Here Are The 3 Best Restaurants In The West Village: Report

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Ranking the best restaurants in any New York City neighborhood is no easy task, but it does help when two publications share a list just weeks apart of the best eateries in the same community.

In September, both Eater NY and TimeOut New York published their own lists of the best restaurants in the West Village, and both rankings included at least 20 local dining spots.

While there were 42 West Village restaurants mentioned on the combined rankings, only three eateries got named as the very best in the neighborhood by both publications.

Here are those three West Village restaurants:

En Japanese Brasserie: 435 Hudson Street

The restaurant has served authentic Japanese cuisine in the neighborhood since 2004. It's best known for its house-made tofu and fresh sashimi and deploys a dramatic dining room with high ceilings, oversized windows, and an open kitchen on one end of the space.

Here's what Eater NY had to say about it:

"Now over a decade old, EN Japanese Brasserie pioneered a new style of Japanese dining that featured eclectic small dishes from various regions — but pointedly, no sushi other than the stray nori roll. The premises are elegant, with a bar and small dining room up front, and larger dining room in back that wraps around a seasonal display of foliage. Served in a wooden box, the freshly made tofu is legendary, and so are the short plates from Kyoto called obanzai."

Perry Street Jean-Georges: 176 Perry Street

Opened in 2005 in the Richard Meier Towers, the restaurant offers waterfront views of the Hudson River while serving up French, American, and Asian flavors. The restaurant, which was given three stars by the New York Times, centers its menu on the local market at Union Square.

Here's what TimeOut New York had to say about it:

"Jean-Georges Vongerichten has brought his trademark virtuosity to one of Richard Meier’s gleaming glass towers on the edge of the Village. The sleek, minimalist space fronting Hudson River Park is cast in luminous whites and neutral tones that focus attention where it belongs: on the food. The menu, overseen by Jean-Georges's son Cédric, features playful and innovative variations on seasonal favorites."

Via Carota: 51 Grove Street

Via Carota chef and owners Jody Williams and Rita Sodi are no strangers to making fantastic food in the West Village. Williams is also the chef and owner at Buvette — and Sodi is the chef and co-owner at I Sodi — both acclaimed restaurants in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood.

Via Carota is an Italian establishment that aims to "honor markets and farms from one season to the next, nurture out cooks and keep balance in cooking between authenticity and spontaneity," reads an About section on the restaurant's website.

Eater NY calls it the city's best Italian restaurant, here's what else its editors had to say about Via Carota:

"This long and shallow restaurant with lots of windows brings the West Village cityscape indoors, and offers an insider’s take on Tuscan food via chefs Rita Sodi (who grew up in Tuscany) and Jody Williams (who is also chef at the wildly popular French coffee shop Buvette, just down the street). It is simply the city’s best Italian restaurant. Pastas are de-emphasized in favor of market-driven vegetable selections, charcuterie, seafood, and inventive almost-mains, such as a buttery and garlic-drenched chopped steak, and a chicken-fried rabbit served on savory French toast."

Read More:

• 22 West Village Restaurants To Try
• The 20 best restaurants in the West Village to try right now