New York City Good Eats?

[KimberlyH]

Hubby and I are going to NYC (staying near central park east) in a few weeks and I''m hoping to get some good suggestions for places to eat. We''ve been once before and as strange as it seems, had a seemingly difficult time finding good food (at reasonable prices, meaning we have not intention of dining at Daniel). Neither of us is extremely food adventerous -- we won''t eat octopus tentacles, etc. -- but we do like to try new things. He loves fish, but I am not a fan. If it helps at all, our favorite restaurants in Chicago are The Chestnut Grille and Harry Caray''s. Being native to southern CA, we are both fans of fresh fruits and veggies. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Kaleigh]

I have two I have recommended on here before. For lunch if your shopping on 5th Avenue, I love Acqua Pazza at 36 west 52nd Street, tel is 212-582 6900. It''s across from the 21 Club. Yummy food, go there a lot when I''m there for a day trip. For dinner I adore Il Tinello, at 16 west 56th street. It''s fabulous!!
212-245-4388. HTH, have a fun trip!!

 

[monarch64]

I had a fair-to-good experience in Little Italy when I was there last fall with my girlfriend, who lives in NJ...she''s Italian and wanted to take me for a true Italian dinner...we ended up dining al fresco (see what she''s taught me, lol!) for dinner and the food was delicious, although I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant. I would have to go through my c.c. receipts and sorry, but that is one chore I''m not willing to get into on a Friday night, he hee.

My girlfriend and her DH go into NYC pretty frequently for shopping/fun/food, I will ask her again for some recommendations. I will be visiting her again in early Nov. but we''ve decided against going to the city because we''d rather spend more time relaxing at her house with her 1 yr. old adorable lil'' girl for the weekend!

My focus will be less on delectable adult fare and more on keeping baby food off moi! I''ll let you know if she has any NYC dining recs, though...they are a young couple with a new baby and while they don''t like chain restaurants, they are always on the lookout for great eats at reasonable prices.

 

[Mara]

check out citysearch, much of it depends on what part of NYC you will be in/near, and what you want to eat.

i highly recommend visiting Le Parker Meridian's #1 spot for breakfast..Norma's. it's the BEST BREAKFAST EVER!!! i am such a breakfast person and i love eating it but we don't have it that often. so eating it out is so much fun and they have the best french toast, with rice crispies and caramel! yum!

we ate at some good places while there ...i found most of them on citysearch. also i used opentable.com to make reservations at many of the places...you can also check out what OT has then double check on citysearch to see ratings. we did new years eve one year at a brassierie i can't remember the name of ...49 Brasserie or something. but it was very yummy and great ambiance, with a big spiral glass-like staircase. anyway, good luck and have fun!!! lots of good food there...being from the SF area we have amazing food here...and i am super picky about what we eat when we travel as most places are not up to my picky-par, and NYC is one of the places i LOVE to visit for food.

 

[robbie3982]

For breakfast, definitely check out Sarabeth''s

 

[scarlet16]

Ohh...I totally second Sarabeth''s for breakfast!!! There''s 2 locations, one right on Central Park. Their smoked salmon eggs benedict is DIVINE!

If you like Indian food, there''s Bayleaf in the 50s on the westside.

For Little Italy, we ALWAYS go to Amici II.

There are some great funky restaurants in the East Village and West Village if you just wander around (also tons of great pastry shops - our favorites include Veniero''s and Beard Papa).

 

[curlygirl]

Oh there are soo many fabulous restaurants in our city. It just depends on what you want to eat and how much you want to spend! My latest find is a new steakhouse called Quality Meats. It''s on 58th between 5th and 6th. It''s not a stuffy, masculine place--it''s actually quite hip and lovely. The steaks are great but the best things are the sides. They had the most delicious thing I have ever eaten: gnocchi and cheese. It is their version of macaroni and cheese and it is simply to die for! Also they had a corn creme brulee which was also delish!

If you let us know exactly what you''re looking for, I''m sure we can give you some great suggestions!

