Restaurant Recommendations mid-city Manhattan

Old Oct 9th, 2016, 09:47 PM
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Restaurant Recommendations mid-city Manhattan

We will be staying in mid-city Manhattan,not too far from Times Square. I'm a bit concerned that a lot of the nearby restaurants will be tourist traps with not particularly good food so would love your suggestions. I'm not talking about "fine dining" but something tasty that we can eat before attending a Broadway show. My daughter is vegetarian (I'm not) so any vegetarian restaurants would be particularly appreciated so that she is not always limited to the 2-3 vegetarian options available at a normal restaurant.

I'm sure that outside the Times Square area we shouldn't have any trouble locating some nice places to eat but recommendations in other parts of Manhattan wouldn't go amiss, eg Chinatown, Greenwich, Hell's Kitchen.
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Old Oct 10th, 2016, 05:55 AM
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Near Times Square, along 9th Ave in the 40s & 50s are many reasonably priced ethnic restaurants.
Even if there are only a few vegetarian options at a restaurant, since your daughter will only be ordering one dish, as long as there's one she likes, isn't that enough?
In that area, we've had good meals at Basera (Indian), Pongsri Thai, China Green, and Kashkaval Gardens (Mediterranean).
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Old Oct 10th, 2016, 01:18 PM
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Your impression is correct. While there are places with very good food in the area near Times Square, just about all restaurants, good and bad, offer pretty poor value as compared with what you might find elsewhere. And yes, the area is stuffed with tourist traps and chain restaurants.

But if you need to eat in the area and are willing to walk a couple of blocks, Xian Famous Foods is very reliable, and very popular. It is a branch of a food stall that first opened in a Chinese mall in the Queens (outside Manhattan)Chinatown. It has now expanded and there is one on West 45th Street. It is clean but not built for lingering. Many spicy dishes and enough to satisfy a vegatarian.

http://xianfoods.com/menu/


More of a regular restaurant, Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns and Ramen is famous for their soup dumplings including veg, ones; they have various noodle dishes as well as cooked and chilled fare.

I eat often at the original restaurant, in Flushing, Queens and would recommend this newer branch. I've heard it is good but, full disclosure, have not been there. They have a number of Shanghainese dishes on the menu; ask if they have kaufu, a dish made with wheat gluten that is on the menu for my last meal on earth....their version is excellent.


https://www.beyondmenu.com/31689/new...#group_1036626



A bit more pricey, and more attractive, Taboon on Tenth Avenue would also satisfy a vegetarian with falafel and, for the non-veg diner, seafood and meat dishes:

http://www.taboononline.com/dinner-menu


Another idea would be to visit the Gotham West Food Market, which has quite a few stalls and small restaurants. You can try excellent ramen at Ivan Ramen, good tapas and other dishes at El Colmado, sushi, sandwiches,, Mexican fare....and some of the best NYC ice Cream at Ample Hills. It is a fun place--on 11th AVenue near 45th Street.

http://gothamwestmarket.com/contact/
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Old Oct 10th, 2016, 01:19 PM
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Here is NYTimes review of Kung Fu Steamed Buns:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/di...s-kitchen.html
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Old Oct 12th, 2016, 03:23 PM
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Thank you for your recommendations. They look great. In particular, thanks for letting me know about the Gotham West Market. I hadn't even heard of it before. Definitely somewhere to try out and probably on more than one occasion.
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Old Oct 15th, 2016, 11:38 AM
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Hells Kitchen is just west of the Times Square area so there are loads of good options there that should be walking distance from your hotel. Lots of good pizza...DonAntonio, Capizzi, Merilu. A good Italian with nice pasta and other things is Mercato on west 39 st. Gazala Place will have veggie options.

My veggie friend's favorite restaurant is ABC Kitchen inside the home store ABC Carpet on Broadway &19th st. It's a fun stop to have a browse n the store. I like ABC Cocina, also in the store.

Dovetail on the upper west side has a veggie dinner on Monday nights that's great for $58 for 3 courses; they have all veggie and veggie focused options.
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Old Oct 16th, 2016, 07:21 AM
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I like ABC Kitchen very much but unless you try weeksk ahead, it is near impossible to book at prime dining times; it also gets very noisy as the evening progresses.

I'm waiting for the former chef, Dan Kluger, to open his own place, which should be soon, and will focus on veg dishes.

