Takahachi Tribeca

So you're craving Nobu, but you can't even get into Next Door Nobu? Just walk a few blocks from Franklin to Duane, where you'll find Takahachi Tribeca. This nouveau Japanese restaurant uses the same excellent fish supplier as Nobu, but prices are more reasonable!

In homage to the neighborhood film festival, chef Jun Orita has named his creative maki after famous movies. Try the "Passage To India," a curried tuna, avocado and mango roll, or the "Godfather," a mouthful of fried oysters, cucumber and Gorgonzola. If your tastes run to the more traditional, there's an extensive a la carte sushi menu, as well as entrees like grilled organic chicken teriyaki, diced prime rib in avocado wasabi sauce, and grilled salmon in green tea salt. The latter was my choice last night; the crispy-skinned salmon arrived with a small salad of cold udon, julienned shiitakes with ginger, and a bowl of snow peas in sweet white miso sauce. I must also mention the vibrant yuzu, white miso and snow pea soup, and the yellowtail tartare appetizer. The tartare, served in a bamboo leaf, was a delectable mixture of yellowtail, creamy sea urchin and crunchy smelt roe.

If only I'd had room for the pumpkin mousse...

Takahachi Tribeca: 145 Duane St., (212) 571-1830.

Easter Eggs

If you want to quickly prepare a half-dozen hard-boiled eggs for Easter, this gadget comes in quite handy. You'll never run the risk of a cracked shell or a runny yolk ever again.

Another way to enjoy Easter eggs this year is to pick up a loaf of cardamom bread at Amy's Bread. Hard-boiled eggs are baked into the circular loaf. (This bread has been selling out before 11 a.m., so if you miss the deadline, ask for the eggy, sugar-streaked hot cross buns.)

Amy's Bread: Chelsea Market, 75 9th Ave., (212) 462-4338.

A Sign of Spring

Although it's snowing today, I'm confident that spring has sprung. Why? Because last night, I saw the telltale words "fiddlehead ferns" on the menu at Parish & Co (Closed in 2006). These tasty green curlicues, available only in earliest spring, added some crunch to my delectable garbanzo and wheatberry salad in a soy-ginger dressing.

A glass of Riesling, an entrée of rich, buttered potato gnocchi accented with shallots and fried sage, and a lemongrass-lime crème brulee completed my celebration of the season's arrival. To Spring!

Parish & Co.: 202 9th Ave., (212) 414-4988.

Alfanoose

Downtown workers were crestfallen when the original Alfanoose on Fulton Street closed. There was much speculation about the cause of the closing; had the rents gone up or had the business gone down?

Fortunately, those in search of a falafel fix need not waste any more time in idle speculation! Such time would be better spent enjoying the mouthwatering Middle Eastern cuisine at the new, improved Alfanoose. Now with plenty of room and an expanded menu, this beloved restaurant is a destination even for those who have no other reason to visit the Financial District.

All of the traditional sandwiches such as falafel, hummus, and baba ganoush are offered, as well as luscious charcoal-grilled lamb shawarma. For a side dish, there are not just one but *three* versions of mojadara, the traditional lentil pilaf topped with a heap of crisp fried onions. The tangy, tahini-yogurt foul mudamas is excellent as well. (For more food than you know what to do with, order a meat platter: your choice of lamb, chicken, or meat kibbeh comes with your choice of pilaf or green salad, a choice of hummus, baba ganoush or foul mudamas, and best of all, a homemade rolled-up pita bread!

Alfanoose Middle Eastern Cuisine: 8 Maiden Lane, (212) 528-4669.

Estiatorio Milos

I know there are much less expensive places to get a great piece of fish, but I've had a soft spot for Milos ever since I first visited about 7 years ago. Maybe it's the open-air market atmosphere... the diner can actually choose a clear-eyed fish right off of its bed of ice. Or maybe it's the loftlike, airy room festooned with parasols. More likely, it's the loukoumades. (More about that later.)

On Friday night, Milos was as packed as if it had just opened last week. Fortunately, my early reservation enabled my mother and I to sit at a lovely corner table.

We started with the Milos Special: a plate of potato-chip-thin fried eggplant and zucchini accented with four chunks of tangy saganaki (tangy melted sheep's milk cheese inside a golden crust).

The entree decision was more difficult than we'd anticipated. Naturally, we wanted whole fish, but there were at least 20 different kinds to choose from. Milos's fish menu is divided into North American and European varieties, and the flavor of each is described in detail. Some fish are only available for two diners to share. (By the way, for those "non-afishanados" among you, there's also a 26-oz. ribeye on the menu.)

I convinced my mother to forgo the Dover sole in favor of the loup de mer ("Europe's most sought-after fish," according to the menu). A whole fish for two and a side of potatoes may sound like a deceptively simple meal, but at Milos it is an explosion of flavor. The olive-oil-bathed potatoes, interspersed with a few sweet cherry tomatoes, were fragrant with garlic, scallions and red onions. The firm-fleshed white loup de mer was downright extraordinary in a light lemon-caper sauce, the meat sweet and the skin toothsomely crispy. I could easily go on the Mediterranean diet if I ate at Milos every day!

Of course, we did indulge in a decadent dessert. The aforementioned loukoumades, hot walnut-sprinkled dough fritters in a thyme-honey-cinnamon syrup, were garnished with a bit of mint. "Take them home so I don't eat any more of them!" pleaded my mother.

Estiatorio Milos: 125 West 55th St., (212) 245-7400.