 

[KimberlyH]

Thanks for all of the recommendations! I'll write them all down and bring them along!

Curlygirl: Let's see if I can be a bit more explicit. We both love Italian and Mexican food (but tend to avoid Mexican restaurants when we travel as we live in San Diego and authentic Mexican food doesn't get much better than here). I love wine, but he doesn't (he drinks Vodka and cran, Jack and Coke, etc.). We both prefer traditional restaurants and bars as opposed to "hip" places. Coq d' Or is our favorite night spot in Chicago, if that helps explain/define our style. The average cost of a nice dinner out for us would be around $150-200 including drinks. But, we also love a good slice of pizza, hamburgers, etc. A good steak is always a favorite for me. Does this give you a better idea of what we're looking for? We'll be there for 4 nights so a combination of nicer restaurants and great cheap eats will make up the eating part of our trip.

Mara: I love open table, we use it all the time, I didn't think of looking there though, I'll have to do that.

A total aside, hubby came in with the map of Manhattan to show me where were staying in relation to the diamond district...such a good husband! But no new bobbles, just looking for now (we need to get the house decorated before I can purchase new gems).

 

[Mara]

If you guys like Sushi, I have heard that Nobu Next Door, not the restaurant itself but it''s a small take-out and eat-there kinda place that serves basically the same stuff, is a great pick. It seems like it''d be cheaper too since you aren''t doing the whole restaurant thing. I have read that some people prefer NND over Nobu. Just a thought. We love sushi but we also get great stuff here in SF so it''s not something I look to eat when traveling (same with Mexican like you noted because here in Silicon Valley, we have the best mexi and we have it a few times a week practically!).

I would try to find a great steakhouse and a great Italian place if I were traveling. And then do one night at a ''kinda trendy'' but more good food kinda place just to dress up and get out of the whole typical groove. I don''t like doing places like that all the time but once in a trip it''s fun to get out and see the beautiful people sometimes. hahaha. Also places I love to eat at when traveling is ''fusion'' type places since they typically blend two cuisines to get the best of both. like Vietnamese fusion or similar. And maybe a fun Spanish or Cuban tapas place would be fun too.

 

[snlee]

I've only been to NYC once and can't remember many places we ate at. But there was a REALLY good sandwich place. Carnegie Deli had the BEST pastrami sandwiches (they are famous for them). They are very generous with their portions. It was sooo yummy.

Now I'm hungry for a pastrami sandwich from there!

Have a great trip!

 

[ammayernyc]

There are so many good places!

If you want to look at menus you should go to http://www.menupages.com. There are tons of menus and reviews there.

Mexican one of my favorite places is Rosa Mexicano. There are a few of them but I love the one on 58th and 1st Avenue. They have the best guac ever!

There are so many good Italian restaurants. A few I love: L''Imperio, Nicolas, Fresco by Scotto.

I know a lot of other types of food if you''re interested.

I''m a big foodie but we eat a lot of Asian cuisines which is sounds like you''re not too into...

 

[KimberlyH]

Amanda,

We like Thai and Chinese food (as long as there are non-fish options for me). Hubby would be thrilled if I suggested going to an Asian restaurant, actually.

 

[scarlet16]

Kim-

If you''re looking for a great steakhouse, there are 2 I would recommend. If you can get to Brooklyn (and have enough time to get a reservation -- they are perpetually booked), I''d in a heartbeat go to Peter Luger''s. They are, by far, the BEST steakhouse ever...and we eat steak pretty frequently. I''d also recommend Smith and Wollensky on the East side. Both are yummy and very traditional.

And if you''re looking for traditional Chinese, I''d just hop around Chinatown. Maybe do dimsum on a weekend afternoon?

 

[Allisonfaye]

Hubby and I were just talking about this this morning. You might or might not have seen my thread asking for recommendations on areas to live as we are thinking of relocating there.

