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Restaurateur Craig Béro (Anglers & Writers, the Bespeckled Trout) and former attorney Linda Donahue dreamed up this Tribeca tribute to nostalgia. In an area specked with celeb-chef establishments like Bouley and Daniel, their low-key spot offers simpler pleasures to after-school snackers from nearby Stuyvesant High and off-work employees from those aforementioned deluxe restaurants. The setting itself is helter-skelter apothecary: walls decorated with yellowed sarsaparilla ads; an installation-like display of candy classics such as Cow Tails and Sky Bars; and rod-iron-backed chairs grouped around mismatched wooden tables. If you’ve come to satisfy a sweet tooth, you might belly up to the counter for a close-up of the attentive creation of an egg cream (made with chocolate syrup from Fox’s U-bet, a company that’s been supplying soda shops for over 100 years) or a triple-thick shake (made with ice cream from a creamery in the Midwest). If you want the full retro experience, the kitchen turns out hot country rolls with its dinners, chops fresh dill for the house-made herb salad dressing, and plates garlicky steamed veggies and lumpy—in a good way— mashed potatoes for its Wonder Years–worthy pot roast. — Alexandra Vallis

Fresh fruit shake, $5.95; pot roast, $14.95

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