The best Broadway restaurants for a bite, beverage and an A-List celeb sighting

The best part of venturing out into jam-packed Times Square in the busy spring?Venturing inside into a somewhat less jam-packed bar or restaurant for a meal and a martini. With the Tony Awards cut-off fast approaching, 12 new shows open on Broadway this month alone. I’m at the theater most nights during the peak season, and so these eateries become my second office — albeit an office that serves booze and charges me to be there.After the curtain falls, they’re where I go to nosh, drink, gossip, find famous faces and get angry glares from producers.Here are some of my regular stops — and the stars who love ‘em.“It’s been very busy,” Sardi’s bartender Jeremy Wagner, a 24-year vet, told me on Friday night. “Springtime is here, flowers are blooming, shows are opening and Sardi’s is bustling.”It’s true.The West 44th Street Grand Poobah of theater district spots — it turns 100 in 2027! — has been more mobbed than I’ve seen it in years.

And with an unusually fresh-faced crowd.Especially the bar upstairs, where you get excellent views of the marquees of “Boop” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”   The cast of “Purpose,” including star Jon Michael Hill, has been hanging out up there after their astounding play next door.Recently, so was Alicia Keys, who threw a party at Sardi’s on Friday for “Hell’s Kitchen.” If you want to do some discreet and classy star spotting, you can’t do better than Bar Centrale, the sexy speakeasy steps above sister restaurants Joe Allen and Orso. George Clooney has been relaxing there after his Edward R.Murrow play “Good Night and Good Luck” at the Winter Garden. Recently I’ve also seen Julianna Margulies, Patti LuPone, Darren Criss and “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz tucked away in booths, but there’s someone famous in every single night.Downstairs at Italian restaurant Orso, order the liver.

That was Elaine Stritch’s favorite, and mine.Joe Allen (get the burger), Centrale and ...