"There’s a group dinner, it’s less than a week away, and members of the party have varying needs. One person’s gluten-free, while another is carb-loading for an upcoming marathon, and there’s a general sentiment about keeping costs reasonable while still getting drunk. “Should we just get a big table at The Smith in the East Village? That’ll probably be easy since Alison has to meet Sean in Soho later?” Well, Alison, what if you just have dinner at Galli in Soho? Sean will be so close by. The food here ranges from a totally solid kale salad to chicken parm with spaghetti, and a whole lot in between. And it’s always lively, without being out of control expensive either." - bryan kim, hillary reinsberg