Favourite West Village Restaurants
 

3 women staying in the West Village mid-November. Looking for great dinner recommendations in the neighbourhood. We like all food and the price point isn't an issue. Thanks for your help.

One word of advice: you say "mid-November" but I'm not sure what that means precisely. Our Thanksgiving holiday is Thursday, November 24). If you want to eat out this day at anything other than a local diner-type restaurant (and you probably do, whether you have a traditional turkey meal or not), you need to make reservations this week. Really, if you want to eat at an upscale restaurant, you need to make reservations this week because mid-November is one of the busiest times of the year in NYC. The week approaching Thanksgiving means many thousands of extra tourists in the city. For simpler neighborhood restaurants, you can make a reservation usually the same day (maybe the day before on a busy weekend).

Now, second. Please don't limit yourself to the Village. There are a lot of good restaurants there, but they just don't represent all of what NYC has to offer. I'd never ever recommend anyone (especially a tourist) limit themselves to a single neighborhood, particularly the Village. In fact, I'm not going to recommend restaurants solely in the Village. I just refuse to ... sorry. There are plenty of restaurants there, so you'll be able to eat, but I don't particularly love the neighborhood for its restaurants.

Here are a few places I like, mostly upscale with one neighborhood restaurant. You'll need to decide on these asap, however, because almost all of them are fully booked through early December by now. But you can probably get a reservation early (as in 5:30 or 6) or late (after 10).

---Blue Hill (expensive, locally sourced seasonal food - reservations required at least a week or two in advance, perhaps more at this busy time of the year).
---Union Square Cafe (moderately expensive Italian-influenced American food that tends to be salty). Very popular but pretty good, though as a newbie you'll likely be stuffed into one of the less-desirable back tables.
--HB Brewery. This is a casual, frenetic place that serves housemade beer and good burgers. Don't expect fine cuisine, but the burgers and fries are surprisingly good. Don't try anything too ambitious, though. The Indian River Ale is quite nice and refreshing, though probably not to British tastes.
---Momofuku Saam Bar (in the East Village). A top ticket, but well worth the wait, which may not be too long if you go early. It does not take reservations. This is Asian, and excellent. Nearby is Momofuku Noodle Bar, which generally has larger crowds and longer waits. Moderate in price.
--Gramery Tavern (expensive, just north of the Village off Park Avenue). American food and one of the better restaurants in NYC. Also books up a month in advance, but the Tavern Room (moderate) does not take reservations. Also good for lunch.
--Gotham Bar and Grill (expensive, upscale American cuisine). Really nice, casually elegant and quite good. Reservations 2 or 3 weeks in advance.
---Colicchio & Sons (expensive, American food by a famous celebrity chef ... at least owned by him). This one is in Chelsea, not the Village, but it's next to the Highline, which is a must-visit. It's also next door to Del Posto, one of the finest upscale Italian restaurants in NYC, but it usually books up a month in advance.
---Tello's (a simple neighborhood Italian restaurant, moderate in price and quite good if you like that kind of food). It's also in Chelsea, but is much closer to the Village at 20th/8th Avenue. Make a reservation the same day if you are eating after 7pm.

"Our Thanksgiving holiday is Thursday, November 24"

Hey Doug, our Thanksgiving holiday here in L.A. falls on the same day. Small world.

Seriously (well, not real seriously), we really enjoyed our dinner recently at North Square Restaurant and Lounge in Greenwich Village. From my trip report:

"We met up with Kim and Mary, and soon we were on our way to Greenwich Village (by subway, of course) for dinner at North Square. This turned out to be our favorite restaurant of the trip, edging out Lucien and The Green Table.

Located on the edge of Washington Square, this is a cool, little New York bistro that Mary heard used to be an art gallery. We had 8:30 reservations, and although we arrived a tad early (our M.O. for the past couple of nights), we were quickly seated.

For an appetizer, I tried North Square’s signature Tuna Tartare with crushed avocado, ginger cured vegetables in a lemon-lime vinaigrette ($10) that was very tasty. Tracy had the Chile Relleno with crab-meat, red pepper, almonds, yellow mole sauce and queso fresco ($11). So far, the place was a winner.

Kim began with Lobster and Crab Cakes, seaweed and vegetable salad with a Thai curry coconut sauce ($12). Mary tried the Radicchio and Boston Lettuce Salad (Boston, in NYC?) that included roasted beets, goat cheese, honey spiced pecans and blue cheese dressing ($9). Everything had been great so far.

Now it was on to the entrées and they also did not disappoint. I had a great meal of Grazin’ Angus Acres Short Ribs with crispy potatoes, sautéed vegetables and an Asian barbecue sauce ($22). Tracy went for the Slow Roasted Organic Chicken Breast, sautéed wild mushrooms, white truffle polenta cake and an herb au jus ($20).

