First time to NYC

[gomestar]

I will have to check some of these out. My Chinatown dining experience turned to sadness when Doyer's Vietnamese closed.

Also, for city folk, Tasty Dumpling on Mulberry sells big bags (50 count) of frozen dumplings for $8. Perfect to do a quick pan fry for a cheap yet satisfying dinner (I usually cook up a dozen for me and teh GF. That equates to less than $1 per person).

 

[samblau]

NYC offers a whole lot of ways to spend $$$ but there are some free/inexpensive things to do. If you can handle the walk/heat I would recommend going to Ground Zero/Wall Street in the AM and then walking the Brooklyn Bridge (or taking the water taxi) into Brooklyn. (You can eat lunch in China Town, but quite frankly, I normally don't point tourists in that direction, I go for lunch because it is cheap, but find it kind of dirty and depressing + most of the food is so greasy I can't do much after eating it. . .save for the vegan dumpling house). Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Jacques Torres are, despite being "touristy," both great as is Almondine bakery for a simple sandwich. From there you can check out DUMBO/Brooklyn Hts (my 'hood, happy to give advice if needed about the area) including the Promenade, a few galleries, etc., and if you can handle the walk, a trip down Atlantic Ave takes you through the Arabic markets and then there is the more trendy Park Slope/Cobble Hill along with the Brooklyn Museum and the Park itself. Seeing it all would prob be a full day.

A few other suggestions. . .on Fri evening the Rubin Museum opens a bar and you can see Himalayan art while sipping a martini. . .a manageable museum centrally located that permits you to go out in the W. Village/Union Sq. after.

If you spend $$$ on cocktails, soak them up w a $2.50 falafel at Mamoun's down by NYU (and/or a lamb and rice on 53 and 6). Chances are you will be at/near one of those locations late-night.

See the Met, its in midtown. . .if its your first trip to NYC you might as well go, it is one of the worlds best museums.

Walk the Highline. . .I actually prefer Meatpacking in the day (esp midweek) good shopping as well (if you have $$$) and get a burger at Corner Bistro. . .go off hours to save time.

Skip McSorely's go further east on 7th street to Burp Castle for good Belgian beer in a monastery-like setting where it is kept quiet and you can actually hear one another. . .bonus point, go during happy hour on tues (I think) in order to get comp. pommes frites from. . .Pommes Frites. . .around the corner or just go and get your own and bring them back.

Cent Park is a great place, and free, and perfect to go to after the 5th ave stores shut down.

NYC pizza is an art form. . .skip the big name places and go to L'Asso on Mulberry and sit at the small bar in the early evening for the 2 slices and a beer special for $6. . .a STEAL.

If you want to try the pricey spots I recommend going for lunch. . .while it has its detractors, I think the $36 Bouley lunch is amongst the best and its a beautiful place. Go midweek and check out some of the other stuff in FiDi/TriBeCa.

Happy Hours are a good deal. . .if its M-TH go to City Crab early for 1/2 Price appetizers and select drinks and $1 oysters. My friend and I went last weekend, a dozen oysters, calamari, fried clams, 2 (big) martinis each was about $50 pre-tip. The drinks alone would cost that at most places. Check out restaurant.com for other deals.

Just a few of my suggestions. . .if you are looking for something more specific, PM me.

 

[gomestar]

the Met is UES, not Midtown. MoMA is midtown.

And if you're at Ground Zero, Century 21 is right around the corner (since you mentioned wanting discount shopping).

And never buy pizza from a shop that has any combination of the words "The", "original", "pizza", "famous", "famous Ray's", "Rays" or "authentic"

 

[samblau]

Originally Posted by gomestar

the Met is UES, not Midtown. MoMA is midtown.

And if you're at Ground Zero, Century 21 is right around the corner (since you mentioned wanting discount shopping).

And never buy pizza from a shop that has any combination of the words "The", "original", "pizza", "Rays" or "authentic"

+1 on Cent 21. . .they are having their summer sale now. . .last year I got three pairs of Zanella slacks, Super 130's, for $39.99 a pair. . .they were marked $425 at Neiman-Marcus!

Add "famous" to that list!

What about a "recession special" at Papaya King?

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by samblau

Add "famous" to that list!

What about a "recession special" at Papaya King?

edited to include famous (not sure how/why I forgot that one).

I dislike anything Papaya myself, but I don't find them to be boiling over like the 200 different Ray's around town (all held together by a common believe in terrible pizza and 3 lb slices)

 

[redzapper]

Luzzo's for pizza.
Ippudo for ramen.
Xi'an Famous Foods for chinese noodles.
Try the compost cookie at Momofuku Milk Bar.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Originally Posted by redzapper

Luzzo's for pizza.
Ippudo for ramen.
Xi'an Famous Foods for chinese noodles.
Try the compost cookie at Momofuku Milk Bar.

