Rooted in the Venezuelan dishes his mother used to cook for him, Ivo Diaz’s Casa Ora is like stepping inside your elegant abuela’s warm living room. Expect sky-high plants, soft banquettes, and midnight blue walls that are lined with a plethora of framed paintings, photographs, maps, and other trinkets that call back to Venezuela, or a sense of home. Don't sleep on the hallaca — a steamy pork tamale traditionally eaten for Christmas — to start, and then any dish with rice and beans.