Theresa

Hello! We are arriving at 1pm at LaGuardia on Friday and hope to make it to the Michelangelo at 51st and Seventh by 2pm. We are looking for a nice late lunch spot before we start shopping. Thanks. BTW, we like pretty much any kind of food, however, we plan on chinese after theater so we will avoid that for lunch.

rqf

There are any number of decent restaurants on 7th Avenue from 50th to 57th. Pick out whichever appeals to you.

Patrick

After than wonderfully helpful answer from rqf, I suppose you don't need any more help. But here are a couple of thoughts:
The time may be a bit of a problem as many nice restaurants don't seat for lunch after either 2 or 2:30. I was going to suggest Ruby Foo's which serves straight through the afternoon, I believe, but since you've mentioned the Chinese for later. . .
You might want to get right into the New York spirit and head up 7th few blocks to the Carnegie Deli. It's always a pain to eat there at breakfast or lunch due to the lines, but at 2:30 or so it would probably be easy and relatively quick so you can get to your shopping and you can have a wonderful "pastrami fix".
If you want a more upscale place, I believe both the JUdson Grill and Cite Grill both between 6th and 7th and on 52nd and 51st respectively serve late lunch. Maybe some of our NYC regulars will have more suggestions. I wish Zagat's included serving times!

KT

One of my favorite midtown lunch spots is the restaurant in Saks Fifth Avenue, which is on an upper floor and overlooks Fifth Ave, Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's. Since you are planning to shop, I suspect that Fifth Ave and Saks would be on your agenda so it would be the perfect place to start!

Lori

I say get right to the shopping, and maybe grab a hot dog from a street vendor.

Lizzie

China Grill: 53rd between 5th and 6th. Great lobster pancakes. Fun place.
Christer's: 55th between 6th and 7th. Scandinavian. Cozy, delicious.
Rue 57 Brasserie: 57th and 6th (?). Loud, fun, better-than-decent food.
Brasserie 8 1/2 is also good and fun.
Osteria del Circo.
Remi, 53rd between 5th and 6th, is delicious and expensive.

Dale

Skip the long lunch and pick up the best soup you've ever eaten at Soup Kitchen International on 55th near 8th Avenue. You can find a bench somewhere nearby to eat at or take it back to your hotel room. It really is incredible. This is the same guy that they called the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld.

rqf

Patrick: I found your reference to my note gratutious. If a comment bothers you just ignore it.

[email protected]

And don't tell me I don't know how to spell "gratuitous".

susan

Hey, rqfgqr, or whatever your name is, you think Patrick's comment was gratuitous? What do you call telling someone that there are a lot of restaurants in a 7 block area of New York, just pick one -- helpful????

rqf

Susan: Following is a message posted in another thread

Message: We are arriving to our hotel on a Friday around the noon hour. We had planned on going to take the harbour cruise.
Are there any restaurants in that area, If not, where should we stop first?

This is a reply sent, not by me.
Message: The Circle Line harbor cruise departs from near the South Street Seaport, a complex full of shops and restaurants. Just head down to the SSS and choose a place that appeals to you.

I guess there is someone else out there who feels people are capable of making their own decisions. Incidentally the message was posted by a frequent contributor to this board who always comes up with excellent advice.

What did your message contribiute? Absolutely nothing.