Leaving next week for 6 nights in the West Village. Have dinner reservations so far at I Sodi's and Annisa's. Looking for your recommendations for great seafood and great upscale vegetarian restaurants, not necessarily in the WV. Thanks for your help.

Le Bernardin is a famous French seafood restaurant in Manhattan but it's expensive and somewhat exclusive. Has the highest ratings from Michelin (3 stars), NY Times (4 stars) and Forbes Travel (5*). Lunch isn't TOO expensive, they are offering a "City Harvest Menu" for $45 for a short while.

Would also recommend Jean Georges (Columbus Circle), which isn't exactly a seafood restaurant but has many savory seafood items on the menu. Another famous spot with the same stars as Le Bernardin (I think currently only five restaurants have these three high ratings). We had dinner there a couple of weeks ago and 9 of the dishes served were seafood, all excellent. Two course lunch menu starts at $38.

http://jean-georges.com/
http://www.le-bernardin.com/lunch_menu.php

Mary's Fish Camp in the Weat Village is a wonderful but crowded seafood restaurant. No reservations.

Aquagrill is extremely good.

Hangawi, serene Korean veggie place where you must remove your shoes.

Not as good as Mary's but pretty good is Mermaid Inn.

And for the sweetest lobster roll with the least amount of mayo try Luke's Lobster-very linited seating.

Marea is an expensive Italian seafood restaurant and one of my favorites right now. It is sleek and bustling, rather than warm and cozy, but the food is superb. You can take the train up from the WV.

Jim, I like my ethically harvested seafood, poultry and meat, but I really enjoy vegetarian - ethnic or not - as well.

Great suggestions Bill, Adu and EK, will check them out online later tonight.

We had lunch with a vegan friend at Caravan of Dreams today. It is 20 year old vegan fantasy. The food was pretty good and the menu has more rules than a monastery.

http://www.caravanofdreams.net/

Aduchamp: What is the address of Caravan of Dreams? I went to the link and I wasn't able to find it. Thanks.

Caravan of Dreams
405 E. 6th Street
Between First Ave and Ave A, closer to First.

Seafood
Le Bernardin
Aquagrill

upscale vegetarian
Veg tasting menu at Gramercy Tavern
Monday night at Dovetail
Candle 79

Thanks, Adu. Great thread.

If you never tried Cantonese seafood restaurant and you don't have one in your home town, maybe you would like to consider having it in NYC. You basically choose your fish in a fish tank, and some shellfish too if you like, the waiter weigh the fish and tell you how much. The best way is to have the whole fish steamed with ginger and scallion. I hope you can deal with fish bones to a degree. If you cannot, they can fillet it for you. The cheek and the head is the absolute best part of the fish imo.
Oriental Garden on Elizabeth in Chinatown is reliable and the people there speak English.
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/oriental-garden/
I also like the one next door closer to Canal (don't know the name as they change it a couple times), service is generally poor there and some waiter don't speak English. Both restaurant have fish tanks in the entrance.

I'm curious, mohan: What are those fish in the tanks eating?

I know that one--the former Cantoon Garden! Maybe now South China Garden??

Have no idea as to the quality (not a vegetarian) but this place http://www.angelicakitchen.com/ had them lining out the door last night. East Village easy to reach.

Careful with that blog link to lauhound; it has a virus it seems.

Thalassa is an upscale Greek seafood restaurant in TriBeCa on Franklin Street. We've enjoyed our meals there.