ABC Cocina is excellent with more inventive food than ABC Kitchen, and easier to book.

Both of those are inside ABC Home store (noto the carpet store across the street) but their entrances are on the street.

Jean Georges (who overssses both ABC resturants, is set to open a third, which will be a vegan restaurant, also inside the ABC Home store, but date seems to have been delayed.

Dovetail is excellent as well.

But none of those are remotely close to the theatre district.
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Old Oct 16th, 2016, 08:24 AM
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This one is easy. IMO the Trattoria dell'Arte on 7th ave between 57th and 58th is hands down the best restaurant around for a mixed vegetarian and non vegetarian party. DW is a vegetarian, and we ate there just this past Friday. They have a great number of veggie dishes and one can get an assortment of 3 veggies for $22 or 6 for $32. Portions are large and DW was well satisfied with the 3 veggie assortment. These are not just the usual veggies, but each is prepared in a unique way. There are also vegetarian entrees. One can even sit at the vegetarian bar with an array of about 15+ veggie preparations before you to choose from. Although not a vegetarian, I ordered the vegetarian osso bucco which was based on a huge portobello mushroom. I do not know why it is called osso bucco because it was more like eggplant parmigiana made with portobello instead of eggplant. It was a nice looking dish, delicious and very filling. I also recommend their desserts. The cannoli made with a tube based on almonds is wonderful and suitable for those who prefer to avoid gluten. Entrees are in the $30 range and reservations are usually necessary. This restaurant is hugely popular and celebrity sightings are not uncommon. Dress code is the dressy side of casual.
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 02:02 AM
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"But none of those are remotely close to the theatre district."

Sigh..but the first FIVE places I listed ARE and the OP also said "recommendations in other parts of Manhattan wouldn't go amiss".
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 07:16 AM
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Mc: You and I have very different tastes in restaurants, as we both know from several previous encounters on this forum.
If the OP wants to disicuss veg friendly places anyplace in Manhattan, I'm ready with responses that will include places I've actually visited, not just heard about. But that would be a very long thread.

Most (not all) of the restaurants in the theatre district are just what the OP wants to avoid: Tourist traps with not particularly good food. It all depends on one's standards. With so many fabulous restaurants in NYC, I would dine in that area only when absolutly necessary. I happen to live in midtown Manhattan and although iti would be convenient for me to remain nearby, I almost always travel to another area to dine. And I always choose my restaurants with care.

In the category of TMI:
tonight we are heading to Williamsburg (Lilia)
tomorrow night, Sichuan Chinese in College Point/Flushing (Little Pepper)
last week, West Village (Babbo)
week before last , Noho (le Cou Cou and Estela)

It would be a lot more convenient for me to dash over to one of those places in the theatre district. But guess what, with a few exceptions, mostly on the higher end. I'd eat there only for convenience and even then, would probably just dine at home beforoe a play.

So that's about it, SIGH, SIGH. We are just not on the same plate as far as food and restaurants go. There's room in the dining room for varying tastes.



Sigh
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 08:18 AM
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For the OP, or anyone else wanting or needing to find restaurants in midtown (apart from excellent and very expensive stars like Gabriel Kreuther, Betony, Jean Georges, Marea, Le Bernardin, The Modern Dining Room, Aquavit, Esca and a few others that I would recommend with varying desgrees of enthusiasm), this dowloadable guide might be helpful; I find the reviews on this site to be fairly dependable most of the time:


https://www.theinfatuation.com/featu...survival-guide
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 11:13 AM
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Actually ek, you, GASP, actually agreed with some recommendations I made above. If you consider the midtown places I mentioned (which are in Hells Kitchen) tourist trips, you're dead wrong. You continue to attack my recommendations for blood sport. Get off your high horse. You're not the only word on food on this forum or any other.
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 11:37 AM
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I don't even understand this concept that most restaurants in the TS area are "tourist traps". What does that mean? You can get good and bad food anywhere. Is Carnegie Deli a tourist trap? It's been there for many years.

I ate in Marseille a couple weeks ago and it wasn't the best restaurant I've ever been to, of course, but it was okay (fries were good, steak cooked well), is that a tourist trap? It was just around the corner from the show I went to (the Humans), and the same owner with practically the same menu owns Nice Matin where I've also eaten on the upper West Side. The quality seemed the same to me, so is one of those a tourist trap and the others not? I can see if you lived in that area you would avoid it just for the crowds, of course,or any special dinner out. I wouldn't stay in that area if I weren't doing theater so much for a couple days due to the crowds.

