I'll be in New York for a week in early April. The first part of the week is at the Roosevelt Hotel for a work conference, the second part of the week if for fun. My husband will join me on Wednesday, then Thursday we will start a three night run of shows at the Beacon Theater. My question is this: should we stay on the UWS near the Beacon (On the Ave or Milburn Hotel)or somewhere more central? Our primary purpose of the trip is to eat lots of delicious food (Babbo, City Bakery, pizza) see some sights, and just generally have a good time. I'm also interested in any dining suggestions and late night drinks/food suggestions. We are from San Francisco and are very comfortable with public transport. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

For Babbo you need to call them and book four weeks of the date you want. Begin calling at 10am. If you can't get in there, Lupa is a good alternative. Another Italian you might want to try is Spigolo on the Upper East Side. Or Falai on the Lower East Side, or Barbuto, where Jonathan Waxman formerly of Chez Panisse cooks. On the Upper West Side, Spiga is getting good feedback. The new Malaysian Fatty Crab.. is at the top of my list to try now. You don't need to eat a real meal at City Bakery..have the hot choclolate and a snack.

The Upper West Side is really nice.. and there are many good restaurants. However, it's not what I'd call "centrally located". Since you have 3 nights of shows at the Beacon, it might make sense to stay in that neighborhood. You can easily take taxis or the subway to restaurants that are downtown. As for Babbo, it is definitely tough to make a reservation... so get ready to dial! As for restaurants, on the Upper West Side, here are some of my favorites:

Ocean Grill (primarily seafood)
Cafe Frida (Mexican)
Rain (Thai)
Patsy's - 74th/Columbus location. Awesome pizza, pasta and salads

Another favorite of mine... for special occasions... is Gotham Bar & Grill -- downtown. NY just has so many awesome places to eat.

If you go to www.menupages.com you can view menus for all the restaurants. you can search my cuisine or neighborhood.

You could stay at hotels at in upper end of Times Square/Hells Kitchen area: you can take the subway or bus back and forth to the Beacon, and if you're walkers it's a nice stroll of about a mile down Broadway or along Central Park West (20 street blocks = 1 mile). My friends recently stayed at the new Hilton Garden Inn (formerly Days Inn) on 8th Ave and 49th Street; it was nice and clean and I don't think too expensive. And there's always the funky Hudson on W 58th and 9th Ave, close to the Columbus Circle station where a number of train lines intersect. Of course there's so many options in the "theater" area! My feeling is that the UWS is nice as a destination, but you may be better off travelling to/from it from Midtown, especially if there's other parts of the city you want to explore.
Another plus about being close to the Times Square subway station is it gives you easy access to the 7 line to Queens if you want to experience the South Asian food in Jackson Heights or "little Taiwan" near Shea Stadium / Flushing Meadows. (The Queens Museum is right there, too - it's got a neat permanent exhibit covering the two Worlds Fairs that took place there.)

Seems to me that you will have to be eating near the Beacon most nights, no? I would opt to stay near there. After a long day of touristing, you'll probably want to pop back into your hotel before dinner and the show, and staying near the theatre seems to make a lot of sense to me.

New York Magazine gives out excellent restaurant recommendations on its website. You can do a search by neighborhood, in all price categories.

If you haven't stayed on the upper westside before, you might enjoy the change. Very different feeling from staying midtown. You don't mention budget, but I think the Lucerne is probably the nicest option there along with On the Avenue. There is actually a Beacon hotel which is closest to the theater. It's an all suite hotel, by all accounts very good, but a bit threadbare.

I would check travelzoo and see if there are any specials listed yet for your dates. The Righa Royal, under new mgmt. is in the middle of renovations, and was offering some very good deals. It's in the midtown theater district but wouldn't be too far from the Beacon. It's an all suite hotel.

If you like jazz, go to Dizzy's Coca Cola in the Time Warner building. Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental (same building) is another good idea.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!

Ooh, I agree - Prune is great!
Not anywhere near the UWS, but very close to the F/V subway stop at 2nd Avenue.