Westville: Not Your Typical Diner

Last Wednesday, Rob and I met up with a few friends for dinner at Westville East. I did some quick research before heading out the door that evening and saw that Westville (and its Avenue A branch, Westville East) was perceived to be a sort of health food diner with salads, sandwiches, and lots of vegetables. We went in with fairly low expectations, and were pretty amazed with what we found.

We had to wait about half an hour at 8pm. On a Wednesday! And people were still waiting for our table at 10pm. I think this speaks pretty loudly about Westville's loyal following.

Luckily for us, they'll give you your wine or beer in a paper cup so you can take it outside while you wait for your table. This definitely makes standing outside a little (ok -- a lot) easier to do.

The atmosphere in Westville East's corner spot is simple, with white walls and a few decorations. It's the people that give Westville its true bustling, hearty feel.

Now I'm not crazy for vegetables or anything, but their list of market fresh sides was almost overwhelming. I tried the chicken, mostly because it came with two sides. I finally settled on fennel with parmesan and green peas with shallots and bacon (their "Add Bacon" sign in the front must have gotten to me). I was a little sad that I had to pass up on the lemon grilled asparagus, beets with goat cheese, snopeas with sesame and ginger and cucumber dill salad. Next time. At least, I hope next time -- they switch up their listings every day based on what's fresh at the market.

The grilled lemon herb chicken was thin and unmemorable, but the sides were pretty fantastic. Luckily they didn't skimp on the veggies in the least. Rob had the porkchop topped with onions and mushrooms and chose the cauliflour dijonaisse for his side. The cauliflour was fairly plain tasting and the porkchop was a tiny bit overcooked, but the smothered topping was pretty tasty.

All those healthy veggies set off my sweet tooth, so I had a bowl of "world famous Bassets" mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. It was nice and creamy and they gave me a lot, like the kind of dish I would scoop up for myself if I were home. I still do not know who Basset is.

Exciting news for them -- they are currently in the process of opening up a new branch in Chelsea. Now they'll have a Westville East, West, and.... Northwest?

Westville East

173 Avenue A (at 11th St)

New York, NY 10009

212-677-2933

WestvilleNYC.com