Dining Guide

Chef Adam Pechal has a knack for mixing neighbor-hood casualness with elegant food. He caught the loose midtown vibe in Tuli Bistro, and now, in Restaurant Thir13en (located inside the Sterling Hotel), he’s connected to a Victorian timelessness. The feel isn’t genteel, it’s urbane and effortlessly cool. If it were music, it would be old-school jazz. At first glance, the menu appears to be comprised of fairly standard comfort food with salads, sandwiches, some beef, chicken and seafood, and handmade pastas, but it has layers and surprises underneath its approachability. There’s a Shanghai salad with grilled citrus ginger chicken, mandarin oranges, chili-lime cashews, crispy noodles, Napa cabbage and sesame ginger vinaigrette, as well as seasonal pastas like the house-made pasta carbonara with house-cured pancetta, sugar snap peas, arugula and black pepper. Restaurant Thir13en is slightly off the beaten downtown path, but that just adds to its jazzy coolness.