SOCCER SNACKS & FUTBOL FOOD The World Cup begins this Friday, and plenty of bars and restaurants will be tuning in to this month-long extravaganza. Some of them will be offering food and drink specials, too.

At Dos Caminos SoHo (475 West Broadway a t Houston Street, 212-277-4300), the games will be shown on projection screens and the restaurant will be open early and serve breakfast on days when games start at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. The same holds for Level V (675 Hudson St. a t 14th Street, 212-699-2410), the meatpacking district lounge below Vento. Both places are owned by Stephen Hanson’s B.R. Guest Restaurants. Weather permitting, games at Dos Caminos also will be shown on screens outside.

B.R. Guest has also has concocted a special cocktail for the occasion: the World Cup. It is made from African rum, North American watermelon juice, or ange juice, and sour mix from no place in particular, shaken with ice and topped with tequila (as close as they get to South America) and, from Europe, Sambuca.

Havana Central’s Times Square location (151 W. 46th St. between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, 212-398-7440) is showing all games in which Latin-American countries are represented and offering $5 discounts on pitchers of mojitos and sangria, plus a $9 beer-and-appetizer special. The beer will be draft Dos Equis, the food will reflect the Latin country that is playing, as will a $7 cocktail special. The specials will be available all day, and if more than one Latin country is playing, all of them will be represented with specials.

On June 20, when Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Paraguay all are playing, Costa Rica will be represented with mango mojitos and fried calamari. Ecuador will be honored with blackberry mojitos, a corn-and-cheese specialty, and your choice of empanada. The Paraguay special will be guava coladas and tostones with chorizo and Chimichurri sauce.

Tintol (55 W. 46th St. between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, 212-354-3838), is bringing in two flatscreen televisions for better game viewing and holding a special happy hour for all of World Cup month from noon-7 p.m. Drink specials range from $3 to $6, and special appetizers will be on offer.

Two of the Poulakakos family’s operations, Ulysses’ (58 Stone St., between Mill Lane and Coenties Alley, 212-482-0400) and Financier Patisserie (35 Cedar St., between William and Pearl streets, 212-952-3838) also are opening for early games.

SushiSamba (87 Seventh Avenue South a t Barro w Street, 212-691-7885, and 245 Park Avenue South between 19th and 20th streets, 212-475-9377) will be showing select games, starting with the Brazil vs. Croatia game on June 13. A full schedule of what games they will be showing is on their Web site, sushisamba.com.

Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse (9 Penn Plaza, corner of 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, 212-563-4444) will have its big televisions set for World Cup viewing. During afternoon games, it is offering $5 draught beers, wine and cocktails from 4 to 6 pm.

Beer Bar, (corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 45th Street, 212-818-1222) will be showing games and giving guests the chance to win prizes like mountain bikes, golf bags, soccer balls, and a pizza party at one of its sister restaurants, Naples 45.

Appellation Wines (156 Tenth Ave. between 19th and 20th streets, 212-741-9474) will be playing the games over its sound system and, from June 9 to June 23, will offer 5% discounts off wines from the winning country on the day after their victory. On June 26 it will hold a drawing to give away two Teimgeist soccer balls, the official ball of the World Cup.

Other Manhattan restaurants showing World Cup games during their normal hours of operation include Aix Brasserie (2398 Broadway at 88th Street, 212-874-7400), Le Miu (107 Avenue A, between 6th and 7th streets, 212-473-3100), Leela (1 W. 3rd St. at Broadway, 212-529-2059), and Tre Dici (128 W. 26th St., between Sixth and Seventh a venues).

If you want to watch the games in Queens, one option is the new Christos Steak House (41-08 23rd Ave., 718-777-8400). In Brooklyn the games are being shown at Kitchenbar (687 Sixth Ave., between 20th and 21st streets, 718-499-5623), and at Jolie (320 Atlantic Ave., between Hoyt and Smith streets, 718-488-0777).

If you do not care about the World Cup and just want to spend a day in the sun, Central Park’s Sheep-Meadow Cafe (Park entrance at Central Park West and 69th St, 212-396-4100) reopens for its third season today.

Mr. Thorn is food editor of Na tion’s Restaurant News. He can be reached a tbthorn@nrn.com.