Anyway, one of my all time favorites there is Trattoria Del Arte (not 100% sure on the spelling). David Letterman often gives aways passes on his show. It has the best pizza, flatbread, and pasta dishes. It is a fun place to go too. The tables are kinda close together so you are always keeping an eye (or an ear) out for something or someone interesting, which you almost always find. You don''t have to be dressed to the nines to go there. You could go in jeans and a nice shirt.

One of my top favorite restaurants of all time is Veritas but it is pretty pricey so you probably wouldn''t want to go there. It is more on the gourmet side.

Let us know what you do and if you get something good.

 

[ammayernyc]

Date: 9/30/2006 2:19:32 PM
Author: KimberlyH
Amanda,

We like Thai and Chinese food (as long as there are non-fish options for me). Hubby would be thrilled if I suggested going to an Asian restaurant, actually.

There are tons of trendy but not so expensive Asian restaurants. Here are some suggestions:

Tao
Geisha
Dim Sum Go Go -- Best Dim Sum -- go for Brunch, not really a dinner place
Mr. K''s -- best Chinese food. Fancy but not stuffy. Relly delicious stuff
Ruby Foo''s
Penang
Spice

I''m getting hungry just thinking about it!

 

[bee*]

We went to Tao in January when we visited New York and it was delicious. For a three course meal each with wine and tip it was about $110. The food was really good

 

[robbie3982]

I''m not sure if you''re willing to go outside of the city at all, but there''s a great restaurant in West Chester county called le chateau. It''s a mansion that JP Morgan built in 1907 and gave to a friend. I went for my uncle''s birthday a few years ago and it was just amazing food. It''s the nicest restaurant I''ve ever been to. They come in between meals and sweep the crumbs off the table. I had no idea what they were doing since, as a college student, I primarily ate at places like taco bell. Here''s a link to the place http://www.lechateauny.com/

 

[KimberlyH]

Robbie: One of these days we are going to rent a car and tour the area (and the Chateau will be on our list of places to go as it looks amazing!) but we''ll be relying on taxis and the subway to get around so getting outside of the borroughs isn''t going to happen this time around.

Hubby and I have been talking all morning about the food aspect of this trip thanks to all of the great suggestions! I''ll let you know where we end up and what we think when we get back (the trip is in mid October).

 

[Clarygrace]

Good italian at Basilica in midtown....my parents go there all the time...

Have a great trip in the Big Apple!

 

[KimberlyH]

We just got home and I wanted to report in on all the wonderful food experiences we had on our trip!

We ate breakfast at the Waldorf every morning, but fairly late which meant we skipped lunch and had larger dinner''s than usual.

Our first night we ate at Uncle Jack''s Steak House. The service was amazing, the salad and porterhouse for two was delicious and it''s just a great atmosphere overall.

The second night we went to Barbetta, in the theater district. What a beautiful restaurant. The waiter was a bit too snotty, in my opinion, but the food was amazing. My husband had swordfish and said he hadn''t had any that good since his Italian aunt passed away over 20 years ago. They had an appetizer similar to manicotti, except northern Italian that was so YUM!

We went to Tao the third night. I am not a big fan of the nightclub scene which is how the downstairs felt to me and I was slightly disappointed that the hostess among other staff members did not correctly pronounce Tao (yes, it''s a bit nitpicky, but if you staff should be able to pronounce the name of their workplace). Once we were seated it was a great experience. The food was excellent (chili spring rolls, wasabi crusted filet mignon...) and the wait staff was fabulous!

Last night we went to Tabla. I can''t say enough good things about this restaurant. The mushroom soup and pork two ways were unbelievable and the gingebread cake with vanilla bean ice cream tops my list of great desserts.

All in all it was just a wonderful time. We caught a show, The Heartbreak House, did some shopping, lots of sight seeing and checked out the diamond district. My first experience in NYC was a bit overwhelming, but this time around I have fallen in love with this city.

Anyways I always wonder what happens after someone asks a question such as where should we eat, so I just thought I''d share.