Davelle

"What It Is: An all-day Japanese cafe on the LES Perfect For: Casual Weeknight Dinner, Unique Dining Experience As we walked into Davelle, the chef behind the bar waved at us with one hand while blow-torching some oden with the other. Oden is basically a small bowl of broth with your choice of ingredients like fried tofu, boiled egg, or sausage with Japanese mustard. We ordered about five per person (each is around $4), and liked the mushrooms and fried octopus best. We were also kind of blown away by how much uni was in the $13 sea urchin rice ball. This is a tiny spot that’s open all day, but it’s best for a dinner when you want something low-key but interesting. The Verdict: This is a great spot for a unique weeknight dinner. We’ve added it to our Hit List." - hannah albertine, bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg, chris stang, matt tervooren

"Open at 8 a.m. during the week and 9 a.m. on weekends, this stylish but sparse Japanese cafe serves breakfast toasts. Choose from pretty options like honey lemon, ham and egg, spicy cod roe, and cheese curry" - Eater Staff

"During the daytime, Davelle is a coffee shop/cafe where you can drink a latte and have a Japanese breakfast or lunch, and at night they specialize in various things cooked in broth (called oden). These range from daikon and avocado to fish cakes and octopus balls, and they all cost between three and five dollars. So get a few of these, or go for some pork curry or Japanese fried chicken. The little LES space isn’t very large, but there’s a bar where you can sit if you’re hanging out by yourself, and you’ll probably wind up talking to the person behind the bar while they make your food." - bryan kim

"It can be fun to act like a tourist on a day off and get lunch somewhere full of people who don’t seem to realize that the stores in Soho offer a new service called "online shopping." But when you want to feel more like a local, go to Davelle. It’s a tiny all-day spot on the LES with an old mirror over the fireplace and dried flowers hanging on the brick walls. Sit at the bar and chat with the chef while you eat a bowl of intensely rich and smoky pork curry." - Bryan Kim, Kenny Yang, Hannah Albertine

"You’d like to sit down in your apartment after your run and recover for an hour or two in peace. The problem is that you want to eat something more interesting than Cheerios with the two blackberries in your fridge that haven’t gone bad yet. Go to Davelle. This LES Japanese spot feels kind of like your apartment - it’s a tiny space with some old candles and distressed walls (which is just a fancy way of saying you have a bad super), but the menu includes things like toast covered in roe during the mornings, and rich pork curry with lightly dusted fried chicken for dinner." - matt tervooren