WHY For talented, gregarious chef Mark Gold, and for the Sunday brunch and dinner.

WHAT Cozy, minimalist Eva has two faces: the more restrained cuisine, such as udon noodles with clams and scallops served at lunch and dinner most days, and the heartier Sunday dinners. The Sunday four-course prix-fixe meals are a great value, with free-flowing wine and haute-meets-homey dishes like wonderful fried chicken, meatloaf, short ribs and apple pie. Gold makes an enthusiastic host, though some of his dishes, like the popular burrata ravioli, are almost too delicate to be satisfying.