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Going to New York - shopping/restaurant recommendations?

Nick V.

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Originally Posted by skefferz
For a romantic dinner I suggest:

Greenwich Village - Blue Hill (American) 75 Washington Place $$$

East Side - Central Park BoatHouse (American) - center of Central Park (East 72nd Street) $$$

East Side - Cafe Boulud (French) 20 East 76th Street $$$$

East Side - Convivio (Italian) 45 Tudor City Place (East 42nd Street) $$$$

East Side - Park Avenue Autumn (American) 100 East 63rd Street $$$



Add: www.rivercafe.com. $$$$
 

gopherblue

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If you like Indian cuisine, you cannot do any better than Indus Valley on Broadway at 100th. Out of the way? Sure. But hands down the best Indian in the city.

As an SF'er, you should visit Abraco coffee in the east village on E 7th at 1st Ave. Owned by a former member of Blue Bottle Coffee. Outstanding coffees. Go at noonish on a weekend and try the prix fixe small food plates. The chef, Elizabeth, is a wizard.
 

TC11201

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
Like I said: Il Gattopardo and Lupa for Italian, Hagi Sake Bar for Japanese. Where is the Roosevelt hotel? Personally, I don't like staying in Midtown. It's easy enough to reach from anywhere by subway or taxi, too crowded during the day, and too desolate at night.

+1 on Il Gattopardo - excellent choice for terrific Neapolitan cuisine, particularly for lunch either pre or post a visit to the MOMA. Nice wine list with a relatively modest markup.

Also +1 on not staying in midtown. Try something around Union Square or further downtown.

Pizza - La Pizza Fresca in the low 20s between Park and B'way, Keste on Bleeker (both aiming to make authentic Neapolitan pizza, and doing a good job), and then there are the old stand-bys - Grimaldis in Brooklyn (under the Bklyn Bridge - great views), Lombardis on Spring St., Johns's, Patsy's in Harlem. I'm most partial to Lombardis of that bunch (Grimaldi's is also good, but the service is horrific, the others are not worth a special trip), but would go with keste or la pizza fresca before either.

Italian - no shortage of excellent Italian in NYC, just don't look for it in Little Italy. Most of my additions are downtown - in addition to Gattopardo and Lupa,
Beppe in Gramercy is good for Tuscan,
Il Mulino is v good, old school Italian
Scalini Fedeli in Tribeca is excellent and great for a romantic dinner, but expensive,
Trattoria l'Incontro if you happen to be in Astoria is superb (perhaps if you're visiting PS1?),
Novita in Gramercy is a superb sleeper - great food, good service, etc.
Peasant in Nolita for dinner is excellent
Babbo is, by now, an old stand-by, but I still think the food is superb.
Otto is also good (not great, but good) - food is good, atmosphere is fun, right around the corner from Washington Square.
Il Buco - excellent.

If you're in the mood for outdoor dining and are willing to put up with merely ok food - Barolo on w b'way has a great garden and excellent wine list, da silvano in the village (6th ave, i think) has quite a scene.

Sushi - Blue Ribbon in the Village or Park Slope, Sugiyama, Yama (big pieces, low prices), Bond St. (NoHo), Tomoe Sushi (W Village), Jewel Bako (E Village)

Random other recs from midtown south and below (all higher end):

Wallse in the far west village. Not Italian, not sushi, not pizza. Austrian (which sounds uninteresting, but is actually surprisingly elegant and delicious - at least there); food is excellent, atmosphere is elegant without being snooty, service is terrific and the wine list is really really interesting - lots of Austrian stuff, but goes well beyond all Gruner all the time (Blaufrankisch / cab blends, etc., etc.). Underappreciated and unique.

Tabla - grab an outdoor seat looking over at Madison Sq Park (now the nicest park in NYC, was a total dump until about 7 yrs ago), get some of their cocktails, order the cheese kulcha as an appetizer, peruse some of the interesting other dishes (Indian fusion), people watch. Repeat.

