Let’s start with this nosh opportunity south of Tribeca. Basic plywood boxes fit the bill. No frills. ⁣But notice the different bases, as if the carpenter developed the design as they went, or ran out of wood and had to improvise.

The ensemble picks up the place’s vibe, with the white plywood and black-and-white striped umbrellas playing nicely with the grid of windows. Also, contrast it to the inventive added plastic and canvas winter vestibule. The plants are a little half-hearted, as if the owners prefer the traffic cones as accents. B’tayavon!

Summer white on a shady street. Solid, symmetrical, detailed volumes at both ends, topped with inset palms, suggest a formal entryway.

White-painted mini-ramps are a nice touch. Note matching pole anchors and curved edges on latticework exterior. Bonus matching file cabinet.

Available for weddings.

One of the first Open Restaurants to sprout in the East Village, this one wants to be a rainforest when it grows up.

One of a pair, these units enclose sidewalk dining in the evening and form a decorative edging during off hours. Note the all-American picketing in relation to the traditional Japanese latticework inside.

This one has been in beta for a while, involving various riggings of tarp, rope, pipe, and wood.

Joe Strummer keeps an eye on his East Village spot, now home to outdoor seating in the same spirit.

I feel calm just walking by this Japanese restaruant, with its spare, elegant aesthetic so thoroughly integrated. The furniture is most likely from inside, and it seems just as happy outside. The square tent cubes off the minimal enclosure, similar to the way tatami can be arranged into squares.

Note careful choice and placement of reflectors. Graffiti on the ambient street sign suggests a calligraphic scroll.

Farmhouse meets houseboat in this downtown mashup. Woodwork, ropes, and lights are thoroughly improv. Best feature: hay bales line the enclosure.

They went high with this enclosure, maximizing privacy and minimizing street views. I didn't know plywood sheets came that wide. Stark red chairs and umbrella complete the seige look.

Sail-like white tarp with tropical color carried through to the tabletops.

Every day someone is at work on these wonderful structures. Nice integration of signage into this one. A no-touch menu could go on the reverse.

The design of barriers within these enclosures is an emerging typology, too.

Bonus fan.

If Mickey Mouse was an open restaurant, this would be him, complete with bulbous feet and red shorts with white-glove accents. Big candle lanterns suggest a more subtle night-time look by fading Mickey to black.

Welcome to the Green New Deal, with matching enclosure, tree well box, and pole anchors, with delivery bike ready to go. Not sure what's up with the little black shoes added to the supports: mismeasurement or subtle rot-avoidance technique?

Ivy by the yard lines this green space. Exposed nails and buckling plywood ledges need a little work.

Breezy, unpainted lattice work contrasts with heavy steel storefront gate.

Enclosure composed of creatively repurposed risers from performance space inside.

Looks like this place was able to claim an extra couple of square feet. Note proximity of parked car.

The chalkboard paint on these spindly little guys is an opportunity for lively, changing signage on the outside and a no-touch menu on the inside.

Both.

Modularity!

A bit overbuilt, no?

Mullions for the masses.

We're open! We're closed! Our plastic flowers are 24/7/365!

Tiki comes to the East Village.

Usually the lawn is outside the building. Here it's reversed, with some edging left to do.

Hand sanitizer as condiment.

Hey there, little buddy.

In addition to constructing a solid, detailed wood enclosure, the proprietor had official signage printed on steel sheet insets in multiple colors.

Love to whoever is chalking hearts all over the city, as seen here.

A humorous way to deal with the bike lane.

Hajimemashte to the most exuberant Japanese Open Restaurant spotted so far. Lanterns, custom noren, giant ceremonial sake keg, East-West graffitti--and tatami stations!

Concrete canyon cubicles in FiDi, in case you miss the office.

Summer camp jail.

Pink enclosure base and blooms complement the minimal neon sign. Matching street trash.

Shabby chic meets abjection.

Stenciled with BBQ sauce?

Two-tone enclosure picks up on the tile work counter inside.

New Yorkers have mastered peaceful coexistence with sidewalk recycling and trash.

Support your local abstract artist! Inside and out, with reflectors worked into the composition. Floating the panels creates a gallery effect, allows air to circulate, and avoids water damage.

Harvest gold Roland chairs and bottled flowers suggest nostalgia for the 1970s. It's too warm for fondue, but perhaps in the Fall...

These guys had the unfortunate job of building an enclosure within the enclosure of a sidewalk canopy. They went with the construction aesthetic.

White wood lattice expands existing steel latticework. Geometric patterning seems appropriate for a mideastern restaurant.

Someone had fun applying the reflectors, forming a neo-geo composition. Traffic cone stands ready as companion sculpture. Note circular cuts for planters bound into a chain gang. Free the aspidistra!

They're breeding.

I've never been to Capri but in my imagination it's something like this. Rows of slender evergreens, sunny fabrics, and whitewashed exteriors punctuated with vaguely classical monuments to heritage.

The carpenter had to build the base especially for the centered vessel, which could double as an ash tray for smokers.

Note "found" reflectors and their asymmetrical symmetry.

Two Curry Row spots are taking their longstanding string light fight to the street. This might be the start of something big. Bold floral chair covers set the stage. Raw plywood enclosures suggest forthcoming escalation with addition of lights, color, and pattern.

Boxwood smells nice. Also, the enclosure is consistent with the interior aesthetic.

Solved.

Capitalism strikes again.

Serbian pride.

"Quarter-inch putty" is builder-speak for filling an awkward gap. This is quarter-inch putty.

Beer is clearly integral to this construction.

Like Jonny Cash's closet, it's dark in there. Canopy, wood staining, furniture, pole holders, and even the plants are throwing shade. Disco lights in the planters suggest a more vivid night life.

Pragmatic.

