Great Neighborhood for Walking Around in NYC?
 

We are going to NYC later this month. I love walking around in old human-scale neighborhoods in Paris, London, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and DC. Neighborhoods with old architecture, established local-run shops and not scary for a middle-aged white chick to walk around in. Where you can stumble upon a local bakery or place to get something for lunch. Where people live and don't just commute to. Any recommendations for a neighborhood like that on Manhattan? Any favorite bakeries, Deli's, etc. in those walkable neighborhoods? Thanks

Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Midtown West, Midtown East, Murray Hill, Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, West Village, East Village, Lower East Side....(and wait till the New Yorkers chime in :-) )

Definitely Greenwich Village!

Soho, Flatiron, Meatpacking, Nolita, Chinatown..

Almost any neighborhood in Manhattan meets those qualifications. In many ways New York is more like a European city than like many US cities that have sterile and unpeopled centers.

There are a couple of areas (the Financial District and the area right around the Empire State Building) that are very quiet at night, but very busy during the day. But other than that almost all of Manhattan qualifies. (You might find a couple of areas, like Washington Heights, to be somewhat gritty - although it's a place a lot of young people are moving now since it's the most affordable place left in Manhattan).

Outside of Manhattan you might want to explore Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Astoria and a bunch of others (like Brighton Beach if you want to see a Russian area).

Midtown is defined as 34 st. - 59 st. from river to river. This is the area that contains the heaviest concentration of hotels. It also contains Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central terminal, St. Patrick's cathedral, the UN, all the major dept. stores and a few museums. Consequently, it's the area most tourists spend most of their time and for some, the only area they see. While there are a number of areas within midtown where people live (Murray Hill in the east 30's, for example) it doesn't overall have the feeling you want. So bottom line, almost any area other than midtown would work. Most people love Greenwich Village because of it's mostly low buildings, many historic and higgedly piggedly streets-more charming than the square grid in midtown. At the bottom of this page http://nymag.com/realestate/ there are neighborhood guides with info on stores in each etc.

Here's a website with some good walking routes in various areas http://www.walkingoffthebigapple.com/

you have to go to Katz's deli in the Village---very long history of serving the 1st immigrants their favorite foods,and great food still.If you get the pastrami sandwich, and a NY egg cream drink (no eggs)--if you are very hungry, get the potatoe pancakes as well.there are 6 carving statins there, or you can sit along the left wall and get served.If you dont servved, when you go in, go to your left and go to one of the carving stations on the left--for some reason, when folks walk in they queue up to the carvers on the right,and the line teher is much longer.Theres also a very good museum called the Tenement museum just around the corner from Katzs.Worthile, esp if your family came over as immigrants--ita n hour guided tour

Just to clarify - Katz's Deli is in the Lower East Side, not the Village (which is really the West Village, geographically.

As others have said, almost anywhere in Manhattan has characteristic neighborhoods - I'd definitely go to the West Village for old-world charm, Lower East Side for the up and coming young hipster style, Chelsea for older charming brownstones alongside new, trendy postmodern buildings -- not to mention great walks along the water and the new Highline Park. There are some decent restaurants in the area as well, but Chelsea Market is a great place to walk through and eat (definitely on the tourist map, though).

For a non-hip neighborhood , try going up to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters, then walking around Inwood, which is a slowly-gentrifying community amidst a small, religious jewish community, and a large Hispanic neighborhood. I may be corrected by those now moving to Inwood, who will consider that Inwood is becoming very hip!

Please note Bigbomoho that Katz's did not serve the first immigrants, Jewish or otherwise. There have been Jews in this country from the early 17th century and they were mainly Sephardic Jews who eat a much different cuisine. Katz's deli is the food of Central and Eastern European Jews are also called Ashkenazi Jews.

The following is the briefest of summaries:

The East Village and Lower East Side are known for their quirky stores and cheap (and some now expensive) restaurants. This is the new area for art galleries.

The West Village has some spectacular residential architecture, great stores, old style cafes, a deep literary, political, and musical history of the last 60 years, Washington Square Park and the Washington Mews.

Chelsea has many art galleries, some residential architecture, and the High Line.

The Upper East side has many expensive and elegant brownstones and stores.

Soho has this wonderful collection of cast iron buidings, interesting stores, and pretense.

