Nili is where Michael Levy decided his cooking needed a living room, not a takeout window. After years in New York learning the ropes at his uncle’s restaurant—and seven more running Banh Mi Banh Yiu next door—he finally grabbed the space beside it and built something closer to home. The name comes from his mother; the dishes lean on memories of Morocco and bits of France; the mood is dim, red-washed, and pleasantly unhurried.

Levy works a few feet from the bar, sending out things like meatballs, baked feta, or a minty hummus that gets passed around. It’s straightforward food, made by someone who doesn’t mind being seen doing the work, all late into the night in a place you can drop into whenever for whatever.