Tocqueville (near Union Square) - excellent, underappreciated, would be superb for an anniversary dinner - great service, lots of space, relatively quiet. Good wine list with some (but not universal) excellent prices.

Blue Hill - village. Superb American.

If you're into wine -

I Trulli (Gramercy / Murray Hill)
Cru (Washington Sq.)
Veritas (Gramercy / Murray Hill)
 

johnny_flapjack

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Hopefully some of the NYC crowd can chime in with where the good stores are in relation to the sightseeing you want to do - like knowing that the big Century 21 is right by groud zero.

2nd on H&H bagels. The factory is right on west 46th - keep walking until you almost hit the water. You can buy them right there and sit out on a bench by the river to eat them. That's close to where many of the horses are stabled and right by where the Daily show is filmed.

A restaurant that I enjoyed was Landmarc. Good steak, cool atmosphere. Had a great steak, decently priced for what we got. I went to the one in Tribeca, but I guess there's another one at Columbus Circle - which is at the south end of Central Park and closer to where you're staying.

Also a place called Brama Cafe (I think - or cafe brama ) in the East Village ( I think). Good casual breakfast place for whatever day you decide to head south to take a walk out onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
 

TheFoo

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Originally Posted by johnny_flapjack
2nd on H&H bagels. The factory is right on west 46th - keep walking until you almost hit the water. You can buy them right there and sit out on a bench by the river to eat them. That's close to where many of the horses are stabled and right by where the Daily show is filmed.

That's the faux H&H. The real deal is on Broadway in the UWS.
 

johnny_flapjack

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
That's the faux H&H. The real deal is on Broadway in the UWS.


The factory where the make them is the fake one?
eh.gif
 

chorse123

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Originally Posted by johnny_flapjack
Hopefully some of the NYC crowd can chime in with where the good stores are in relation to the sightseeing you want to do - like knowing that the big Century 21 is right by groud zero.

2nd on H&H bagels. The factory is right on west 46th - keep walking until you almost hit the water. You can buy them right there and sit out on a bench by the river to eat them. That's close to where many of the horses are stabled and right by where the Daily show is filmed.

A restaurant that I enjoyed was Landmarc. Good steak, cool atmosphere. Had a great steak, decently priced for what we got. I went to the one in Tribeca, but I guess there's another one at Columbus Circle - which is at the south end of Central Park and closer to where you're staying.


Originally Posted by mafoofan
That's the faux H&H. The real deal is on Broadway in the UWS.

You can get your H&H fix at a lot of places. I stopped going to the UWS when I realized there was a coffee shop a few blocks from my apartment that had fresh H&H for less than the main store (only $0.99, YUM).

Shopping/tourism hmmm... Well Madison isn't far from the park/Met museum/Gugg, Bergdorf/Barneys. Grand Central (and the main public library, worth a stop if you like that kind of thing, the reading room is stunning) is close to 346, which I think is worthy of a visit.

Landmarc is pretty good. I like that they have a lot of half bottles on the wine list.

I just want to reiterate my (already seconded and thirded) recommendation for Jean Georges or Nougatine, the JG restaurant that shares the space. I had dinner last night at the latter and it was fantastic. The lunch is an incredible deal: $24 for any two courses plus desert. Right on Columbus Circle. Just do it.
 

MrDaniels

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
That's the faux H&H. The real deal is on Broadway in the UWS.

