An elegant restaurant tucked inside the Met Breuer museum, Flora Bar (and its daytime cafe counterpart, Flora Coffee) come courtesy of the Estela team, Ignacio Mattos and Thomas Carter. A seafood- and vegetable-focused menu, with dishes like red shrimp with uni, lobster and crab dumplings in yuzu broth, and raw oysters with Sichuan mignonette, is served for lunch Tuesday through Friday. Don’t skip dessert, like an apple tart or Jerusalem artichoke and chocolate parfait, from rising star pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz, who splits her time between Flora Bar and Cafe Altro Paradiso downtown. For a much more casual option, Flora Coffee offers sandwiches like prosciutto cotto with butter and avocado, pickled carrots, and miso alongside an excellent pastry lineup, including sticky buns, sesame poundcake, and standout savory scones.

At this posh, light-filled space, sample mega-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s seafood-centric menu at a discount thanks to the three-course prix-fixe lunch for $38 — all while overlooking Central Park and Columbus Circle inside or at outdoor terrace seating. The menu includes a wide range of appetizers and entrees from the full a la carte offerings, like shrimp salad and black sea bass, as well as non-seafood choices like sweet pea soup or veal Milanese. Whatever happens, don’t skip the ethereal tuna tartare.

The most affordable way to enjoy Eric Ripert’s seafood masterpieces is via the three-course prix-fixe for $57, only served at lunch in the more casual lounge space flanking the dining room. Options include hamachi tartare with cucumber and lemon-citrus emulsion and poached skate with pickled shallots and sea beans, and $5 from each meal gets donated to City Harvest. Or, order a la carte from the lounge menu, which includes some of three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin’s greatest hits, like Yellowfin tuna draped over foie gras-covered baguette slices. In the dining room, choose from a wider variety of options on the three-course prix-fixe for $90. By comparison, dinner starts at $160 for four courses.

Head to this critically acclaimed Flushing dumpling joint in Arcadia Mall for an astounding array of more than 100 varieties of well-tucked pouches. Fillings are both traditional — pork and chive — and unconventional — preserved egg with pine nuts — including sweet dessert versions. Don’t miss the lamb-based options, or the quirkier combinations of ingredients when choosing which to sample.

Choose between a tight edit of Korean comfort food meals, comprised of a main like spicy raw blue crab, really excellent bulgogi, or braised short rib. It’s served alongside an assortment of side dishes like kimchi, yuzu-dressed cucumber salad, and bright pink potato salad. To truly feel OOO, try one of the affordable, prettily garnished cocktails or a glass of sowuju (fruit, like kiwi or grapefruit, infused with soju for over three months). Each midday spread is under $20; just note that it’s cash-only at lunchtime in the hip, wood- and brick-filled Koreatown space.

Gramercy Tavern debuted in 1994, and decades later, it’s still a very important (and second-oldest) establishment in Danny Meyer’s portfolio of hits. At the city’s quintessential American restaurant, sample chef Michael Anthony’s elegant dishes, offered either in tasting menu format or a la carte, such as roasted lamb merguez with ricotta, grilled sourdough, and broccoli rabe. The white-tableclothed dining room feels more formal, takes reservations for lunch, and offers a la carte or a five-course tasting menu for $89 ($79 for a vegetarian menu), gratuity included. The more-casual tavern space next door is solely a la carte.

A popular West Village spot from a local hit restaurateur that doesn’t take reservations, Jeffrey’s Grocery serves a seafood-centric menu from owner Gabriel Stulman (Fairfax, Simon & the Whale). Lunch offerings include a couple of egg dishes, if a languid Tuesday brunch is the objective, plus mains like crab and avocado toast and niçoise salad, plus a standout selection of raw bar items. The pretty, light-filled corner space is especially nice on a weekday afternoon.

The first joint project between chef couple Rita Sodi (I Sodi) and Jody WIlliams (Buvette), Via Carota serves up a uniformly deeply enjoyable menu of Italian plates on a picturesque West Village street. Don’t miss the tagliatelle with prosciutto, peas, and parmesan; fried sardines; and grilled radicchio with goat cheese, pine nuts, and currants. Another highlight is the svizzerina, a bunless burger/steak tartare hybrid. The delightfully neighborhood place, with windows looking out on Grove Street, doesn’t take reservations, so a weekday afternoon might yield a shorter wait, or no wait whatsoever.

Founded in 1936 in Milan, Sant Ambroeus serves up light, modern Italian fare in a chic, mid-century setting, including salads, panini, pastas, and crudos. There are a couple stylish, pink-bedecked Sant Ambroeus outposts in NYC (plus Southampton and Palm Beach locations), but the Soho one draws a particularly stylish crowd at lunch, especially on Fridays.

This Keith McNally institution opened in 1997 and has had a considerable impact on the city’s dining landscape. The sprawling French brasserie is filled with massive distressed mirrors, dark wood, and red banquettes. It’s a uniformly excellent menu; consider the Balthazar plateaux or chicken for two, and make sure to try something from the bakery at some point of the meal, or perhaps as a to-go dessert for later.

Expect innovative, consistently satisfying food at this Lower East Side ramen joint from Long Island native Ivan Orkin, who rose to fame via his two ramen shops in Tokyo. Opt for the deftly constructed shio or shoyo ramens, or, for a more decadent meal, try the triple pork, triple garlic mazemen or unconventional, lamb-filled take on Sichuan dan dan noodles. While Ivan Ramen takes reservations along with walk-ins, the vibe is usually more low-key at lunch, which can be had at any hour of the afternoon — it stays open starting at 12:30 p.m. daily (except Mondays, when it’s closed). Plus, the enclosed back garden seating area is sun-filled in the daytime.

There’s a certain charm at lunchtime at standout Bushwick restaurant Roberta’s, when diners can linger over a Speckenwolf pizza — mozzarella, speck, crimini mushroom, onion, oregano, black pepper — and some orange wine. The rest of the menu is rounded out with salads, meat plates, sandwiches, and pastas. Sit inside to watch the pizzas being made, or head to the outdoor space for some sunshine.

The Wall Street steakhouse in members-only India House on Hanover Square has been around since 1972, opened by Harry and Adrienne Poulakakos and, since 2006, run by their son, Peter Poulakakos. While it’s still populated by suits having brisk power lunches, it’s a downtown institution with a handsome, clubby feel and very attentive service, and a recent renovation has kept it up with the times. Try one of the steaks on offer or the steak tartare, which is mixed tableside.

This enduring Park Slope favorite has whipped up top-notch northern Italian fare since 1998, like a spaghetti neri alla chitarra (housemade squid ink-tinted black strands with octopus confit) and braised rabbit. The cozy corner space — replete with mismatched antiques and a nonna’s house sort of vibe — is regularly packed, and with no reservations, a weekday lunch is the best time to really linger over a plate of pasta and glass of wine.

This excellent dim sum parlor in Sunset Park is one of the city’s finest. It closed in 2017 for a thorough renovation, and now sports a new gold and baby blue color scheme and sparkly, Vegas-like vibes. Luckily the same excellent, often innovative dishes such as pig custard buns and giant soup dumplings are still rolled out post-revamp, and the crowds are thinner for weekday lunch — or breakfast, considering Bamboo Garden opens at 8 a.m. on weekdays.