I also meant to add that a trip to Brooklyn Heights is not difficult, but is one of my favorite NYC neighborhoods to visit. It's got wonderful architecture - feels like you've entered a time warp; the promenade, a grand walk with a great vista of lower Manhattan; and it's near Atlantic Avenue, with several good Middle Eastern food shops and restaurants. We like to go to the low-keyed but excellent "Fountain" on Atlantic Avenue for lunch.

"Soho has this wonderful collection of cast iron buidings, interesting stores, and pretense."

So true! Not so sure it's got many interesting stores left, though!

Here is a list of some my favorites stores that I have compiled and edited over the years. I have eaten or purchased food from each at least five times, most between thirty and fifty and some hundreds.

These are most of my favorite food stores. This is as highly subjective and geographically limited list you will find. The majority of stores are below 14th Street.
Stars indicate that either I went there at night or they are better than the others on the list. There are scores of excellent places that are not on the list, so exclusion is not necessarily condemnation but it could be.
Tourists can use this to put together their own food tour, buy stuff during the day for a feast in your hotel room at night or for gifts. One time we were flying back from Milan and we purchased a cake there and shared it with family when we landed.


Bagels and Bialys
Just because it is round, does not make it a bagel. There is a lot of crap being sold. A bagel must be boiled before it is baked. The ones with pimples on the bottom, like those you get at the sidewalk carts, are steamed. The ones you get at Dunkin Donuts are white bread in a circle, Rachel Ray.

*Ess-A-Bagel
Various Locations
My personal favorite. There are Ess-a-bagel people and the H & H people. Ess-a bagels are yeasty while H & H are sweet because they add sugar. Ess-a Bagel is a bit of a play on words and means eat in Yiddish. The stores are crazy busy and there is a wide variety of spreads. Once mammoth, the bagels are smaller recently.

H & H Bagels
Various locations but the one Second Avenue is not related and is plain awful
As discussed above with long lines. An Upper West Side institution.

*Kossar’s Bialys (Established 1935)
367 Grand Street
What is a bialy? Originally from Bailystok, Poland and called Bialystoker Kuchen (cake). And yes, Mel Brooks stole the name for Max Bialystock. It is most and doughy, much like the perfect pizza crust but with an indentation in the middle for either bits of garlic or onion. Try their bulkas which are bialy dough in the shape of a hero or an onion wheel also called a pletzel. An onion wheel is round and thin covered with duh onions, or the other version poppy seeds. Toast it, butter it, and keel over dead.

*Murray’s
Various Locations
Murray’s knows how to make bagels, chewy and large. The lines usually move quickly.

Bakeries
Amy’s Bread
Various Locations
The breads are well prepared and my favorite is the black sesame. I have never seen the same kid behind the counter twice, thus the staff is not knowledgeable and some seem confused by an order.

*Balthazar
80 Spring Street
I guess they could have made the space smaller, but then only your hand would fit through the door. Unlike the restaurant, the bakery deserves the praise for their baguettes and croissants.

Birdbath
223 First Avenue
Yes, it is a stupid name and the place has all the charm of a company store at a gulag but it is a sister to City Bakery. They make fabulous almost everything including a pretzel croissant. They only offer about 10% of what can be had at the City Bakery and there is no place to sit and eat. Stay away from a new creation a vegan banana sesame thing with agave. Besides having no taste, it dryly crumbs in your mouth. A rare mistake for Maury Rubin. The staff here and at City Bakery has not been told that space program was discontinued.

Blackhound
170 Second Ave
Very expensive but good as a dessert gift. The cookies are delicious and everything looks tempting some things are not as good as they look.

*Blue Ribbon Market
14 Bedford Street
There is not a bad bread in the house. They are made across the street at Blue Ribbon Bakery, where you can see the ovens on the basement. (They also have a interesting bathroom.)
Pick anything.

*Clinton Street Bakery
4 Clinton Street
Not only is this bakery but a great place for brunch which is impossible to enter on weekends. They may make the best biscuits in town followed closely by their scones.

*City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
Try the hot chocolate melted from chocolate bars or the pretzel croissants or the baker’s muffins or anything laid out on the counter. Extremely crowded at breakfast and lunch. Celebrities have been spotted but unless they are disguised as spoon I have not seen any.

