Craving a side of hottie with your next hamburger? Alyssa La Spisa’s got it on the menu.
The 33-year-old Upper East Sider’s wildly popular “Where Hot Guys Eat IRL” social media series — where the content creator interviews attractive New Yorkers, asking them to reveal the bars and restaurants they frequent — has quickly become a favorite among love-hungry, dating app-weary Gothamites, who are treating the man-on-the-street interview videos like a treasure map to the city’s most eligible bachelors.
“Everyone’s yearning for that in-person connection these days,” La Spisa, a self-described single who’s as weary of swiping right and left as everyone else her age, told The Post. “If I can help introduce someone to someone [else], or even just encourage people to go out and try one of these spots that the guys recommend with their friends — that’s great.”
“Where Hot Guys Eat IRL” debuted last year as a spin-off to La Spisa’s similarly-named show “Where Hot Guys Eat,” where she spotlights restaurants that attract good-looking patrons. She had the idea for the original series back in 2022, sitting at a busy Jack & Charlie’s No. 118 in the West Village, watching the Big Apple lumber back to life post-pandemic.
“There was such an attractive crowd there, and I feel like people were yearning for that kind of IRL connection,” La Spisa explained. “So I was like, okay, I need to tell everyone about this.”
Her smash-hit follow-up series, which she likens to “a combo of ‘Chicken Shop Date’ and ‘Top Jaw’,” (two similarly viral social media shows) came to fruition when La Spisa realized she wanted to go “straight to the source” — and actually talk to hot guys herself.
With each brief clip racking up thousands of views, the newer series (found at @the_recommendista on Instagram, where she has 76.2K followers, and on TikTok, with 42.5K followers) has sparked a full-blown frenzy — with women flooding comment sections and the featured men’s DMs to shoot their shots.
“I think her account is so funny. It’s pretty light-hearted and gives you ideas on where single guys hang out,” follower Marisa Simone, a 33-year-old who works in political advertising, told The Post.
The series inspired her to put down her phone and head to one of the hat-tipped hotspots, Port Sa’id on King St. in Lower Manhattan — where Simone revealed she and her friends were “definitely” treated to a smorgasbord of sexy guys.
La Spisa’s project plays into a recent resurgence of interest in making real-life connections among single New Yorkers — a hunger also served by sites like LooksMapping, which rates nearly 10,000 restaurants in New York and California on a scale of 1-10, depending on the so-called hotness of the diners. (Power dining spot Carbone, in the West Village, got a sizzling 9.7 — while perennially trendy Pastis in the Meatpacking District scored a surprisingly average 5.4.)
Some of the men featured in La Spisa’s videos have even wound up going out on dates.
“From that interview, I had a lot of people reach out to me either on my Instagram or TikTok, which grew a good amount,” willing participant Hank Hoover, a 33-year-old content creator who runs the account @coffeewithhank, told The Post. “I went on two or three dates that I otherwise would not have gone on.”
Eron Lutterman, 26, a managing director at a brand design company, didn’t mind sharing his favorite spots, he said — but wasn’t really looking for love at the time.
“There were several DM’s,” the Greenpoint resident confessed to The Post. “I was open to the possibility, but it’s not like I was actively seeking people to date.”
No matter. Naama Tamir, a founder-owner at East Williamsburg’s Lighthouse, a sleek, Mediterranean place Lutterman mentioned as one he likes to frequent for post-work happy hour, told The Post that her restaurant experienced a sudden influx of young, female patrons after the September shout out.
“People have referenced [the video] when they’ve come in — we had quite a few people of send [it to] us and say, ‘Wow, you guys are on this!’,’” Tamir told The Post. “It definitely was surprising, but we saw an uptick.”
Other men told The Post they’re currently happily partnered, though not because of the show — while others said they’re still waiting for the windfall.
Charles Hsu, a 24-year-old actor, comedian and writer who appeared on “Where Hot Guys Eat IRL,” said that while he was proud to be considered a “hot guy,” he hadn’t yet met anyone because of his appearance — though his “DMs were always open.”
La Spisa said she hasn’t been tracking relationship success rates, but noted that she’s found the overall response to the project “gratifying.”
In the interim, the Upper West Sider told The Post, he would “continue to try to be as hot and eat as much as I can.”
“The guys don’t really report back to me,” she admitted. “[But] I have heard comments back from them like, ‘Oh my god, I got so many DM’s!’ or that they’ve gone on dates.”
Ultimately, though, she’s just happy she’s struck a chord with viewers — who are clearly hungry for more than they’re getting from New York’s dating scene.
“I think the fact that it gets such a great response — especially with a ton of women DM’ing the guys or just replying to the comments — it speaks to a need of people to meet in real life. I think that’s why it’s resonated the way it has.”
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