And it is right by Zabar's which is worth a look.

www.zabars.com
 

MrDaniels

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Originally Posted by johnny_flapjack
The factory where the make them is the fake one?
eh.gif


They make them fresh at both locations...but at the Upper West Side location you jockey for position with authentic Pushy Upper West Side Jews, which actually improves the bagel flavor.
 

tobinbridge

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
For Italian, we like Lupa, Celeste, and Il Gattopardo. Lupa is Battali's Roman trattoria-style restaurant in the West Village. The other two are Neapolitan/Southern Italian restaurants. Celeste is on the Upper West Side and much more casual than Il Gattopardo, which is in Midtown (54th between 5th and 6th, I think). The paccheri genovese at Il Gattopardo is maybe the best pasta dish I've had in Manhattan--tied with the carbonara at Lupa. As far as I can tell, they're all very authentic to the regional cuisines they report to serve. Lupa is exactly like a little (very good) restaurant you might stumble upon in Rome, down to the decor and ambience. You'd be amazed at how much crappy Italian food gets raved over in the city. If you make a macaroni-and-cheese dish with expensive parmesan, you'll be booked for weeks.

I've never been to Babbo, but I thought Del Posto (Battali's highest end restaurant) was overrated.


I second Il Gattopardo. I was there this past winter with my girlfriend before the Opera and it was bellissimo!
 

TheFoo

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Originally Posted by chorse123
You can get your H&H fix at a lot of places. I stopped going to the UWS when I realized there was a coffee shop a few blocks from my apartment that had fresh H&H for less than the main store (only $0.99, YUM).

Originally Posted by MrDaniels
They make them fresh at both locations...but at the Upper West Side location you jockey for position with authentic Pushy Upper West Side Jews, which actually improves the bagel flavor.

Okay, so I was off on my distinctions. Here is what I dug up:

There's two bagel companies using the name 'H&H' in Manhattan. The original is the one that runs the UWS store, where the bagels are made fresh on location. They have a factory in Midtown, too. Reportedly, the bagels do not come out the same. The other company runs an UES store under the name "H&H Bagels Midtown East" (or something similar) that is entirely unrelated and is supposedly not nearly as good.

So, as far as I can tell, there are three distinctly different 'H&H' bagels that you can get in Manhattan, but it's the UWS store that carries the reputation. Anyway, the whole point is to get them warm--I assume if you're getting them from another source, they're already cold.
 

Mr. Moo

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Guys, thank you for the recommendations - keep them coming.
smile.gif
I am pulling the trigger on The Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown West(ish). It just seems like it will be livelier there, and it's right by Grand Central (a block away).
 

TheFoo

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Originally Posted by Mr. Moo
Guys, thank you for the recommendations - keep them coming.
smile.gif


I am pulling the trigger on The Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown West(ish). It just seems like it will be livelier there, and it's right by Grand Central (a block away).


Dude, everyone recommended against staying in Midtown.
 

teddieriley

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
Dude, everyone recommended against staying in Midtown.

Seeing as a non-NYCers opinion doesn't count, FWIW I thought my stay at the Grand Central Hyatt earlier this summer was convenient, and more than adequate. On my next trip, I would see about staying somewhere else for a different experience. But really, you're only in your hotel to sleep a few hours and wash-up before dinner. But I defer to the experts on this one.
 

Mr. Moo

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
Dude, everyone recommended against staying in Midtown.
Actually, I think Randall lives in the UWS and vehemently opposed staying there... But I know what you mean - however I wasn't really given any alternatives that were in our price range and which were explained as to why we should stay in place A vs Midtown. The Roosevelt seems to be 1) Conveniently located, 2) Relatively inexpensive, 3) Historic in a "fun to stay there" sort of way, 4) Conveniently located (I know I mentioned this, but it's worth saying twice). Why should I stay anywhere but Midtown? You have to understand from my point of view, as someone who has no knowledge of "why" I should do something in New York that doesn't make sense to me, aka "why" I should stay seemingly further from places I want to see, in an over all less convenient location. Something like "people get shot near the Roosevelt" or "the nearest subway is 3 miles away" or "it's not safe at all" would be valid reasons to avoid that area. But those are all false, and all the reviews rave about its location for tourists. I get that we would experience more of "what life is truly like" for New Yorkers in the UWS, but that's not really why we're going to NY...
 

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