DeRobertis (Established 1904)
176 First Avenue
It has the original tin ceiling and tiled walls and floors. Be selective in what you order, order nothing chocolate but the lobster tails, cannoli, and pignoli cookies are good and they are known for their lemon and orange things. (I am sure it has a real name) They hollow out the fruit, then fill it with a sorbet and freeze the whole thing including a peel lid.

*Donut Plant
379 Grand Street
I do not know what they do but the donuts taste so much better than just about any other place. He also makes excellent churros. The valrhona chocolate is a monument to gluttony. Small storefront with bakery in back.

Eileen’s Cheesecake
17 Cleveland Place
That’s all she makes so she better make them well. Not the best but very good.

*Falai Paneterria
79 Clinton Street
Former pastry chef turns out the most delectable and eclectic breads such as pumpkin or fennel. The croissants are excellent. I guess his mother told him not to waste his education so he also makes fabulous pastries. Never leave without a bombolini, an Italian donut/fritter filled with either jelly or crème.

Fat Witch Brownies
Chelsea Market
They make the fudgy type and they have a few variations. Staff is pleasant but sloooow. They have tourist buses that stop at Chelsea Market, so the lines may be long at times.

*Financier
Various locations
In the food wasteland that is Wall Street, Financier knows how to make cakes and croissants. They are often crowded but the staff doesn’t know ganache or panache.

Junior’s
Various locations
Stick to the cheesecake and the rolls.

*La Bergamonte
169 Ninth Avenue
For many years this was in the middle of food nowhere. Now with the Chelsea Market and the fattening of the Meatpacking district is getting its due. Extremely fine croissants and pastries and a place to sit

Le Pain Quotidien
Various locations
A chain from Belgian which makes it Belch. The baguettes are wonderful as are the brownies and raisin whole grain bread. This is probably the best food of any chain. The staff however, is laconic and unknowledgeable and very often there are out of many of the popular items. Nice brunches.

*Little Pie Company
Various locations
Their sour cream apple walnut pie is akin to crack cocaine but only a little cheaper. The other pies are good but not in the same category. People start lining up for Thanksgiving on 4th of July, so order in advance.

Patisserie Claude
187 West Fourth Street
Patisserie Claude has been selling pastries to Pig Warren for a long time. We do not go often by when we do we are rewarded.

*S & S Cheesecake
222 W 238 St, Bronx
Could be the best cheesecake in the city, creamy but not dense, perfect,

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies
204-207 Van Dyke Street, Red Hook
This is place is hard to find when you are standing in front it. Fortunately the silky pies can be found at Citarella and other self-defined fine stores.

*Sullivan Street Bakery
533 W 47th Street
You have probably eaten there breads many times and didn’t know it. It is offered in scores of restaurants and markets. You can identify many of the breads by sight. They are brown and crusty will the inside is light and airy. A paradigm for carbs.

*Veniero’s
342 East 11th Street
Established in 1894 some of those people are still waiting on line. I love this place, the best inexpensive tiramisu, addictive ricotta cheesecake, moist pignoli cookies, there are scores of offerings and no losers. The take out staff is never the same and the lines are long for the café. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, the café is turned to a waiting room for take out. They use an old fashioned machine to wrap the string around the box, while quaint, adds to the interminable line. You can also call in an order.

N.B. You can take your cupcake fight outside. We have tried many but a winner has yet to be named.

Candy and Chocolates

*Economy Candy (Established 1934)
108 Rivington Street
I am not sure they make anything on premises but they do have every candy still in production at very good prices. If you are a fan of candy stores, you will want to be buried here.

Evelyn’s Hand Dipped Chocolates
4 John Street
The best value for hand made chocolate in NY. It is clearly not the best, but most candy is made by hand and Evelyn can be seen slipping in and out from behind the counter. The cost is a fraction of the top notch candy stores. This is the type of place you find in a quaint town with quaint people. This 9/11 survivor should be supported.

*Jacques Torres Chocolates
Various Locations
For some reason people know the Brooklyn location better than the one on Hudson Street. Their truffles are exquisite as are all the chocolates and the hot chocolate. The lines are extraordinary on Valentine’s Day.

*Kee’s
80 Thompson Street
Kee was a banker or a lawyer before she started making the best truffles in NYC. Some are Asian influenced each variety is better than the next. This is a must stop for chocolate cuckoos.

