August 5 & 12, 2019 Issue

Is there anything to savor in this week’s issue? Yes – the new Thai restaurant Wayla that Shauna Lyon beautifully describes in “Tables for Two”:

In the cramped grid of Manhattan, any bit of outdoor space, especially in the warmer months, holds a special place in the hearts of air-starved city dwellers. For these deprived people, any sort of “garden” will do, even if it’s lined in cement, painted black, and deep in a valley of tenement buildings. Throw in some twinkle lights and it’s a vacation. Wayla, a new Thai restaurant tucked into a basement on the Lower East Side, has one of the neighborhood’s lovelier gardens, with large palm plants and candles, and, even better, it’s practically secret—hidden past the bar, through a narrow room of tables, all the way in the back.

That “Throw in some twinkle lights and it’s a vacation” made me smile.