Was not impressed by anything I tried at the Milk Bar

I've been meaning to try Luzzo's for a while.

Ippudo is top notch for ramen, just be sure to go at an off hour otherwise you will be waiting for a long time; they don't take reservations.

 

[gomestar]

I like Luzzo's, it's my go-to for a pie with mozzarella di buffala delivered for under $20.

I've never had a pizza at Otto that I genuinely loved.

Milk Bar good, but I also question some of the hype. Croissants are a big time favorite for me, but somehow kimchi and blue cheese croissants from the milk bar just don't deliver (I didn't get anything kimchi about them, and blue cheese overpowers other flavors way too easily).

 

[jhva3]

Luzzo's is the ****. I used to live around the corner from there and they're realy nice and make a great pie. Lots of good pizza in the area. Artichoke's eponymous pizza is pretty interesting. Momofuku ssam for latenight pork buns. I never tried the milk bar, but the pork buns might be my favorite of all time. Ssam is cool because they're open really late, usually have good music playing and they were always really nice to me, even at 2am when I was hammered. If you want a really opulent dinner, go to Del Posto like spoo said. 11 Madison is pretty good too (and has one more star in the times) but I prefer Del Posto. PDT is pretty cool because you walk through a phone booth to get into it, but you have to reserve in advance and I wasn't crazy about the cocktails. Bacon wrapped hotdog was pretty killer though. Great cocktails can be had at the flatiron lounge and the Pegu club. Shake shack makes a great burger, but if you're not there at 10am when it opens, it really isn't worth the ridiculous wait. If you end up near grand central make sure to check out the campbell apartment. The pizza at Otto stinks(for new york) and is expensive, but it is a fun place to get drunk on wine. Union square cafe and gramercy tavern are also quite good. Kanoyama has great sushi that is reasonably priced.

 

[monkeypunch]

As somebody who lives in NYC and eats out 3 times a week it's difficult to offer recommendations concisely. I'll just pick a few standouts

I think The Red Cat is one of the best tables in the city right now. If you take the advice of walking the Highline it would be a great idea to have lunch or an early dinner there. The Red Cat is on 10th Ave between 23rd & 24th.

Seasonal Restaurant & Weinbar is an Austrian restaurant with a Michelin Star, casual dresscode, and $27 three-course lunch. It's on 58th between 6th Ave & 7th Ave so ut makes a nice stop between Central Park and the shops on Madison Ave.

If you're into offal, Yakitori Totto is a great option if you're in the Columbus Circle area.

I'll be the third to recommend Ippudo, but add that in addition to being the best ramen place in NYC they also have the best steamed pork buns and some of the best wings in the city. I wouldn't leave without ordering all three.

Graffiti in the East Village is a very interesting and well-executed spin on Indian haute cuisine. It's a very small place with communal seating, but the service & food are worth it.

It's not a restaurant, but a tour at the Lower East Side Tenement Musem is something I suggest for any first time visit. The building is only open to people taking tours, so I suggest booking in advance through http://www.tenement.org/ There are a lot of interesting things to do in the surrounding area (Chinatown is just South, SoHo is just East), and the Lower East Side is one of the restaurant neighborhoods in the city.

No matter what you do I hope you enjoy your time in NYC!

 

[JesseJB]

Thanks Monkeypunch. Me and my girlfriend are visiting from Seattle in November and are staying a block away from the Tenement Museum. I will have to book a tour.

 

[lefty]

I'll add a thumbs up to the Tenement Museum.

lefty

 

[Another New Yorker]

My experience at the tenement museum was ruined by 3 different Junior High and High school students assigning various projects involving it that resulted in me burying my nose in a notebook.

Sal and Carmine's up around 105sh? and Broadway is very very good Pizza.

Downtown I am not as experienced but I favor Jay's on 16th and 7th avenue as well as one on chambers and church who's name I can't remember for the life of me. It's on the corner right above the ACE so you can't miss it.

Chinatown is tasty but not very healthy. It's not as "westernized" as most lower end chinese restaurants and it is cheaper too. Most of the joints on Mott st. are pretty good in Chinatown. I prefer Da Wang as well as a nicer (nameless?) restaurant across the street from it.

 

[gomestar]

soybean custardy thing with honey from random window on Mott street for 75 cents is

 

[Another New Yorker]

Originally Posted by gomestar

soybean custardy thing with honey from random window on Mott street for 75 cents is

Do you know the cake things that are sold from the stand on Canal a little bit off of Mott? For one dollar? They're almost like honeycombs. Yummerz