What makes a restaurant have a heart and soul?

A trip to Ottawa filled with bagels, maple syrup, Indian takeout and local beers. Plus a very well done brand community event in Brooklyn Heights.

The restaurant writing going on over on Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me by JLee is a riot, offering a sharp, often scathing look at “Business Guy Restaurants.” After a recent visit to Manuela (read his review in full here), he described this shiny new art-filled toy as one that “has no soul whatsoever, it’s all a veneer. We love bright lights and a bit of shine, that's show biz baby!” He articulated what I couldn’t quite put my finger on when I dined there a couple months back. The food, especially the homemade biscuits he dubs “Pillsbury for billionaires,” is actually quite good, but the lack of soul left me pretty much never wanting to go back. Which got me thinking, on the flip side, what makes a restaurant have a real heart and soul? Why do we have a pull to return to some places over and over again, and others to scratch off the list as a one and done?

I was lucky enough to have a week filled with experiences that, to me, were brimming with the kind of soul we wish we could find every time we dine out. It’s never as simple of a formula as good food + good service = SOUL! But once you find a place that has one of those loud, furiously beating hearts, you’ll know it, and you’ll come to cherish it.

For me, it was a pancake house with family in the middle of Canada. A two-man band singing their hearts out at a local bar. A sommelier who wanted to take initiative and start up her own tasting event. A spread of Indian takeout from the place around the corner brought back home. A bag of bagels shipped across the country. An event at a bakery with complete strangers. A happy hour with a friendly face.

Places that draw us in with delicious food and drink, yes, but beckon us to return because of the experiences had and the people met within them. We always get a little corny over here at Corner Booth, but that's my kind of show biz baby. It keeps me coming back.

Dispatches from the Corner Booth

Tales from a week of dining.

A visit to Ottawa that wouldn’t be complete without Indian takeout, Montréal-style bagels and maple syrup.

I spent the weekend visiting my boyfriend’s family in Ottawa (the capital of the country, for those of you who have never gotten that trivia question right). I’ve only been twice, but both times I’ve demanded a meal from their favorite nearby Indian restaurant Light of India. Now that I’m thinking about it, coming in with rigid meal declarations was an odd way to “meet the parents.” But it was my way of expressing I wanted to join the club and experience the onion bhaji, butter chicken and sag gosht that they’ve loved for so many years, too.

Each morning during my visit, we religiously ate sesame seed Montréal-style bagels from Kettleman's. I can’t get enough of them. We brought a big bag back home with us, to put half in our freezer and to ship the other half to my dad. You might call it silly to overnight ship six bagels, I call it spreading the love.

To my delight, we also went on a family outing to Temple’s Sugar Bush. If you don’t know what a sugar bush is, I didn’t either, but it’s the epicenter of maple syrup making. We first wandered through a magical winter wonderland forest of sugar maple trees, all hooked up to IVs to extract their sap. And then, we went inside to the maple shop and pancake house, where I had the most unimaginably divine plate: three buttermilk pancakes, homemade maple baked beans, maple sausages and a cup of maple syrup. I copied his sister and ordered a strawberry soda from The County Bounty to go with it. I know I said last week that I wanted to eat more pancakes this Spring, but I was not expecting this journey to begin in such fantastical fashion. Where do I go from here?

A bar hopping outing filled with Canadian wines, beers and live music.

While in Ottawa, we also couldn’t refuse a little bar hopping expedition. First up, we stopped by Cantina Gia for their inaugural “Sip & Shop” event. A friendly sommelier swept us immediately in to the store, plopping wine glasses in our hands and tipping free tastings of all-Canadian wines into them. She shared she always wanted something like this in Ottawa, so she decided to start it herself. Soon after, both her mom and her ex-boyfriend walked in. Ah, hometowns.

We then sampled beer flights at Mill Street Brewery, where I kept eavesdropping on the bartenders’ discussions of whether they were going out that night. Maybe the thought seeped into my brain, because later on we found ourselves at Glebe Central Pub sampling local beers on tap, watching hockey and listening to a surprisingly good two-man band in a room filled with very happy people. You couldn’t pull me away. The only thing that worked was the promise of a nightcap of Vodkow cream liqueur in the fridge back home.

A well done community-focused brand event in Brooklyn Heights.

