I had a nice meal tonight at Star Foods -- Southern Diner meets Grandma's French Cooking. It sounds doubtful, but it really works: combinations like grilled shrimp and grits, calves liver with turnip greens, monkfish with bacon, peas, and onions. You can also get stuff like macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. The vibe is nice too. The crowd and staff are rather Williamsburg/East Village alterna-boys and -girls. They were even playing the CD from K48, plus some Alice Cooper.

They're on 1st Street between First and Second Avenues, and they serve until 4am (1am on Sunday nights). My only quibble is that they have paper napkins, but at these prices I shouldn't complain -- besides it goes with the diner theme.