"La Vara is a fantastic Spanish restaurant ideal for any situation when you want impressive food in an un-fussy environment. This Cobble Hill spot is from the same people who own Chelsea tapas spots El Quinto Pino and Txikito, as well as Saint Julivert Fisherie next door, but La Vara is still the most special of the group. Bring a date or your parents, and share tapas like crispy eggplant with honey and fried artichokes with anchovy aioli. It gets pretty packed here on weekends, but weekday reservations are easy to come by, and you can usually get a seat at the bar without too much of a wait." - bryan kim, hillary reinsberg
La Vara