The Conversation for Wednesday, Feb. 8

What convinces you to try a new restaurant?

When I lived in New York City as a Columbia University student, my primary haunts were Ollie’s Noodles at 116th snd Broadway, which had previously been a Chock Full O’Nuts, the Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam Avenue, and a little shawarma shop on Broadway whose name I have forgotten.

For splurges, I got sushi or Indian food delivered. Once in a while, I had dates take me to Docks, a now-gone seafood bar down Broadway that had excellent crab cakes.

It was a big deal to go to a trendy restaurant in Manhattan. But one evening, a friend who worked for a high profile magazine invited me to go to a brand new place where it was ridiculously hard to get a table.