Westville… A Gem of the West Vill (along with East Vill, and now Chelsea)

Upon walking up to Westville, it is hard to tell that this is actually a dining establishment and not a coffee shop..It’s right off Bleeker, on a sleepy street in the West Village. A lot of people I know get delivery from there, but I have been wanting to go for a while.

I hadn’t seen my best friend for a few weeks, and wanted a good, inexpensive place we could catch up at. We were going to hit the location in the East Village since it is closer to where she lives, however we decided instead to go right from work, and hopefully being an early bird would mean we didn’t have to wait long for one of the coveted tables at this tiny spot.

When I got there, I put my name on the list, which is hanging outside so don’t be fooled, and waited for my friend’s arrival from the subway. They had chairs outside, which was nice, and it was a beautiful night, so i didn’t mind sitting outside. Our name was called 3 times, however since she wasn’t there yet, they had to keep skipping me. I didn’t mind, but I was famished and was worried this would mean we had to go elsewhere if they turned all the tables. Nevertheless, she finally made it after getting turned around (she’s not so keen on the West Village streets) and we sat shortly after.

Upon receiving the menu, you see right off the bat that there are tons of choices… add to that the handwritten list of daily specials and over 20 daily vegetable offerings, and our heads were spinning. My friend has bad ADD to begin with – I didn’t realize she would need adderall just to order. The menu has salads, appetizers, large plates, sandwiches, and even its own burger & sausage section – decisions, decisions!

Some of you may know what its like to be around me and this best friend of mine, and for some its entertaining, others its painful, but I guess it depends on the night. Well, the two of us trying to decide what to get from the plethora of menu options was pretty ridiculous. We didn’t have a strategy… so I’m warning you all, go prepared, or just go with stream of consciousness and just start ordering shit! We changed our mind 20 times, but FINALLY decided to go with an array of 4 vegetables (zucchini w/ mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, brussels sprouts with honey dijon, asparagus with parmesan, and mashed sweet potatoes), greek salad over grilled bread with melted herb goat cheese, olives, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes
red onions, feta cheese, and their mac and cheese. We were planning on getting one more thing, but the waiter said that we were good to go. OK then…

Veggies came out super fast, followed by the greek salad and finally the mac. The aparagus was nice, it had a kick of lemon which cut the flavor a little, the mashed were sweet and delicious, the zucchini was standard, and the brussels sprouts were really tasty due to a nice zing from the mustard.
The salad was delicious, very fresh, the dressing had some dill in it which added more complexity to the flavor, and I liked how I could make a greek salad sandwich with the bread.
The Mac & Cheese comes with bacon, but we ordered it without – jessie isn’t in bacon so much. We took that down, the crispy cheese on top really did the trick.
For dessert, we ordered a chocolate chip cookie which was delish, and shortly after exited for more wine at The Otheroom.

Go to Westville for a tasty, casual, and inexpensive meal. The two of us, with 3 glasses of wine, each paid a total of $26. Not bad at all for a lazy Tuesday night… The brunch at Westville is also really great, with delicious egg scrambles mixed with cheese and their fresh veggie offerings, along with anything else you’d want to throw in there. Since I wrote this, they opened a location in Chelsea which is nicer, bigger, and a great lunch option. I happen to love plantains, and this location always features them with cotija cheese as one of their daily veggie specials.