Going to New York city next week (5-10 November)

Going for some RR, just my wife and I.

Staying pretty central in Manhattan and would like to know some good recomendations as to where the good places to eat, drink and be merry !

Lunch and dinner recomendations mostly needed and also where the best places to shop for wine in the area.

Thanks in advance to all, I know these subjects are discussed over and over, but fresh idea's are always appreciated.

TIA, again!!!

Board-O and the other New Yorkers will weigh in with good suggestions, but I've always enjoyed Balthazar for lunch, in the SoHo area. The place was the subject of a negative thread a while back, but I've been about half a dozen times for lunch and always thought it was first rate. Never had a problem with service. The goat cheese tart is sublime, along with the best steak frites anywhere.

Enjoy your stay, it's a wonderful city (to visit).

Try Bice on 54th and Madison or Patsy's 56th and 8th. If you go to Patsy's, get the sausage and peppers and ask for their meatballs for an appetizer. Del Frisco on 6th Avenue (at 49th street) – great steaks and power atmosphere. Joel Rubicon’s restaurant in the Four Seasons on 58th between Madison and Park – off the grid delicious but bring your wallet. Aureole on 61st between Madison and Park - great romantic dinner.

For lunch one day, check out Otto Enoteca Pizzeria...owned by Mario Batali and is great for lunch. It's on 5th Avenue.

So many shops that I'm sure you have heard and read about in NYC but check out Crush Wine on 57th near Madison. It's a great store, and be sure to check out their walk in in the back. Very knowledgable staff, and it's quite a pleasure to buy from there...online too at: http://www.crushwineco.com/

Those are just a few of our fav's....so many places to check out though!

-mJ

quote:

Originally posted by markjahnke:
Try Bice on 54th and Madison or Patsy's 56th and 8th. If you go to Patsy's, get the sausage and peppers and ask for their meatballs for an appetizer. Del Frisco on 6th Avenue (at 49th street) – great steaks and power atmosphere. Joel Rubicon’s restaurant in the Four Seasons on 58th between Madison and Park – off the grid delicious but bring your wallet. Aureole on 61st between Madison and Park - great romantic dinner.

For lunch one day, check out Otto Enoteca Pizzeria...owned by Mario Batali and is great for lunch. It's on 5th Avenue.

So many shops that I'm sure you have heard and read about in NYC but check out Crush Wine on 57th near Madison. It's a great store, and be sure to check out their walk in in the back. Very knowledgable staff, and it's quite a pleasure to buy from there...online too at: http://www.crushwineco.com/

Those are just a few of our fav's....so many places to check out though!

-mJ

Don't go to Bice. You're on vacation and there are Bice's all across the country.

I second the Crush recomendation for a mid-town wine shop.

Esca is fantastic for fish near the theater district.

If you provide more specifics, I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas.

Enjoy and welcome,

Neil

And in case you missed it, we recently published a review of New York wine bars. Enjoy your stay here.

RT

Vin, what types of cuisine do you prefer? Is cost a consideration?

For a great and inexpensive Chinese meal, go to Wo-Hop, 15 and 17 Mott St. If you consider it, let me know and tell you their best dishes. You can bring wine (Champagne).

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
Vin, what types of cuisine do you prefer? Is cost a consideration?

Shorter to list what I don't like: Chicken liver
About the only thing I trully hate !!
Bad memorys from monday night dinner when I was little !!

Cost consideration is not really an issue, like yourself I don't like paying $45.00 for a $20.00 steak.

quote:

Originally posted by Robert Taylor:
And in case you missed it, we recently published a review of New York wine bars. Enjoy your stay here.

RT

Thanks Mr. Taylor, I will give some of these a try !

quote:

Originally posted by indybob:
Board-O and the other New Yorkers will weigh in with good suggestions, but I've always enjoyed Balthazar for lunch, in the SoHo area. The place was the subject of a negative thread a while back, but I've been about half a dozen times for lunch and always thought it was first rate. Never had a problem with service. The goat cheese tart is sublime, along with the best steak frites anywhere.

Enjoy your stay, it's a wonderful city (to visit).

Soung good... My type of place for lunch !
Will let you know !

We had a bad experience at Balthazar and haven't gone back. Best restaurants in the city, other than the extremely high-priced ones you've heard about:

Classical French- Le Perigord

Steak- Les Halles
Del Frisco's
Sparks
Keen's

Country French- Park Bistro
Montparnasse
Nice Matin
Chelsea Bistro
American- Tribeca Grill
Union Square Cafe
Gramercy Tavern
Bridge Cafe

Casual great Chinese- Wo Hop
Sam's Noodle Shop

Jewish home cooking- Sammy's Roumanian (pack Alka Seltzer)

Need more?

Board-O,

Sorry you've had a bad experience at Balthazar. I guess I've been very lucky (or you've been unlucky). Agree with Sam's Noodle Shop. I had an interesting egg and shrimp creation there that was just delicious.

Thanks Board-O,
Some I have been to in the past but I will definatly try some of the others !
I'm always looking to broaden my restaurant knowledge !!