*Teuscher
Various locations
Truffles are flown in from Switzerland. I once bought some for a chocolate loving friend who about to get married. While eating the truffles, this modest woman was made sounds that are usually reserved for her husband. Although she was completely embarrassed, I knew I bought the right gift.

There are many chocolate stores in midtown that make exceptional products but I have not enough experience to add them to the list. These include Richart, Maison du Cholat, and Pierre Marcolini. Just turn your pockets inside out for a taste.

Cheese
Alleva Diary (Established 1892)
188 Grand Street
Not as good as its neighbor DiPalo but extremely offers a fine selection of Italian cheeses.

*DiPalo Dairy (Established 1925)
200 Grand Street
One of NY’s great stores. Not only are the cheeses spectacular but sell perfect prosciutto. Their selections are impeccable. If at all possible avoid the weekend crowds, even though they have adults behind the counter.

East Village Cheese
140 Third Avenue
His cheese must fall off the truck to charge the lowest prices in the city. There is always some $2.99 per pound special. For that price you will not get the best, but at least you will be filled. The staff has become nicer over the years but not much. Cash only.

*Formaggio Essex
Essex Market on Essex Steet.
That should be enough Essexes. This is a tiny outlet from a Boston company. The cheeses are excellent but they have to vats where you take a bottle and fill it with a vinegar sherry or olive oil and both are redolent and extremely flavorful. There is some rules about deposits but I am not good at rules. The Essex market is a poured concrete structure with many stalls selling veggies and Hispanic staples with a barber shop in the back. Do not be deterred that it looks like pig farm from the outside.

*Joe’s Dairy (Established 1925)
156 Sullivan Street.
If you do not like Joe’s you do not like New York. They have been making mozzarella for over 80 years and the smoked version is addictive. The store is tiny, tiny, tiny and the staff is family and know their stuff and the neighborhood. One time I bought my mother-in-law a smoked mozzarella here. The next time I saw her she said she cut off the outside because she thought the outside was burned.

*Murray’s Cheeese
254 Bleecker Street and another in Grand Central
Best in show. They carefully choose only the finest quality of every variety. The staff is cheesemongers, one is even a gossip monger. The ricotta cheese cake is worth going to jail. This is a must visit for anyone who has the slightest interest in cheese.

*Russo’s Mozzarella (Established 1908)
344 East 11th Street
Cleverly they make fresh and smoked mozzarella which are excellent but they also make pastas, sauces, and there own olive varieties. Cramped but the guys know what they are doing.

Ice Cream

*Cones
272 Bleecker Street
In 1986 an Israeli newspaper sent a reporter to cover the NY Mets in the World Series because they heard there was a David Cone. He isn’t related to this place either. Sweet creamy, fresh ingredients with many varieties. Many tourists happen upon it when eating at John’s Pizzeria.

*Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street
Store made ice cream which for wimps offers vanilla and chocolate since they also serve flavors like green tea, lichee nut, and my favorite almond cookie. The kids behind the counter are always nice. There is no better way to end a meal in Chinatown. Inexpensive but cash only.

*Il Laboratorio de Gelato
95 Orchard Street
Everybody claims their gelati is the same as in Italy, blah, blah, blah. Their gelati is like Italy. It is the type you eat four times a day as you walk around Rome or Florence before you realize you have ruined your appetite for dinner. Expensive and cash only.

Sundaes and Cones
95 East 10th Street
They have nothing to do with just Cones and is a shade below, But if you are in the neighborhood, the store made ice cream is creamy and offer interesting flavors.

Knishes

Yonah Schimmel (Established 1890)
137 East Houston Street
Yonah has been dead for a long time and they have not redecorated or cleaned the windows since. If they made great knishes the owners could be considered knish savants but they are not. The knishes you buy at sidewalk carts, however, are shaped like third base, taste worse, are fried and often a green patina inside. Yonah Schimmel’s, you always have to say both names when referring to the store, still makes the baked variety and may or may not have the all types on hand.

Kitchen Supplies

* Broadway Panhandler
65 East 8th Street
They finally moved closer to Broadway. This is good for the semi-serious chef. There is an excellent selection of knives and pans but half the store is dedicated to stuff you use once or cutsey-poo crap.