ANyway, Marseille was okay and did have a couple vegetarian things on the menu but I wouldn't call it a destination restaurant for vegetarians. (some pasta as I recall, as well as vegetable cous-cous and pumpkin risotto). But it is certainly convenient, the place is fun and the staff were all very nice. Very noisy, though. COuld be a choice for convenience and does have something the vegetarian could order, plenty for non-vegetarians.

I'm just a regular nonpicky diner, though, not a foodie nor do I care as much about this stuff as some people, so maybe my opinions wouldn't be acceptable to those who only want fine dining. I just think for the average person, it would be fine.
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Old Oct 17th, 2016, 04:51 PM
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Shandy, a restaurant we've enjoyed a couple of times near the Theatre District is :
Thalia
828 Eighth Ave. @ 50th

You can check out their menu online. Good luck in your search and have a good trip.
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Old Oct 18th, 2016, 07:18 AM
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Chistina: Did you know that Carnegie Dei was closing soon?

The tourist trap things has to do with the vast amount of tourists in the area due to the many hotels and the theatres. Rents are so high as to preclude interesting, chef-driven restaurants from opening. (The kindn of places Ii tend to like, personally) So you get many restaurants that cater to the common deniminator of diners, with tried and true dishes, many of them affiliated with both nation-wide and local chains.

"Tourist trap" is not my own designation, it is pretty well known among food centric people that midtown is a poor area for interesting, value-based dining. That same farm-raised salmon dish that you will find in midtown will be probably a few dollars more in another, less tourist heavy area. And the theatre district counts onn aq captive audience--diners who have to remaiin nearby in order to be close to theatres. So they do not have to be as up on their game as far as food goes. The comments of some people here prove that point. As I said above, there is room at the table for everyone, and all points of view. That's why many of those midtown places are crowded...some poeple find them just fine.


Rents are a deciding factor in restaurant success, no where more so than in prime tourist areas....it's just economics.


That does not mean you cannot get a good meal in any one of a number of places. But if you look on any of the lists of "best" in NYC, from well-regarded food-savvy sources, you are not going to find many in midtown West, with the exception of the high priced venues that I mentioned above, which are very good restaurants by anyone's standard.

Anyway, just my take..as I said, I live in the area and rarely remain here when I go out to eat.

But my standards are different from many on this forum; I live and breathe food so tend to be much more critical...I don't like to spend my $$$ on mediocre dining, as I can turn that out at home!
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Old Oct 18th, 2016, 10:43 AM
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About the Carnegie Deli - yes it is closing soon - it has been going downhill for a long time. The line outside was quite long. The Second Avenue Deli now relocated to 3rd avenue and 33rd street is IMO and the opinion of many the best deli in the City. It's worth a trip if you like deli.

My favorite Carnegie Deli Joke.

Sadie goes to a psychic to contact Sam, her recently deceased husband. The psychic says that she should go to where Sam had spent a lot of time and call out to him. Sam had been a waiter at the Carnegie Deli so she went there, took a seat and called out "Sam." A faint voice answered "Sadie, is that you?" "Yes Sam, but I can barely hear you darling, come closer." "I can't my dear Sadie." "Why not my love?" "It's not my table."
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Old Oct 18th, 2016, 02:39 PM
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I am envious of ekscrunchy's Lilia reservation. I've tried and failed to get one, but we are only on a quick visit with one night free for dinner.

We have a dinner reservation at Lupa, and I feel a little disappointed.

Thinking about switching to Il Buco Alimentari if anyone has feedback.

And of course, this has nothing to do with midtown or the theater district.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2016, 12:19 PM
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Dafni Greek Taverna, on W42nd Street, across from the Port Authority/ subway station, but is not a tourist trap. There are vegetarian choices on the menu, in addition to salads.

Zen Palate on 9th Avenue is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant.

Uncle Nick's on 9th Avenue,,there is also one on 8th Avenue now. Greek food in a casual setting, has vegetarian options too . lots of fresh fish
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Old Oct 22nd, 2016, 01:38 PM
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I had a wonderful meal at Lupa!
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Old Oct 22nd, 2016, 02:12 PM
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Lupa is wonderful, but midtown? I don't think so. I usually do lunch there. Food is great, but not much ambiance for dinner.
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