First trip to NYC. Arriving on Thanksgiving day, looking for a place to have dinner (turkey definitely not required).

Staying near Lexington and 49th st.

Any good Thai restaurants nearby? Also interested in French, Italian, Greek and German cuisines. Budget about $75 pp, not including wine.

Thanks for any help! I know next to nothing about NYC, but am learning quickly.

Dear Rue

These questions are asked every year and I for one never remember the answers. Above you will see a box entitled "Search the Forums."

Click on advanced search and enter the word Thanksgiving, include a three year search and narrow the search by requesting the United States and New York.

I just did so and there is a wealth of information.

Alot of restaurants in Manhattan are closed on Thanksgiving, because well,,,,it's Thanksgiving and the Macy's Parade and alot of people out of town, so you might try www.opentable.com or www.menupages.com for suggestions. If you are staying midtown, ask the hotel of suggestions in the immediate area.

Also if you want to see a bit of the city you might head down to Chinatown, everything there will be open on Thanksgiving. A FAV restaurant there for a nice sit down dinner is Peking Duck House on Mott St. and order the Peking Duck, it's kind of close to turkey, lol, a kind of distant cousin, lol, and that dinner will be worth the trip downtown.

From your hotel you can easily take the #6 train downtown to Canal St. and it's a short walk to Mott St from there, then down Mott about 3 blocks to Peking Duck House which will be on your left, across the street from the Chinatown Catholic Church.

Hope this helps and get ready for Black Friday, which is already promising to be a great shopping day. The stores are already starting to put up some Christmas items for sale.

Oh and there's a NEW Century 21 across the street from Lincoln Center that has JUST openened.

Here's a list with some ideas for Thanksgiving dinner -
http://manhattan.about.com/od/events...sgivingout.htm

You may enjoy eating at the Waldorf -
http://waldorf.web01.i-sites.com/lei...t_the_waldorf/

We ate at the West Bank Cafe and loved it. Here's the prix fixe menu from last year. Loved everything about the experience - the food, the choices, the service, the decor -
http://www.westbankcafe.com/menus/thanks2010.html

We had a 4 pm reservation at the West Bank which worked out perfectly for us. A late breakfast at the hotel, watched a little bit of the parade, relaxed in the afternoon, walked over for the 4pm meal and a Broadway show at 8pm. A wonderful day.

If you will be there the night before you may enjoy walking up to watch the balloons being inflated.
http://manhattan.about.com/od/events...ysballoons.htm

There are some really good Thai restaurants in Midtown West. I'm not familiar with the ones on the east side but not far from your hotel is Thai 51 (on 51st St)
http://www.thai51nyc.com/

Oops, sorry. I just reread and found you are arriving that day. Never mind on the balloon inflation!

Thank you so much! I'm considering the Waldorf.

Ugh, I waited too long, got overwhelmed with work, the Waldorf is totally booked.

How about some recs for French restaurants?

Thanks

Well I just made a reservation at Brasserie. I hope it is good.