New York Cake and Baking Distributor
56 W 22
Has what every serious amateur and professional baker needs, flour, pans, cookie cutters, etc. The quarters are Spartan and the staff acts like they just found a cure for cancer.

My favorite store Bridge Cookware has left NYC for the wilds of New Jersey.

Food Markets
Unless otherwise noted these places are expensive or very expensive.

Agatha and Valentina
A large department features hard-core Italian cold cuts like soppressata and hot or sweet cappicola, while the cheese department sports a huge number of offerings and loads of free samples. The prepared foods section also has a thick Italian accent and is among the more interesting in the city.

*Citarella
Various Locations
One of the best spots for fish from standard stuff with gills to razor clams. Knowledgeable fishmongers. Same is true for meats. Their prepared foods are universally good with outstanding soups. The collect bread and cakes from various but good places.

Dean and Deluca
Various Locations
The original food museum. The fruit is laid out to be admired, as are the cheeses, breads, and cakes. The main location on Broadway always a line at the espresso bar. Prices are highrt than buying a stale bagel at the airport.

*Eli’s
*Eli’s Vinegar Factory
Various locations
Eli had a fight with his family at Zabar’s and opened up a much more expensive food market. When you look at the prices, you think you are in a foreign country and miscalculated the exchange rate. On the other hand, every thing here is outstanding.

*Fairway
Various locations
Cheaper than the others
The fruits and veggies are outstanding as are the meats, fish, and store made breads. They also carry reasonably priced groceries. The Brooklyn store has food counters with an outdoor eating area with a view of the Statue of Liberty. But the food choices are not for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Grace’s Marketplace
She is the daughter of old man Balducci, who was such a difficult character, she opened her own place. Physically it resembles the long gone Balducci’s on 6th Ave, but retained the good qualities such as the prepared meats and excellent meat, fish, and produce selections.

Manhattan Fruit Exchange
Chelsea Market
Best veggie value in town. Crowded, crowded, crowded. Cash only

*Russ and Daughters (Established 1914)
179 East Houston Street
A new generation has taken over with the same pride and dedication to smoked fish as their aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Sable, white fish, lox, gravlax, it does not matter they are all mouth watering. Try the chopped liver, it is full flavor.

*Zabar’s (Established 1931)
2245 Broadway
Another NY institution with a well deserved reputation. The prices are cheaper than almost those above but the quality is the same or better. Large cheese selection, fantastic prepared foods, the claim to sell more coffee than anyone in NYC, store made knishes, breads and cakes from the best purveyors, Zabar’s brand spices and olive oil (this is known as one of the best buys anywhere.). The lox slicers reportedly make $85,000 a year. And upstairs is a cookware section. The staff is wonderful but the clientele is often obnoxious and aggressive. Sharpen your elbows and fight for the tri-colored pate.


Meats
*East Village Meat Market
139 Second Avenue
It helps if you speak Polish but you can get by in English. Old fashioned butcher shop where every thing is cut upon request. They also make great, great kielbasa and in many shapes and types and smoked hams. Relatively inexpensive.

*Faicco’s (Established 1900)
260 Bleecker Street
They make their flavorful sausage, rice balls, sauces. You get the old schmooze from the guys behind the counter as well. If you like old fashioned Italian butchers who know what they are doing, this is the joint.

Pasta

*Raffetto’s (Established 1906)
144 W. Houston Street
They cut fresh pasta from sheets to your specification in front of you on a machine that looked obsolete 50 years ago. Not a gimmick just the freshest, tastiest pasta yet. They have many types including saffron. Cash only.

Pickles

*The Pickle Guys
49 Essex Street
Some employee defected from Gus’s, the pickles are perfect as is the spiel. They also offer a free pickle. There are barrels and barrels of sour, new, half sour, pickled peppers just calling your name.

Spanish Provisions

Despana
408 Broome Street (Original at 86-17 Northern Blvd. Queens)
Excellent chorizos and morcilla. The are incredibly tasty and are found in many restaurant around town. Their cheeses are also top notch and offer a wide selection. They also offer Serrano ham which is many respects is sweeter and more delicate than porsciutto.

Progol

Kids love Evolution on Spring and Pearl River is technically in Soho and the orginal food museum Dean & Deluca. But I understand what you mean with the invasion of the high end chains.

