We (2) will be landing at LGA next Friday at about 1 PM and I don't expect to get lunch from Air Canada. Our hotel is in mid-town east. The plan is to take the M60 bus eiher to Astoria and pickup the subway or stay on the bus to Manhattan and come south by subway, preferably the 4,5,6 line down the east side but will go down the west side of CP for a good bite.

Are there any good places for lunch at either of these conecting points? We are open to just about anything foodwise. The idea is these are neighbourhoods that we are unlikely to visit otherwise.

Yes, we are travelling light and have travelled the full route of the M60 bus before and enjoyed the tour.

If you want to take the bus, Patsy's in east Harlem is supposed to have the best pizza in NYC.

http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...=0&cuisineid=0

Although today I had lunch with friends that rcently moved to East Harlem, it is a neighborhood in transistion. I am not sure I would want to schelp my luggage up and down the hilly streets. I believe the M60 travels along 125th and Patsy's is near 116.

And if Patsy's is crowded there are few alternatives.

There are a few places in Astoria I could recommend, but they are a few blocks from where the M60 passes by the subway (N or W lines at the Ditmars Avenue, or the next one at Astoria Blvd.) You might want to use hopstop - www.hopstop.com to plan your route and walking:

Trattoria L'incontro (http://www.trattorialincontro.com/main.html) is good - and open straight thru from lunch to dinner.

Or there is Elias Corner - reliable, good food, no credit cards - 24-02 31st St. (which is 24th Avenue and 31st Street, much closer to the bus and subway intersection) . .

Not sure if I would want to be schlepping luggage around but .. . that's 2 ideas in flushing.

You might do a search through the New York Magazine Website: www.nymag.com

or try the village voice:
http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants

www.mta.info. will give you bus and subway maps . . .

whoops - I meant that's 2 ideas in ASTORIA.

Thanks everyone. Astoria is where we will go. MP, I was unfamiliar with hopstop, it's a great tool. We might take a taxi to Ditmars Blvd. to save a bit of time, I had not appreciated how close to the airport we were. L'incontro looks good. Mezzo Mezzo could be plan B.

I had been getting excited at the prospect of good fish at Elias Corner until I noticed that they don't open until 4, perhaps we will go there on the way home.

I hope it works out, Gavin, and that you report back! Have fun!

We got back late last night. The plan worked so well once that we did it again on the way home.

On Friday we landed at 1 PM (15 minutes late because of congestion at LGA, just as I had expected) and we took a taxi to Trattoria L'incontro in Astoria. (Fare 10.50 + tip). If we had not been hungry we would have taken the M60 bus. There are change machines in the airport to get the required $2 in quarters.

Lunch was lovely, excellent fish and a warm welcome. Not cheap but worth it. Our waiter suggested that we not look at the menu and choose from the specials that he expertly recited. After lunch it was a short walk to the Ditmars Blvd. subway station where we bought our Metrocards and had an easy trip to Midtown.

Yesterday we did the reverse: subway to Ditmars Blvd. at 4:30 (got seats) arriving at the restaurant at 5. Once again the fish was lovely. Unfortunately we did not get the same waiter but did chat with him briefly. We used our Metrocards one last time to get to the airport. There are signs directing travelers to the M60 bus at the Astoria Blvd. station. The trip was flawless. Our Air Canada flight home was uneventful.

It will be stating the obvious but using public tranport only works well if you can easily walk up and down stairs with all of your stuff. Some subway entrances and exits are full height turnstiles...if you can't hug your bag you will have to find another way and that will be frustrating.

Thanks mp for the suggestion of L'incontro. We considered trying Elias Corner on the way home but why mess with success?

So glad it went well - and so nice to get off the beaten track, yes?

Nice report, L'Incontro is one of my favorite restaurants in Queens, I get a kick out of the specials, those waiters have great memories. The first time we went there, I couldn't stop laughing (think about 10 apps, 15 or so entree specials), whenever you think the waiter is done, he keeps going and going and going......