Graffiti

At Graffiti, Jehangir Mehta whips up innovative small plates in an East Village dining room so small you can practically touch both sides at once. Sitting knee-to-knee with strangers at the communal tables may not sound like the most comfortable way to eat, but the space breeds camaraderie --- "Is that as good as it looks?" asks the woman whose purse is on your thigh --- and the enthusiastic service and whimsical touches, like foreign-language newspapers as placemats, give it an idiosyncratic charm.

Oh, and it helps that much of the food is delicious and remarkably well-textured. We thoroughly enjoyed the scallops with pickled ginger and the tandoori chicken flatbread with raita, though some bits of the mango paneer were less fresh than others. The signature dish seems to be the braised pork buns, topped with puffed rice and peanuts and served with an apricot chutney --- everyone ordered them, and rightly so. They're a crunchy, sweet, tangy treat that stand with any buns in this pork-obsessed town.

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