Wow, aduchamp, for a NYer, this list is great! Places that I have never tried, even after a lifetime of living here!

I used to live a few doors down from Joe's Dairy, and LOVED the days that they smoked the mozzarella - there is nothing like the fresh stuff. And the family, as well as the shop, is as New York as it gets.

I also remember when Sullivan Street Bakery was ON Sullivan Street, but that's history. Jim Leahy, the owner/developer, opened up Company (Co.), a small artisan pizza restaurant on 24th Street & 9th, which is also very popular (and good).

When we visit NYC, we spend one day walking this general route: Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Chelsea, Meat Packing Neighborhood, the High Line (new addition), Greenwich Village, East Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Enjoy, HTTY

Great list Aduchamp!

suz24, One of my favorite walks: walk the Highline from W 20th down to Gansevoort, wander through the West Village, past Washington Square Park, south though Soho, then east to the Lower East Side.

Thank you Progol and 321

_______________________

I also remember when Sullivan Street Bakery was ON Sullivan Street, but that's history. Jim Leahy, the owner/developer, opened up Company (Co.), a small artisan pizza restaurant on 24th Street & 9th, which is also very popular (and good).

Leahy's old partner kept the location on Sullivan Street and is now called Grandaisy and has opened two other branches.

Auchamp1:

Please consider starting another thread, perhaps 'Favorite Food Stores" with your reviews. Others could add to it.

suz24 you will love NYC.

Sandy

Lots of great info and discussion here. Thank you sooo much. This is just the ticket.

There's lots of great information above! Aduchamp1's list is going to keep me busy for a while. My two cents: the best neighborhood in Manhattan that meets all of suz24's criteria is clearly the West Village. That would be roughly the area between West 14th Street and Houston (pronounced "HOW-ston," by the way), and between Sixth Avenue and Hudson St. A great place to walk.

But there are many, many other neighborhoods in New York that are also great for walking in, even if they don't meet suz24's usual criteria. One of the great things about New York (Manhattan, at least) is that most areas have a special, unique feeling when you walk in them, even if they're not the typical small-scale, "old town" areas that are fun to walk in in other cities.

For example, suz24, you owe it to yourself to take a walk in Times Square after dark, even though it's the very antithesis of the "human scale" neighborhood that you speak of. You'll be completely safe walking on Seventh Avenue or Broadway, or on the larger side streets. It gets edgier west of Seventh Avenue. In Times Square, the stores and restaurants are schlocky tourist traps, so avoid dining there.

A walk in Central Park is also a must-do. Make sure you include the Bethesda Fountain, and then try to walk over the Bow Bridge into the Ramble, and at least walk along the part of the Ramble that borders the big pond, where you can look over to the buildings of Central Park West. I can elaborate if necessary. The Ramble is one of my favorite places to walk in the City.

Some other thoughts:

The central village, around NYU and Washington Square Park, bounded by West 4th and Bleecker, and by Sixth Avenue and LaGuardia Place. In the Sixties, this was the East Coast equivalent of the Haight-Ashbury, a focal point of the hippie movement. This is a youthful neighborhood, with great little shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants to check out. Mamoun's Falafel on Macdougal between 3rd and Minetta Lane is a famous one. Caffe Reggio is a particularly attractive but not especially user-friendly cafe right next door. http://tinyurl.com/2w4mtan If you go at night, especially a weekend night, especially on Bleecker Street, you'll see an incredibly bustling college-age scene that's a lot more interesting than the usual beer-swilling situation, and may make you wish you had gone to college at NYU.

