A challenge to New Yorkers

First there have been many recent discussions about restaurants in NYC. If you go view by state above and put in New York that will give you some insight.

Go on-line to Time Out-New York, Village Voice, and New York Magazine. They have various sections about what is currently going on in NYC.

Then maybe you can give us specifc questions reagrding budget and what you do and do not want to see including the type of music and sights.

There are about 300 sq miles of beyond the obvious places to explore. It's your challenge to find them.

I had a great time with some friends last week at the after party in the basement theater at the West Bank Cafe, on 42nd Street at 9th Avenue. Every Friday night around 11:00 there is a piano player who will accompany members of the audience and the staff who sing show tunes. Very entertaining, funny host, no cover or minimum. Lasts very late.

Other ideas from our friends' weekend can be found in my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/friends-and-the-city-nikkis-new-york-weekend.cfm

New York is well covered on this site -- a search is a good idea. Also would recommend doing some guidebook research.

Please be very very careful about renting an apartment. The horror stories about scams, lost money etc. are endless. There are apartment style hotels like the affinia.com group that will take the tension out of figuring out whether what you're looking at is real or not and whether the person asking for your money is actually in possession of said apt. End of Sept. is a gorgeous but pricey time for hotels, btw. If you haven't already settled on airline tickets and are flexible, the first week in Sept. just before our bank holiday weekend Labor Day would be much less money. You might want to register for email alerts on sales from Affinia and wait or book something that's cancelable with no penalty. I really urge you to avoid any apt. rental where you're asked to wire money into someone bank account. That's usually a clear sign of a scam. But using paypal is also no guarantee it's on the up and up. Quikbook.com and kayak.com are sites for shopping hotels.

foodsofnyc.com is one of several cos. that does food tasting tours combining learning about the food and the neighborhood. There are also pizza tours, one in Brooklyn and another in Manhattan. http://www.asliceofbrooklyn.com/
http://www.scottspizzatours.com/
accomplicenewyork.com is part scavenger hunt, part tour, part performance art and they do 2 different neighborhoods.

Some useful websites:
menupages.com for restaurants by neighborrhood and cuisine.
nymag.com has a good search engine for shopping, restaurants etc. They also have basic descriptions and highlights of various neighborhoods at nymag.com/realestate if you scroll down to the bottom. They also have a guide for bargains (might be a bit out of date) at nymag.com/cheap. Goldstar.com is a website that gets very good discounts for lots of stuff but you'd have to wait til a month or three before the trip.

Not being middle-aged or, alas, ever gorgeous, I have no advice for you.

Oh c`mon E-M ,you would have been gorgeous once ,if only because you were/are young.Thanks nclaurie ,we have been well warned about the scams ,and are proceeding with care.Nikki ,sounds like lotsa fun, please keep ideas coming.Dates are set, we can be a little later ,alas not earlier.

The issue around apartment rentals in New York is not limited to the multitude of scams out there. By and large, short-term (less than 30 days) apartment rentals are illegal. I would implore you to read this thread on tripadvisor before you proceed with an apartment rental: http://tinyurl.com/54pmqu

New York has tons of places most tourists don;t see - including literally dozens of museums and hundreds of galleries.

About a month out go to the web site of New York Magazine -which lists hundreds of special events - searchable by date and type of event - look at that for options. For nightlife, check that and Time Out New York.

You might also try to get a reservation with a Big Apple Greeter. You can try to reserve time with a volunteer who can show you in detail one of the parts of the city in which you are interested.