Best dates for: Foodies

A taste of Tokyo
Let your fingers mingle in an order of takoyaki, fried balls of dough stuffed with octopus, ginger and scallions, from Otafuku (236 E 9th St between Second and Third Aves, 212-353-8503; six pieces $5). Digest during a walk through tiny urban art gallery and store Giant Robot (437 E 9th St between First Ave and Ave A, 212-674-4769), where pop fiends and graphic kids can delight in designs straight from Tokyo. After the art, it’s time for more munchies. At Oh! Taisho (9 St. Marks Pl between Second and Third Aves, 212-673-1300), Japanese college kids slam down sake, and punkish waiters straight out of anime serve classic Japanese pub fare.

Pigging out
Get your bloodlust going gently by starting with a meaty but sweet dessert: Munch on BaCorn (bacon-studded honey caramel corn, $5) or a maple bacon lollipop ($2) from Roni-Sue’s Chocolates (Essex Market, 120 Essex St at Delancey St; 212-260-0421, roni-sue.com), while you check out the rest of Essex Market. Then it’s on to the main event: a sausagecentric feast from Daniel Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen & Bar (299 Bowery between E Houston and 1st Sts; 212-933-5300, danielnyc.com). Try any of the 14 different house-made varieties, but make sure to get the cheese-filled Vermont ($15), a smoked-pork-and-cheddar link served with hash browns, or for the die-hard carnivore, the Boudin Basque ($14), a blood-and-pig’s-head sausage. Mmm. Happily, meat isn’t just for eating anymore—it can also be sipped. End the night with two bacon-infused bourbon Manhattans from PDT (113 St. Marks Pl between First Ave and Ave A; 212-614-0386, pdtny.com) for $13 each.

Greenmarket meander
New York City dates don’t always have to be so urban. Peruse the Grand Army Greenmarket (Grand Army Plaza, Flatbush Ave at Prospect Park West, Park Slope, Brooklyn; 212-788-7476, prospectpark.org. Sat 8am–4pm) for locally grown and produced supplies like apples, wine, focaccia and cheese. Then have a picnic in Prospect Park on Monument Hill, where you’re close enough to the public restrooms for pit stops but far enough from the BBQ area to avoid birthday parties. After lazing around the green, digest with a walk through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (900 Washington Ave at Eastern Pkwy, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; 718-623-7200, bbg.org; $8), where the “Wicked Plants” exhibition, featuring oddities like Venus flytraps, is on view through September 6. Finish your flora-friendly evening with some healing drinks at Sugarcane (238 Flatbush Ave at Bergen St, Park Slope, Brooklyn; 718-230-3954). Knock back rum shots ($5 each) infused with curative botanicals like lime and ginger to alleviate a cold, or anise and allspice to ward off evil—that is, of course, unless you’re looking forward to a little evil later on in the night.

Moonlight romance

Thrill-seeker

Foodie

Intellectual

Indier-than-thou

First dates

Naughty

Artsy

Nature

Touristy

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