On New York City weekends, brunching is a verb and a ritual: a simple, much-needed pleasure of just being together over good food after a long week. And every neighborhood has its own unique rhythm. Sightseeing, selfies, and brunching underscores our little West Village world on the corner of Bedford and Grove. Young, transient neighbors haul laundry up our gorgeous block, peppered with iconic New York City fire escapes, dodging a worldly mix of tourists who have come to see the Friends building (our Little Owl building at 90 Bedford Street is the establishing shot for the TV show’s impossibly large apartment).

But there are real history and real friends on our block. We have the secret alley of Grove Court—a collection of tiny townhouses from the 1850s set back from the street to shame and hide the poor but which are now looked on with longing. We have the narrowest house in New York City at 75¹/₂ Bedford, where poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once lived. We have Marie’s Crisis, a beloved basement-level piano bar on Grove Street where Thomas Paine died (it’s revolutionary). And of course, 17 Grove Street: a rare wooden home, with its beautiful owl on top, to which we owe our name. There are so many others who also make a home (or feel at home) on Bedford and Grove. Some of these Little Owl friends have a sublime love story; a day-old bag of Dunkin’ Donuts for our staff each night; a beloved mother in Queens who stuffs one hundred shells from Raffetto’s on Christmas Eve; a claim to have drunk Frank Sinatra under the table; a treasured wit and character; a tipsy wave for us through the window; the nickname “Bud”; and a penchant for Cinnamon Sugar Beignets (page 36), strong coffee, and a Little Owl Bacon Cheeseburger (page 51) on the weekend. And all of them have a big love vibe beyond compare. Our little corner is enchanting.

But without ever setting foot on our block or inside Little Owl, you can re-create some of our magic in your kitchen. Call the whole gang over for the big game and bust out some School Days Sausage and Peppers Sandwiches (page 49). Wow them with Little Owl Gravy Meatball Sliders (page 226), too, while you’re at it!