A spread from Bar Mercer.
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Daniel Krieger
Before it was the art, shopping, and loft-apartment district it is today, Soho was largely industrial and commercial, filled with the cast-iron architecture of the city’s Victorian era. By the 1960s and ’70s, it had become rundown, and the stage was set for artists to move in and establish studios in its distinctive buildings. Galleries and boutiques followed, and finally big-box stores along Broadway, attracting droves of shoppers.
Now few artist lofts remain, but there are dozens upon dozens of restaurants, many of them excellent, and some surprisingly inexpensive. Though the borders of the neighborhood are fuzzy, for the purposes of this map it extends between Lafayette Street and Sixth Avenue on the east and west, and Houston and Canal streets on the north and south.
For this update, we’ve added Manuela, Milady’s, and Bar Mercer. We’ve dropped Sweet Rehab, Alidoro, Lure Fishbar, Piccolina Cucina Estiatorio, Ba’al Cafe and Falafel, Brigadiero Bakery, Famous Ben’s, Pi Bakerie, Lucia Pizza, Flipper’s, and Jerrell’s BETR BRGR.
Melissa McCart is the lead editor of the Northeast region, which covers New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. She has over 20 years of experience in food writing and editing, having worked for Mark Bittman’s Substack and his website on Medium; as restaurant critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and at Newsday. She has freelanced for the Washington Post, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Wall Street Journal, and more. She co-authored Bread and How to Eat It with baker Rick Easton for Knopf.
Robert Sietsema is the former Eater NY senior critic, with more 35 years of experience as a restaurant critic in New York City. Previously, he has written for the Village Voice, Lucky Peach, Gourmet, and dozens of other publications. He specializes in food that’s fun to eat and not expensive, covering the five boroughs, New Jersey, and beyond.
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