Brands, take note of what Service95 pulled off on an unassuming Wednesday night at L'Appartement 4F in Brooklyn Heights. It all started as an open call on Instagram for New York-based readers. I read! I love Dua Lipa! Pick me! I registered and secured a spot. No one knew what to expect, but we all showed up right at 6:30PM, per our email instructions, to see what this “cultural concierge” of a brand had in store for us.

I ascended the stairs, astounded by the unexpected bountiful food spread to my left and the open bar pouring natural wines to my right. Tucked in one corner, a tarot card reader. In the other, a table stuffed with goodie bags and books. Everywhere, candles. A beautiful British woman clinked her glass and warmly greeted the room, recounting the origin story of the brand over a dinner with Dua Lipa back in 2021 and inviting everyone to eat, drink and be merry. She shared that they had handpicked each person in the room out of thousands of registrants. Corner Booth has never felt so special!

And what a curated group it was. I stayed for hours, meeting architects, DJs, publicists, comedians, event planners, brand strategists, you name it. A meeting of the minds, where all minds were forced to meet due to the fact that no plus ones were permitted. For guests, it was an opportunity to genuinely connect with a community of like-minded, interesting people in real life; for the brand, it was a chance to receive honest feedback, inspired ideas and solidified loyalty from their most impassioned consumers. A win win so obvious, yet often so rare. The YSL perfume in the goodie bag was a nice perk too.

An easy happy hour with perfect snack and drink combos in Flatiron.

Alerting you to an extremely cute happy hour at the new Italian slash Mediterranean restaurant Barlume in Flatiron. They’re really giving the people what they want here: oysters + champagne for $18, truffle fries + a martini for $15 or a personal pinsa + Aperol spritz for $10. I went with the last one for my after school snack. In between sips, we recognized and waved over a manager who had previously been at our office for a pop-up event. He giddily took the opportunity to share their new brunch menu and encourage us to come back soon.

Bathroom Mirror Selfie

Design inspiration from restaurants.

Spending a long time in the homey upstairs area of the Parisian bakery L'Appartement 4F had me wanting to move in, eat croissants and drink natural wines every day. All finds inspired by the space are rounded up here.

1. Make this your excuse to buy a silly little baguette bag to carry your next freshly baked loaf, either directly from L'Appartement 4F’s merch shop or this coquettish one from Gohar World.

2. Cue a lineup of romantic gold French mirror finds from Etsy: here, here, here and here.

3. I need more vintage candelabras in my life, like this one or this one. Fill it with classic ivory tapered candles from CB2 or Anthropologie.

4. If you don’t want to wait in the L'Appartement 4F line for a real croissant, can I interest you in a candle or lamp in the shape of a croissant? Or what about a candle that’ll just make your home smell like a bakery, from SNIF, Paddywax or Bath & Body Works?

5. Delicate white linen placemats.

6. I love the figural lithographs and oil paintings they have hanging.

The Reservation Desk

Curated dining suggestions.

Each week, I host an open call on Instagram asking for your dining dilemmas, to then resolve right here before the weekend. Be sure to follow along and submit your own queries, for a chance to have your night curated by Corner Booth, too.

Dilemma #1: Date night for two in FiDi…it is so beyond bleak down there. Hope is not lost! If you’re early on in dating, grab drinks at The Dead Rabbit or The Bar Room at The Beekman. If you’re looking for more of a splurge with a longer-term lover, dine at the bar at Crown Shy then head up to Overstory after for fancy cocktails in the sky.

Dilemma #2: Double date, 4, engagement celly. Want red sauce Italian. Anywhere Manhattan. Even after 8 years in New York, I still have never been to Emilio’s Ballato, but it feels the vibe here. It’s not old-school in the slightest, but Pasquale Jones is always a nice celebratory option that’s Little Italy-adjacent. And although it’s not in Manhattan, sitting in the garden with a group at Frankies 457 really can’t be beat. I don’t think I answered this right at all.

Dilemma #3: 2 friends visiting and no Resy booked I fear, where can I walk in? When in doubt, stick to Brooklyn for walk-ins. I have too much anxiety to not make reservations entirely, but I’ve had luck nabbing tables last-minute at places like the charming Italian spot Briscola Trattoria, the stellar Thai restaurants SUKH and Untable, the always-reliable wine bar PIPS and the elevated neighborhood spot Swoony’s. They feel special enough for visitors, but are super easy.

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