On the L.E.S., a Classic Romantic Comedy and a Bite at 'inoteca

While we here at Summer in the City are inclined toward the warmest season, the forecast is not particularly on our side this weekend: The predicted high for Saturday is 68 degrees. Still, readers should not let this discourage them from spending an evening outdoors. One can simply throw on some layers and take the F train to the Lower East Side, where the neighborhood's Business Improvement District is sponsoring an outdoor movie screening about a couple who meet — where else? — on the L.E.S.

MOVIE

Joan Micklin Silver's "Crossing Delancey" (1988), based on a play by Susan Sandler, is one of the best date movies of the 1980s. The film centers on the plight of a Manhattan bookshop owner, Isabelle (Amy Irving). Isabelle's close circle of cosmopolitan, intellectual friends includes a poet, Anton (Jeroen Krabbé), who sets out to make a conquest of her after he gives a reading at her store. Her Jewish grandmother (Reizl Bozyk), though, is having none of that; she hires a matchmaker who lands Isabelle a date with Sam (Peter Riegert), the owner of a local pickle shop. Almost as soon as Isabelle attempts to set one of her girlfriends up with Sam, Isabelle realizes she is attracted to his gentle nature. But Anton's lustful antics serve as a fateful distraction, forcing Isabelle to make some difficult choices. (Saturday, 8 p.m., screening in the outdoor lot between Broome and Ludlow streets, 212-226-9010, ext. 13, free, RSVP recommended)

DINNER

It's something of a seasonal ritual. Every year as summer approaches, the Rivington Street eatery 'inoteca strips away the temporary cloth foyer erected during winter and throws open its windows and doors to let in the warm weather. Dining alfresco at 'inoteca is as good as — if not better than — a rooftop barbecue, especially since the cooking is done for you and the wine list trumps any boxed swill you might have in your fridge. At this spin-off from chef Jason Denton's 'ino on Bedford Street, small- and medium-size plates of delicious Italian bites are on offer: from meat and cheese plates to cooked items such as a thick slice of toast, slathered in cheese, dotted with bits of asparagus and drops of truffle oil, and stuffed with an egg (its runny yolk spreads across the surface and over the crust). Also satisfying are the polpette, orange-scented meatballs drowning in tomato sauce, and the lasagnette di melanzane, a lasagna with the thinnest imaginable slices of crispy eggplant, sprinkled with a hefty helping of parmesan. The panini with soppressata, goat cheese, and tapenade is the perfect size for a couple to share before or after the movie. (98 Rivington St. at Ludlow Street, 212-614-0473)