When I go out to eat with my friends, we return to our favorites time after time. There is a reason why restaurants open and close quickly in New York. It's not so much that the public is fickle (although that is true), but that there are a lot of lackluster restaurants out there. Instead of risking money on a new, untried place, we would rather support the restaurants that are doing a good job and help keep them open.

Everyone seems to be looking for that "nice place that isn't too expensive with really nice service and great food." I have three candidates, two in the Village and one in Midtown. All of these restaurants are mid-priced--that is with main courses averaging about $15.00, and appetizers hovering around $7.00. However, if you throw caution to the wind and order a drink or wine with appetizer, main course, and dessert, with tax and tip you will still end up spending about $50.00 per person. However, I think that is a reasonable amount when you are spending a couple of hours at a table over a relaxed dinner.

Grove (314 Grove, at Bleeker, 675-9463) is always a great bet. I went recently with a friend from Paris, and she agreed that the food was as good as anything she would find in her city. The food is reminiscent of a Parisian bistro, but with a flourish. Seafood is especially good here--salmon in a mustard sauce is served with a topping of crisp leeks; plump, sweet scallops (without a trace of off-flavor or flabbiness that mars many scallop dishes elsewhere) are nestled in an indulgent bacon-cream sauce. The wine list is expensive in relation to the food prices. In the warm weather, you may opt to sit in their garden.

Another winner is Indigo (142 W. 10 Street, near Greenwich, 691-7757). This place has been open about 5 years, and just keeps getting better, even though the owner/chef, Scott Bryan, isn't cooking there much anymore now that his hot new place, Veritas, has opened. (He should, however, pay more attention to his so-called Tuscan restaurant, Siena, where I recently had an overpriced and lackluster meal.) Sauces are the kitchen's strong point. I usually opt for the roast lamb or hanger steak, because as good as the meat is, the sauces are worth sopping up every drop. In fact, one of my dining companions made a point of asking for a spoon, and rightfully took the maitre d' to task--after all, why serve such wonderful sauces if you don't make them easy for the diner to enjoy them? (Don't look for the owner to run out and buy expensive sauce-spoons very soon.) The tables are a little close, a common downside with Manhattan restaurants, but with everyone enjoying their food so much, it isn't much of a problem.

When I'm headed for a Broadway theater, I usually eat at my friend Katy Keck's restaurant, New World Grill (329 W. 49th Street, in the Worldwide Plaza off Eighth Avenue, 957-4745). Along with delicious main courses, you'll also find lighter fare that is perfect for pre- or post-theatre meals. The pizzas are wonderful, and I often make a meal of appetizers like spring rolls and won-ton wrapped shrimp. On warm summer nights, you can have a table outside on the plaza, where the people-watching is world-class.

For very cheap meals, I always go Asian. When I'm in Soho (probably to catch a movie at the Angelika), I gravitate toward Kelly and Ping (127 Greene, off Houston, 228-1212). This is a hip Chinese tea shop with some dry goods, but the real attraction is the noodle cafeteria in the back. Especially on a cold afternoon, the hot broths with noodles (your choice of three different kinds--I like the wide rice chow fun) are very restorative. You won't linger here--it gets crowded and bustling--but I am usually on a tight schedule when I am in Soho, anyway.

In Chinatown, I had my birthday party one year at Pho Viet Huong (73 Mulberry, near Bayard, 233-8988). No matter what you order for your main course (although I love the chicken with peppers and basil), you must try the shrimp on sugar cane and spring roll appetizers. You can walk to Little Italy for to a cafˇ for dessert.

For celebration meals, I can never decide between Charlie Palmer's Aureole (34 E. 61st Street, off Madison, 319-1660) and Jean-Georges (1 Central Park West, in the Trump International Hotel, near 60th Street, 299-3900). Aureole's cuisine is well-grounded in incredible renditions of classic favorites. Jean-George's cooking dazzles with its juxtaposition of unusual flavors and textures. Toss a coin (as long as it's solid gold to pay the bill), and you won't go wrong with the outcome.