Nice report. I've only been once, to a PBS dinner with Lidia (and about a thousand others!) so can't really comment about a dinner experience. But the pretentious factor sounds really high and that alone would turn me off.

I hate the music at Babbo but the food is really good and it is pretty low key and casual.

I LOVE Casa Mono but have not been since Chef Andy Nusser left. It may not replicate the experience of eating in Spain, and the chairs are uncomfortable, but every dish I have had there has been good. I've not been to TiaPol or Quinto Pino yet and would like to go soon...but can you sit down and eat at those?

Thank you.

I've not been to TiaPol or Quinto Pino yet and would like to go soon...but can you sit down and eat at those?

I have not been to Quinto Fino but yes you can sit at Tia Pol.

Have you been to a tapas restaurant in NYC where you cannot sit?

No, but then I've not been to many tapas places in NYC!!

Boqueria, Mercat--that about completes my list as far as I can remember!

Bookmarking

How was Esca BTW? I looked at their menu and it looked wonderful.

I have been looking at some menus (Del Posto, Esca, Abbocatto etc) and have singled out which dishes sound wonderful.....Abbocotto's menu looks divine. Anyone tried it lately?

I agree that Chowhound is rather shallow. For knowledgable reviews, etc. its eGullet.org.

We've been to Abboccato a number of times; it is very convenient for pre-Carnegie Hall dinners. We initially liked it a lot, but food and service lapses left us with the impression that we might not go back. And, we haven't for probably a year now. There are just so many other choices.

Thanks Adu~ We spied Del Posto while walking the High Line and had a moment of wondering. We ate at Babbo two trips ago and were way underwhelmed. We decided to forgo Lupa this time for a smaller neighborhood place: Dell'anima. We very much enjoyed it.

I am not a big fan of Mario Batali. We went to Del Posto because another couple wanted to go there.

We have eaten at Esca, Lupa, and Cafe Mono and I do not get it. We have not been to Babbo.

Adu - you may be missing Mario Batali's place in New York cuisine. He has brought authentic regional Italian cooking to this town. Prior to that it was mostly red sauce southern Italian or "northern" Italian ( for the higher class clientele). But there are all sorts of regional cuisines with their own character. Mario brought that and understood that. My first experience with Babbo was quite a few years ago and it was outstanding - and to say the least different. Maybe that original success has resulted - over the years - in some deterioration - that happens a lot. And certainly what is inexcusable is to have loud music and thump thump music. If Mario allows that he should be forced to eat in Little Italy for the rest of his career.

jroth, I'm sorry but the idea that Mario Batali brought authentic regional Italian cooking to NYC is misinformed at best. Just off the top of my head, in the mid '70's and 80's restaurants like the Focceria on 1st Avenue, Puglia in Little Italy, Romeo Salta in midtown and Alfredo Viazzi in the West Village all nudged the understanding of Italian cuisine further for a general audience. And I'm sure there were more, those are just ones I was aware of and can remember. Yes , I really like Batali's restaurants, but what I think he does in NYC are interpretations of regional Italian cuisines - he is certainly not a stickler to authenticity. And I love the music at Babbo.

Oh, and I agree w/ Adu's (amusing, but full of malapropisms) assessment of del Posto, which is 3 blocks from my house - we went once, early on, enjoyed it, spent 3 months recovering from the sticker shock, and have never been back. But that's true of all three of the places on that block - Craftsteak, John Dory (now closed) and del Posto. Very good food, very high cost. Not for us this year or probably next year, either! We've always wanted to go to SF - we go to taste of Tribeca every year, SF serves a wonderful little bite of pasta, we all say, let's go there sometime, and we never do . . . too many choices, too many calories, too little $$$$

Adu - what a fun read and I've learned about all sorts of other restaurants I'll never be able to afford

Ok so which Italian mid town would you all choose? Along the Esca, Convivio type. I have a terrible craving for crispy calamari salad from Abbocatto....hmmm.

Judy, price point?

Well not too expensive, no more than 100pp with wine. Would be better if a little less ;-).

Does it have to be midtown? If not I would say Scarpetta on W. 14th St . . I know people who swear by Insieme, on 7th and 51st St., Or maybe the new A Voce in Columbus Circle?

mp - agreed that Mario was not alone in bringing regional Italian cuisines to town - but he was a leader especially with his early TV shows that put these cuisines on the map. BTW - Puglia in Little Italy can hardly be called leader in anything - although it was very popular way back in the 50's and 60's - when we would go there - quite a bit.It wss like other Little Italy spots - popular New York style Italian cuisine and certainly nothing like the cuisine we encountered when we spent a vacation there a couple of years ago and it remains one of the great undiscovered cuisines of Italy - try a Primitivo wine for an e.g. And music? - ok - we all have our like and dislikes especially when it comes to music in a restaurant while dining - thump thump can be appropriate in some settings but not in a restaurant.

Several Midtown Italians offer prix-fixe dinners, usually three or four courses, in the $35 to $60 range. Once you add a couple of glasses of wine or a bottle and coffee, then tax and tip, you're at about $100 per person.

For example, the hot new Michael White restaurant, Convivio, on the East Side in Tudor City, successor to Scott Conant's L'Impero, has an outstanding $59 four-course prix-fixe. http://www.convivionyc.com/menus.html

Another of Michael White's places, Alto, at 53rd and Fifth, has been awarded two Michelin stars. Its $79 prix-fixe dinner might be worth the splurge. http://www.altorestaurant.com/dinner.html

At the other end of the price spectrum, surprisingly, is Lidia Bastianich's flagship, Felidia, on East 58th, which offers a $29.50 prix-fixe lunch menu. Although others here seem to disagree with me about this place, I think all would agree that it is a solid, if not glamorous, Italian, with a great pedigree.

On the West Side, a place that might command your attention is Piano Due and Palio Bar, my friend Michael Cetrulo's Midtown outpost in the space formerly occupied by Palio on West 51st. There's a $40 pre-theatre prix-fixe, and, although I'll admit a personal bias, I think you'll be impressed by his cooking. You reach the beautiful second-floor dining room by elevator from the Palio Bar, a two-story tall room highlighted by the spectacular four-sided mural of the Palio race in Siena, Italy, created by Sandro Chia a number of years ago for the original restaurant and retained by Piano Due. http://www.pianoduenyc.net/index.html

I've merely scratched the surface here, of course, since NYC offers such an amazing variety of places. Feel free to ask further.