"If you wish every box of chocolates were actually filled with seafood, spend February 14 at Eel Bar on the Lower East Side. This Basque spot in the Hart’s, The Fly, and Cervo’s family—and one of our Best New Restaurants of 2024— is celebrating its first Valentine’s Day with a $125 set menu (reservations here) that's heavy on pintxos like grilled heart skewers and fried leonora cheese with honey, plus either halibut escabeche or dry-aged steak for a main course. Reservations are released two weeks in advance. Walk-ins are accepted in the dining room as well as at the 13-seat bar. When we arrived around 5pm on a Tuesday, we had no trouble getting a table, and there were a good number of seats that seemed to be open throughout the night." - neha talreja, molly fitzpatrick