Best Place to Dine Alone 2008: Bo Lings

Single diners at Bo Lings in the City Market are treated as graciously as a table full of business executives. The cool stone dining room offers prime people-watching to go with classic and modern Chinese dishes. Diners can relax on the patio with dim sum, a book and a cigarette on a Sunday afternoon or talk on their cell phones unbothered while sitting at the bar with a lemon-thyme-and-basil-infused Bloody Mary. This friendly restaurant, in one of the city’s most eclectic neighborhoods, is one of the last places one should feel self-conscious about dining alone.

Starts: Jan. 18. Daily, 2009