Kim dined on an Herb-Crusted Rack Of Lamb, grilled asparagus, potato and leek galette with rosemary au jus ($28) while Mary decided on the Pan-Seared Alaskan Halibut, with corn and mushroom couscous and lemon herb sauce ($23). Some delicious French wine and, voilà, a perfect meal for slightly less than $200 (not including tip).

The service at North Square was top notch as was the ambiance."

Have fun!!!

((H))

Gotham at the high end

The Spotted Pig for upscale great, great burgers and fries

Blue Ribbon Bakery for variety

Mary's Fish Camp-cramped, no reservations, that makes fabulous seafood.

Corner Bistro-burgers on paper plates

Cones-store made ice cream on Bleecker

East Village
Cacio e Pepe for authenic Romano cooking
Motorino for pizza
Lucien-french bistro w/tablecloths

And Le Gigot, also on Cornelia Street. Charming neighborhood restaurant popular with locals.



http://www.legigotrestaurant.com/

There are way too many to name, but I'll mention a few I've been to fairly recently.

La Ripaille - old-timey French (but not TOO old-timey) with an entertaining owner and friendly service.Very good food, cute space.

Mi Cocina - Jane St., decent Mexican (oops, just googled and it's closed - bummer).

I've always been fond of Cafe de Bruxelles, but I haven't been there in years.

I second Corner Bistro - very unique place, tasty burgers.

And if you're looking for a classy place for a cocktail before or after dinner, Hudson Bar & Books.

Enjoy your girls' trip!

Cafe des Bruxelles has been closed for a couple of years, I believe.

Bistro de la Gare
Fatty Crab

Bookmarking! :)

On the same block as the excellent Le Gigot is "Home" where they make their own ketshup.

Thanks, ekscrunchy. I hadn't googled hard enough! Just read about the basement fire there, and subsequent closing. Sad.

So that I feel less useless, I'll throw Tartine out there, but definitely one you want to get to at off-hours.

Thanks, everyone, for your recommendations. My 'puter is ailing so I haven't been able to go online.

Arriving Nov 17, departing Nov 23 - this is our 4th? 5th? NYC visit just before the American Thanksgiving, but thanks for the heads up.

Yes, Manhattan has way too many wonderful restaurants but we were thinking of focussing a couple of nights on our neighbourhood restos. I'll definitely google all those recommended... that "North Square" menu has my mouth watering...

Anyone have any comments on Anita Lo's "Annisa" restaurant? I think it's in the west village...

Forget to mention The Little Owl.

Yes, Annisa in in the West Village. Her cooking can be spare for some people but the restaurant certainly has its fans.

In that category, same area, I would highly recommend MAS Farmhouse.

http://www.masfarmhouse.com/


http://www.annisarestaurant.com/

Westville - tiny, tiny, tiny, but very charming, a New York version of a fancy meat and three place though that description of it does it a disservice. There's always a line at dinner, but lunch is usually better. Hamburger is fantastic, Cobb salad is great (though I like the regular balsamic dressing not the dill dressing), mac and cheese and lastly the roasted artichoke hearts, divine, wonderful, worth getting takeout for if you don't want to wait in line.

North Square when I went years ago I thought of as kind of generic. Decent food in a hotel, seemed more about servicing hotel guests rather than general population, it just wasn't New York enough. There are so many other great and interesting restaurants in the area, I would rather not waste my time with serviceable.

North Square has a very nice jazz brunch. Perry St. is as far west as you can get, across from the Hudson River. It's at the bottom of a new sleek Richard Meier building. I've only been for lunch but thought it was terrific. http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/perry-street/

My sister and her friend and I enjoyed a very tasty pasta at Dell'amina (8th and Jane) and the Manager say their newer/sister place - L'Artusi (228 W 10th - between Bleeker and Hudson) has received a better rating in Zagat 2012.

My sister and her friend also liked Piccolo Angelo (621 Hudson - not far from 8th/Jane) - which also had good food at a lesser price. They also have a good lunch special.

Also second Motorino (East Village) for Pizza - especially if you like the authentic Magherita style. They had their own oven built,a la Napoli, but there are also a number of good pizza places on Bleeker St., John's for one, Keste for another.

Motorino's had a lunch special - a BIG pie and a nice salad for $12. Took half of the pizza home.

North Square is one of my "regulars". I had the prix fixe special at Perry St, the menu was limited, but it's the food and service was very good. I'm sure their regular dinner menu is great. I recently had tapas at Snack Taverna, and really enjoyed that meal. Trattoria Toscana and Mappamondo are both good and reasonable Italian food. Then there's the Mario Batali places, Otto, Babbo and Lupa, which are all good.

We definitely recommend Little Owl, Agave and Market Table. Really no matter where you go in the West Village, you're going to have a great experience! Hope you have a great trip!