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
Casual great Chinese- Wo Hop

It almost seems wrong to go a place with such a name (unless you're running for the pageant).

love going to spark's for their steak and great wine list (very reasonable)
also like going to gramercy tavern, usc and 11 madison

I found Union Square Cafe to be uninspiring. Good, but nothing notable. One of my favorite places in the city is the Orchard.

Oh my just got back a couple of days ago. I was born and raised in NYC.

Steak - Dylan Prime in Tribecca and BLT on 57th. Amazing wine lists especially at BLT.

Asian-chinense fusion - Buddakan

Cuban food is big now, so Victor's Cafe or Socialista

Italian - Del Posto

French - La Goulue on Madison sort of more Bistro but the cheese souffle is really good.
Bouley is also excellent

Megu for susihi or Nobu 57 is good

For casual chinese I recommend Our Place Shanghai Tea Garden on 55th ST near Lex

For BBQ got to Blue Smoke

Mexican Rosa Mexicano, Dos Caminos, Argave,

Shopping, depends what you want, one of my favorite stores is Saks. Madison is high end very nice boutiques. Barney's Bergdorfs, Bloomingdales, All depends on your prices and what you really want. Hollywould in Lolita is nice for shoes too.

Thanks for the input so far !!
Here's our first full day:
Went to Balthazar for dinner last night, after a day of walking and shopping.

I have to say we had a great time, mostly by luck and fate !
We had made reservations in the afternoon and when we got there they were packed !
We were promply seated at our table but our neibours were quite close. On such short notice I was not expecting more and also it was quite early(6:30pm) so the after work crowd was still there.

This is were it got to be fun:
After ordering our drinks and taking in the menu the maitre D comes over with a big smile, the tables to the left and right of us had just cleared so it was obvious he wanted us to move to make room for a large group. My wife says no problem as long as we aren't near the exit, toilets or kitchen entrance... Well he says to us: Would not ask if I didn't have something to offer: So he offered us a booth !!

So we moved over had a great meal and on top of the booth we ordered one dessert to share and they offered us a plate of profiteroles on the house. The creme brulee was comped also.
So kudos to them for the attentive service by not only the maitre D but the rest of the service staff were superb also.

I had the steak- frite (very nice)
My wife had the Goat cheese tart as appetiser (Nice also)
As entree my wife had the Brandade de Morue and side salad (Very nice also)

Nice half bottle of CdP Vieux Telegraphe La crau 2005.
The price on the full bottle was very good ($99.00) but could not see myself having a full bottle on my own. My wife wanted white so she had selections by the glass.

Thanks again !

Nice posing Vinaigre
Keep em' coming. A week in NYC vicariously

Another recommend for Crush. I've purchased from them before. NICE selection!

Yes, keep them coming. Glad you enjoyed Balthazar.

Cheers,

I'm in NYC this week for business. Went to Les Halles on Park ave. last night. The wine list had a great selection of bottles under $50. 7 or 8 selections by the glass for red and white plus a couple of rose, mostly French (of course) I don't think anything was over $200 except for the $1,150 bottle of 2003 Screagle! Seemed out of place. The steak frites was great....nice cut of meat. Small portion but it's only $20. Some of the best fries I've ever had. Overall a nice place for an inexpensive (for Manhattan) dinner.

Saturday I have reservations at Daniel so I need to save up for that!

Also went to a great Mexican place on Monday night called Pampano. It's at 209 East 49th. Really cool modern Mexican decor and food. I had the swordfish entree and it was incredible. Very moist and tender fish along with a spicy red sauce that was delicious. The wine selection by the glass wasn't that great. Only 5 choices and they were out of Rioja. Nice stems though. Highly reccomended

Compass on the UWS has 50% the wine list on Sunday Nights. Highly recommended -

We had an 02 Growers Champagne and a 04 Brewer-Clifton Melville Pinot that ended up being about $60 or 65.

For BYO, Elyssa Dido was excellent on Orchard Street - and inexpensive.

Came back on Friday. Had a great end of week.

We walked all over the place.
Went to see "Stomp" on Tuesday night.
Really enjoyable and funny.

Walked to Brooklyn on Wednesday and had some pizza at Grimaldy's and hot chocolate at Jacques de Torres, was a nice walk a got to see a nice view I had not done in the past.

Went to see "Wicked" on Wednesday night.
Now that was really good, too bad they are on strike now (For those that want to go this week).
A play I recommend for all ages ! Nice side story to the Wizard of Oz.

Had lunch at Graemercy Tavern on Thursday, nice clean and fresh food with a nice selection of wines by the glass.

Went to supper at L'Ecole, the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute where the students put the things they learn into pratice.
Very nice presentation, good and very well prepared, you could see they were students but better than a lot of restaurants.
It was cool because Jacques Pepin was there at the same time entertaning some guests (He is part of the school). And after he got up and checked on a few tables, did not get too us but it was nice to see he was interested in some feed back !! The price was worth it ($40.00 for five courses) and the wine list was good and very reasonable $$.

All and all a nice time spent with my wife, a needed rest and good "couple" time !!

Thanks for all the recommendations.

Ended-up not going to any wine shops... There were some releases here and I had some friends that stood in line and spent my wine allocation for the rest of the year !! (Thanks guys, you know who you are !!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vinaigre,