Happy 2026! How did we get here so quickly? I hope you had a restful end (and start) to the year. I enjoyed some time at home in Taiwan, where I did nothing each day except eat… and think about food in all the moments in between. Being in another country made my two weeks off feel especially liminal: I truly had no obligations. It felt really nice to just empty my brain a bit and reunite with Taiwanese breakfast, but now the weight of reality and jet lag has come crashing down.

I’m not exactly tired (well, I guess I literally am), but more so overwhelmed by the prospect of an entire year stretching ahead of me. I think I may take New Year’s resolutions too seriously—it’s the Type A personality in me—and now that the year has started it feels like I have a million things to accomplish. But if there’s one thing I know from my years and years of living it’s that time moves fast and slow all at once… and more often than not the remote control is in your hands. So for the next few weeks, I’m keeping my thumbs off of the fast-forward button, taking some deep breaths and spending some time thinking about how grateful I am for the life I’ve already built.

More often than not, what brings me the most joy are the little things. An example: Viraj and I have been lucky enough to dine together across the world, but I still get so irrationally excited whenever we make plans to go out to eat in New York. Maybe it’s because going out together feels like a given when we’re on a trip, but there’s a certain magic in choosing to go to a restaurant together when staying at home is the easier option. There’s a certain transformational experience that occurs when we step out of our apartment in our carefully curated outfits: suddenly the air outside feels a bit warmer and the entire city feels like it’s twinkling…

Back in December, Viraj and I had an especially fun night at Cervo’s. I’ve recently gotten back into the grind of booking reservations and then sorting out the details later—my Resy and OpenTable accounts are a scary place—and Cervo’s was part of a flurry of restaurants I booked after last year’s Michelin Guide was released. I had walked by a million times (Kiki’s is where I’m usually headed), but had never seriously considered going until recently. With all that Dimes Square is known for… did I really want to be there? (Sorry.)

Cervo’s is probably more fun in the summer, where you can dine outside and people-watch. But, on a cold and dark winter evening, ducking into Cervo’s moody interior had just as much charm. Seated at the bar in front of the rainbow glow of what felt like a hundred liquor bottles, cradling our own drinks, I felt a warmth within me that could have only come from the intimacy of dining in a crowded room filled with strangers. And Cervo’s captures that warmth exactly, with an interior that’s small in all the right ways and none of the wrong ones.

I love nothing more than a bit of vermouth on the rocks, which sometimes gets a weird look, depending on where I am. (Probably inadvisable to order this with an unknown vermouth selection, anyway.) But, this evening at Cervo’s I discovered that what’s even better is a 50/50 martini, which I need to be having more of: the vibrant citrus of the vermouth making this drink barely a martini, but rather a distant cousin.

Cervo’s is known for their seafood, which we indulged in heavily. My one gripe with having seafood in the winter is when it’s served cold, but we started the meal with spicy mussels escabeche, mussels that were smoky and acidic all at once served without anything else, because it was perfectly balanced as is. We ate them like oysters, sipping the dregs of marinade from the shells. I enjoyed the crispy shrimp heads immensely, the shells delicately shattering under my teeth. These two dishes were the perfect range of bar snacks: something bright and something crisp.

The true highlight of the meal, however, was the stuffed jonah crab, which we didn’t expect would come as a whole crab, legs and all. It immediately inspired envy (and conversation) from the solo diner seated next to us, and that’s always the best feeling. This crab was so good that I’m struggling to describe it—is it possible to be speechless in written form? You’re going to have to order this for yourself, if it’s ever on the menu again…

Viraj and I often discuss whether or not we would eat the meal that we’re eating at the moment on a first date. It’s just a thought experiment—hopefully neither of us have plans to go on a first date—but there’s something so liberating about going ham on a crab leg in public with someone you love. And the verdict is that Cervo’s stuffed jonah crab is probably not appropriate for a first date… but could also probably be an excellent test of compatibility.

Speaking of other messy foods, we ended the savory portion of our meal with their lamb burger, which probably didn’t need the marinated anchovies we paid an extra $3 for. The fennel and celery slaw carried the burger, and that combined with the expected gaminess of the lamb patty gave the entire experience an unfamiliar twist. It’s most definitely a burger in form, but just barely.

I was prepared to dislike the flan de queso, which we ordered for dessert, due to my dislike for goat cheese… and flan. But, it was really good! The goat cheese adds a layer of savory complexity that I didn’t realize I craved, and maybe now this will be the only flan I’ll eat.

Cervo’s food is good… sometimes great, even… but like I’ve written many times before, dining out is never solely about the food. Beyond the actual bites, what I found most special about Cervo’s was its ability to bottle up the essense of what makes sharing a meal one of the most intimate experiences we can have. Truly, there’s something so beautiful in that space alone.

Bite It!

Book Cervo’s on Resy, reservations open 14 days in advance at noon and prime times go fast. They say that they leave room for walk-ins, but based on personal experience, I wouldn’t risk it.