Midtown East and the Upper East Side: Not small-scale-neighborhood-y, but interesting. More age-appropriate for us middle-aged folks. Maybe start at Rockefeller Center, just west of Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st. You can take a trip up to the observation deck on the top of Rockefeller Center if you want. There's a Teuscher Chocolate store amongst the touristy shops on street level, and I recommend the truffles, but not necessarily the other items. The Museum of Modern Art is near here, and is great. Walk up Fifth Avenue to the corner of Central Park, where the Plaza Hotel is, and then proceed north using any combination of Central Park paths, Fifth Avenue, and Madison Avenue. Check out some side streets between Fifth and Park, in the 60's and 70's, to see beautiful townhouses where people with old money live. On Fifth, you'll see beautiful big hotels and fancy department stores, and then foreign U.N. missions, and museums. On Madison, you'll see glitzy high-end boutiques. If you feel like checking out a serious New York Department store, try Barney's, on Madison and 61st, a New York fashion icon. You won't find many charming neighborhoody shops around here, but here's one: Via Quadronno, an Italian cafe on East 73rd between Fifth and Madison. They have a pretty extensive food selection. Maybe end up at 79th, and go to the amazing Metropolitan Museum of Art. East of Park Avenue you'll find a more nondescript residential neighborhood. If you get over there, I recommend two potential destinations: (1) Orwasher's Bakery, on 78th East of Second Avenue. A wonderful, very old Jewish bakery. (2) Sable's, on Second Ave between 77th and 78th. A neighborhood deli run by a guy who learned to buy smoked salmon at Zabar's. A fantastic place to get a lox-and-bagel sandwich (the Scottish is the best salmon, and they use H&H bagels). Ask for a taste of the lobster salad, which is also great on a roll.

The Feast of San Gennaro will take place between September 16 and September 26. If you're in NY then, this would be a great time to walk through Little Italy. http://www.sangennaro.org/ Little Italy has been so eaten away by Chinatown that it's almost hard to find it now. But walking in Chinatown is great too -- I don't really know my way around there, but I love to try to get lost on streets full of grocery stores and "pharmacies" that sell weird-looking little dried items that aren't even labeled in English. If you make it from here to the Essex Street Market (which really isn't a particularly interesting tourist attraction, frankly), do check out Formaggio Essex, mentioned by Aduchamp1, which is merely an outpost of a larger Cambridge, MA store, but is still good. But while there, also go to Saxelby Cheesemonger. This is a tiny little kiosk, run by Anne Saxelby, that has an impressive collection of artisanal American cheeses. At this and any other decent cheese store, you can taste samples before you buy anything. Also in the Essex Street Market, check out Roni Sue Chocolate, another tiny little store. Roni Sue is most famous for her "pig candy," which is literally chocolate-covered bacon. It's good, but I prefer the bacon buttercrunch candy. She also makes a wide variety of tasty, more conventional chocolates.

We can offer tips on what areas are safe for exploration, but here are some good rules of thumb to start with: if you see a lot of other people around, you're probably fine. If you find yourself on a deserted street, especially at night, you might want to head back to a more populated area. If you're in an extremely crowded place where people are literally packed up against you, like on a crowded subway or in Times Square, you won't be at risk for any sort of violent crime, but you could be pickpocketed, so you might want to zip up your purse or bag, swing it around to your front, move your wallet to your front jeans pocket, etc. New York remains one of America's safest big cities, so don't let yourself get preoccupied about crime. You'll be fine.

Thanks - great descriptions of neighborhoods, walks and their food. and "pig candy" Hmmm. I don't think pig candy would travel home well. My husband will have to wait until he gets to NYC, I think.

I won't be in town for the Little Italy festival, but it sounds great. We'll be in town next week.

Another great walk is to take the train to Brooklyn Heights (beautiful neighborhood) and back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge.

(The San Gennaro Festival was fun in the 1960s and 1970s, but the crowds have become too large to be enjoyable.)

HTTY

Oops, I didn't notice that you're going this month, not in September. Never mind about the San Gennaro festival.

Roni Sue's pig candy does indeed need to be refrigerated. She used to ship it, so I guess it doesn't need to be refrigerated constantly. But August is probably not the time of year to be pushing the envelope...

That whole area around Hudson St.,Christopher St, Bedford St. Grove St. Bleecker St etc is very pretty and old. Many tourists w/ cameras over there. Then head east on Bleecker to cross 7th Ave and get into some serous eating along Bleecker and Cornelia.

Sounds like Greenwich Village. It is so lovely!

Thanks everyone. Can't wait to kick around town.

Another great walk would take you by foot across the Williamsburg Bridge into Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Although I live in Manhattan, I do not often get to Williamsburg but I did so last weekend and I highly recommend. Maybe someone else can plot out an exact walk if you want to explore..I found it fascinating, although not as architecturally handsome as some other areas...there is a lot of good eating in this area..from Peter Luger's on down..

sorry, Peter Luger..or "Luger's." But not "Peter Luger's"