Recommend me a trendy NYC restaurant

[scientific]

I have some small town (small country really) out-of-towners coming in next week and I'd like to take them to a trendy, buzzing NYC restaurant. my default option for this is Tao in midtown, but I realize that any real New Yorker (I live in Connecticut ... lulz) would sneer at this choice. so i'm wondering if anyone can suggest a modern day equivalent. at the same time it would be nice to expand my address book.

on the other hand my guests are coming from the home of Buddha so it will be hard to resist that statue ... but let's see what u got for me. price pp should be <$40

 

[indesertum]

jean georges or emp prix fixe for lunch?

 

[toothsomesound]

eataly. lol

 

[scientific]

the prix fixe lunch is not a bad idea but 1) my guests aren't really connoisseurs and 2) im really aiming for a night time spot that captures the energy of NYC.

emp looks great, will have to add that to my own list. too bad i can no longer bill this stuff to my parents

 

[venessian]

Famous Famiglia Pizza, 50th/Broadway.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/we...th-crazy-broad

j/k.

 

[scientific]

wow trump really? dinner in times square? le bernardin was a block away ...

eataly website was too complicated to understand

 

[Yachting Man]

21 Club
I wouldn't call it trendy by any means, but there are many fun little objects in there (hanging on the ceiling) that prompt for great conversations.

When I'm not away on business I'm there at least once a week for lunch, dinner or drinks typically with clients.

Btw, Tao is really overrated.

 

[scientific]

i know everyone hates Tao except me

actually im not sure how it could be overrated since all i ever hear is ppl trash talking it.

21 Club looks interesting but not what i'm going for. actually it reminds me though i have to keep in mind that i'll be entertaining some tourists who just went around doing touristy things all day and may not be well dressed. so maybe i need to revise my goals to more casual

 

[changy]

Originally Posted by scientific

on the other hand my guests are coming from the home of Buddha so it will be hard to resist that statue ... but let's see what u got for me. price pp should be <$40

Are they from Nepal? Do you like a restaurant better if it has a giant Jesus in the front? You should also take them to Buddahkan and Buddah Bar just in case they don't get the hint.

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by scientific

i know everyone hates Tao except me

actually im not sure how it could be overrated since all i ever hear is ppl trash talking it.
The Tao in Las Vegas is the single highest-grossing independent restaurant in the United States. It features seminaked women, gaming consoles, poolside plasma-screen TVs, and preprogrammed iPods all amid a proliferation of Buddhas, pulsating music, and sensuous decor. It is doubtful that either owners or customers are alive to the absurdity of co-opting the Tao, the ancient Chinese wisdom path of nonattachment and surrender, to support such lavish excess, or of using images of Buddha, the teacher of serene mindfulness, to shill food, liquor, and games of chance.

 

[Axelman 17]

Go to one of the many awful restaurants in the meatpacking district, any should suffice and they will be much more current than Tao

 

[AvariceBespoke]

Here are some choices:

1) Lavo
2) Lure fishbar
3) La Esquina
4) Travertine

 

[gomestar]

Q. I need you to recommend a restaurant. I'm a 35-year-old professional in Manhattan, and I am looking for a place where I can take my boys from the office to meet this smoking-hot girl I hooked up with at Lily Pond in the Hamptons this summer.

Me and my team, we're big into that whole meatpacking district thing. We like steak, veal. Maybe Italian food? There's one dude from Mexico City who eats only fish, which is weird. Maybe this girl would eat fish, too. I don't know. We've been to something like 10 restaurants now, and I think her favorite foods are truffle fries and ketchup. But she drinks Champagne. So maybe bottle service?

Speaking of, this place has to be exclusive. I need a little exclusivity to offset the fact that I'm taking a girl to dinner with six dudes who do math for a living, and not six girls who look just like her. Usually, she likes to eat in a room with women who look like beautiful giraffes and dudes tall enough to look down on them.

Which is, by the way, a message I totally endorse: I'm a former rugby back, 6-foot-3, 220!

Finally, if there's a guy in the restroom who could hand me a towel after I'm done doing my business in there and washing my hands, maybe give me a mint or something? I would be into that. Old school! I would tip that guy $5 just for being there, you know?

 

[toothsomesound]

lol

 

[scientific]

hm Lavo sounds awesome but too over the top for my older guests. i'm totally down to roll w/ rugby bro's crew, although sounds like they already got too many dogs and not enough buns tbh.

but im not down w/ those bathroom dudes and almost never tip them.

ok let me try a different tack - any good chilled out rooftop spots worth considering? possibly in soho or somewhere thereabouts, or wherever. doesn't have to be as scene-y. that have heat lamps in case it gets chilly like tonight? alright.