the room with ease and always bring the hospitality. Since we stopped working directly in hospitality industry a few years ago, our bedtimes have gotten a lot earlier and we’ve yet to linger long enough for the 4am chicken soup they serve at closing, but maybe one day.
Lindsay Paulen, Lindsay’s List
Best Booth: I’d be shocked if I’m the only person who answers this, but it has to be Bernie’s. I rarely go to the same restaurant twice because my list of restaurants is always growing, but I always keep going back to Bernie’s. If you’re lucky enough to snag one of the booths — let alone a table at all — they are some of the best around. It’s truly hard to beat sharing dirty martinis, mozz sticks and chicken parm with friends in one of Bernie’s spacious bright red booths. I also love how every checkered tablecloth is lined with paper and diners are given crayons, a fun little touch that always makes me lean into my inner child.
Favorite Memory: I recently got back from a trip to Lima, Peru and had my most memorable meal of the year at this tiny spot called Clon. Everything about this meal was pretty much perfect from our seats at the chef’s counter, where we watched every dish get meticulously prepared, to the service: attentive without feeling overwhelming. The food also blew me away, especially the flaky fried whole fish, which was a nightly special when we dined there on Thanksgiving. It quickly made me forget about turkey or mashed potatoes. We wrapped up our meal with the best flan I’ve ever had and a ridiculously good order of churros and homemade ice cream. When we were leaving the restaurant, we took pictures for a lovely mother daughter duo outside and it turned out the daughter used to live in my part of Bed-Stuy — total kismet!
Lingered Longest: Almost every time I go to Welcome Home, I stay longer than expected. The Bed-Stuy bakery puts new offerings out throughout the day, and when they opened, fresh-out-the-oven croissants would come out every 20 minutes or so. Imagine leaving a bakery without waiting for a warm chocolate croissant? Couldn’t be me. My first visit, I quite literally waited around for an hour for both a batch of fresh croissants and kouign amann. Since every subsequent visit, it’s hard to resist lingering just a little bit longer if it means trying something new. Usually I just get a coffee, grab a seat and give into the resistance. I never regret it.
Chelsea Martin, Passport to Friday
Best Booth: Joseph Leonard holds such a special place in my heart, and their two back booths have witnessed more of my girls’ gossip sessions than I care to admit (the photo is a view from the booth)!
Favorite Memory: There are WAY too many to count, however a special one to me is when my boyfriend and I got the perfect bar seats at Inga’s Bar right after signing our lease and doing the final walkthrough of our new place in Brooklyn Heights. As someone who has historically always been traveling, it felt like a celebration to plant roots with the person I love in such an amazing neighborhood (although we are still trying to become regulars at Inga’s but it has gotten so dang popular!).
Lingered Longest: Beso Beach Club in Formentera on my birthday. We sat at the first seating at 12pm and were some of the last to leave past 9pm. Oops!
Courtney Presley, Corner Booth
Best Booth: You couldn’t possibly have expected me to choose only one, but I will limit myself to two. After several visits to Chambers with my friend Claire, we walked in one night delighted to discover that the general manager Jared recognized us, greeted us as neighbors and ushered us over (at long last!) to the best seat in the house—the corner booth. It was in that booth that I first whispered my hopes and dreams to Claire about the corner of the internet I wanted to create. On that same day, I shared my very first post.
And since we’re heading into the holidays, it only feels right to gush over the festive red leather booths at Pastis. Mr. Corner Booth and I dined in one to celebrate our first holiday season together, and it’s become a tradition ever since. Over martinis, steak frites and duck confit, we reminisce on the year behind us and giddily talk about what lies ahead.
Favorite Memory: Nothing will top sobbing in the middle of Stissing House. After a whirlwind weekend trip upstate where Mr. Corner Booth popped the question, he surprised me with a reservation at my favorite restaurant on the final day. That alone made me sob, but it was the sight of my sister and her husband that really put me over the edge. We guzzled glasses of bubbly and martinis, feasted for three hours on Clare de Boer’s magnificent food and splurged on ordering almost every dessert. The company, the place and the hospitality made me feel like the most special girl in the whole world, and I’ll cherish the memories of that meal forever.
Lingered Longest: Lots of lingering went down in 2025, but I think a late night at Hotel Delmano with out-of-town visitors might have taken the cake. After bopping around Williamsburg from Talea to Westlight to Le Crocodile, we piled into a black leather corner booth at the low-lit cocktail bar for a nightcap. It might have only been one drink, if it wasn’t for our friend pulling out the game Pass the Pigs. We became addicted. We physically could not stop passing those pigs, to the point where we even attracted the attention of a nearby couple who joined in on the fun. Sadly, at around 2am, we had to pack up the pigs and head our separate ways as the bar closed down. But long live the pigs!
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damn good crew in the corner booth