Shy.

Sad.

Seems to be the wrong zone for evergreens.

Tarzan goes to the big city.

I want to chill out at this understated place on a shady LES side street. The natural palette, Scandinavian furniture, and those bubbly little lanterns are so inviting.

Instant shrubbery. Boards add nice color and grain.

Picket fence fail.

It's really a Thai place in disquise.

Skeleton crew.

I am confused by the name of this Korean sake bar: in Japanese, gomi means trash.

Full fathom Florida.

We're gonna need it.

Why not. Blue lattice plays well with the adjacent yellow and red ironwork.

Metal palm trees complete the beach balcony effect.

DIY branding extended to barriers used to close off the street in the evenings.

In case you forgot.

"*Masks available 4 sale"

Work in progress.

From Pan-Latin Exotic to American Modern, as Christian Larsen put it in his study Philodendron.

Here, plants are in bags, like take-out.

A lone pole with a little red flag. Hm. Good try rendering italic type in paint.

These restaurants are going with the traffic flow and embracing street furniture.

One takes advantage of longstanding construction barriers by adding tables and a roll of ivy during the day. Construction workers park there overnight.

Others use traffic cones as finials or garbage cans as planters.

Here, graffitti is a plus.

That extra lumber makes an almost symmetrical motif. Combined with the unusual color scheme and hay bales, I'm ready for a drink.

A recent trend toward adding objects to the ledge.

Bonus features: one restaurant’s name spelled out in string lights on inside of enclosure. In another, two lovely vintage bicycles from India gave their lives for the cause.

A pop-up waiting to happen. It would serve Aperol.

DIY visibility paint echoes umbrella stripes.

Wheels and handles aid mobility.

They could have left it at the plywood inner enclosure, but no, they added the charming outer fence. That's birch, right? Creatively stabilized in adapted metal bases. The fencing sets off the generous plantings in their eclectic containers. Together with the street tree and garland across the facade (which conveniently softens what looks like the shell for the pull-down gate) the park feel is complete. Signage could use a little refinement.

If Jason Polan and Fred Sandback teamed up in the afterlife to design an open restaurant, it would be this one in DUMBO. Photo by Jennifer Sellar.

You may know Paddy's already from the tinsel horse head over the door, or the giant sparkly clovers on the fire escapes. Now you'll know it for the flags, funky stencil, and flower-covered tree shed.

Faux brick, industrial and DIY.

First photo by Laura Braverman.

Sheet metal, pipe, and wood tapezoidal enclosure with built-in planters and curved edges.

Pleasing angular construction. Ledge enables use as either enclosure, bar, or seating. Interesting paint job on the blue and white edition.

A lit traffic cone and beverage sculpture in Little Italy.

Tomato, basil, and oregano farm in Little Italy.

As the incline gets steeper, the signs get more insistent.

Stripey.

Enough said.

Love the chipboard texture but worried it will disintegrate in the rain.

Restaurant or detention facility?

Red checkered flags. Semaphore for spaghetti?

If there was an open restaurant in TRON.

Check out the graceful bentwood bracing. The straighforward 2x4 structure and plywood plant shelves totally do the job but someone took the time to add it.

Looking closer, is that an IKEA label? Turns out someone not only thought to add the arches but they repurposed bed slats to do it. Genius.

Art, flags, and Wegner chairs added later.

Bonus track: hand drawn and painted logo.

Ledges like this are called "affordances," a term coined by James J. Gibson in 1966. This built-in invites use by servers in particular.

Scroll saw fun.

Ivy league.

The open restaurant equivalent of bowling alone. Ironically, "le baratin," I learned, refers to conversation.

Bamboo aesthetic.

Two Boots keeps the spirit.

Vive les palettes!

Not only can one buy an image of a traffic cone, you can buy half an image of a traffic cone.

This place must be loads of fun.

Why not.

Every bit of this is handmade from plywood: tables, stools, and enclosure.

Sponge painting in gold metallic and battleship grey. Ew.

If a big bad car tried to huff and puff this house down, the cinderblock would win.

All that orange distracts from the true daring of the added overhang, most likely illegal.

Slow food. With fast-fashion mask discarded nearby.

Clever: protective, stable, reusable, colorful, and easy to move. But then there's that Breaking Bad episode where Walter White dissolves a corpse in one of these.

This enclosure appears to be made of industrial shelving elements nailed into a wood frame.

Probably repurposed window coverings.

Dressed for a night out in fishnet stockings.

This would be a great setting for a hardware store open restaurant.

Pinwheels!

Candy stripes.

Fun!

As far as I can tell, the letters engraved into these plexi barriers bear no relation to the restaurant identity or known words. Leftover from a practice session perhaps.

Somehow these objects are related.

Colorful plastic flowers line this trellis

Restaurant name spelled out in dowels, with wisteria accents.

Rabbit house: yeah, pretty much.

General drapey concept going on here, from tarps on an angle to the fishnet sculpture being installed.

Decoupage?

House of cardstock.

Soul train.

"Wood" paneling and "flowers."

Local art.

Trippy.

Open restaurants abound in Chinatown packed together and imaginative. I'm admiring the unified DineOUT installation on lower Mott, apparently designed by the Rockwell Group as part of a nimble initiative by restaurateur Mabel Wilson. In particular I'm impressed by the sliding unit within an enclosure element shown at left in first photo.

Turns out someone else enjoys them, too. Second and third photos pirated shamelessly from Shutterstock, though I did get within 12 inches of the mayor's head.

Camou on the inside, so you think you're in a grove. Light from above suggests divine approval.

Moral uplift on the Lower East Side.

A festive spot, with matching delivery bike.

Welcome to the den. Note boxwood shaped like the Death Star.

Kosher vegetarian Chinese goes public.