Restaurants to Try This Weekend: Super Bowl Escape, Hot Pot, and More

Welcome to your Weekend Planner, where Eater editors offer restaurants, cafes, and bars to try this weekend. They might be new and hot, or they might be old standbys. As always, please let us know if you’d like to see something specific.

Dinner at a restaurant that will warm you up: International hot pot chain Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot opened a Manhattan location on Bowery last year and its broth is a standout among hot pot restaurants. Order at least one portion of the original, which full, savory, and drinkable on its own. The lamb is thinly sliced and cooks nearly immediately when dipped into the soup. You may have to wait, but it shouldn’t be for more than an hour or so. 105 Bowery, Chinatown — Serena Dai

Lunch at place you've been wanting to try but perhaps keeping getting turned away from: A somewhat little-known fact about the beyond solid St. Anselm is that it serves its full dinner menu during the weekend lunch hours. So if you've tried once or twice to get a table or bar stool and have been turned away at 6 p.m., give lunch a go. The Williamsburg steakhouse, helmed by an all-female kitchen, is cooking everything from a butchers steak to diver scallops and mushrooms on a single grill. Everything about the restaurant feels effortless. 355 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg — Patty Diez

Dinner if you want to escape the Super Bowl: A slew of hip, TV-free spots will probably have tamer waits on Sunday, so it’s worth calling up any of the hotspots that you’ve been meaning to try to see if they’re easier to get into. If you want a funky fun vibe, Uncle Boons is always a great bet. A beer slushie, a spicy rotisserie chicken salad, and an order of crab fried rice with some friends can make for a lively antidote to football craziness. If you’re into football, you can always check out these spots. 7 Spring St., Soho — SD

Lunch near the Union Square Greenmarket: Weekdays, Ennju near Union Square is mobbed. Its selection of Japanese luncheon dishes at bargain prices is unparalleled, as well as its sushi, both pre-fab and made-to-order. But Saturday and Sunday are a different story. The informal dining room offers plenty of empty tables where you can linger over a green tea or bowl of soup — which comes for free with entrees that hover around $10. Favorites include katsudon with a fine, fatty pork filet, fried to a turn like a wiener schnitzel and deposited on a bowl of rice; and a rich brown curry that often includes both beef and pork. 20 East 17th St, Union Square — Robert Sietsema

Robert Sietsema

A WTF story to talk about at dinner: L-O-L, right around the women’s quality march, Playboy announced that it’s bringing back the Playboy Club — the iconic club where servers are scantily clad bunnies. They’re teaming up with a hotel company to open the the lounge, full-service restaurant, and game room in Midtown. The company hasn’t had a Playboy Club in New York since 1986, but no time like the present to bring back a symbol for the over-sexualization of women’s bodies.