kswl

Tuscanlifeedit, our oldest son went to school there. I still miss Sister Audrey as the best school principal and Miss O'Callaghan as the best teacher--in our many years of schools and teachers. The nun who had a nervous breakdown in second grade and threw erasers, though... But I will say that I understand her a LOT more at age 51, lol.

kswl

Okay, dinner on our first day (Christmas) has now morphed into lunch on Christmas day around 1-2 pm. No availability at TOTG, nor at Rock Cafe, Hourglass Tavern, or many others. Angus McIndoe isn't open on the 25th.
Tomorrow I will call Rue 57, Puttanesca and Trattoria Dell'Arte. Any recommendations for Tout Va Bien?

I love the menu for Cafe in Country, but we are trying to keep this meal within walking distance of our hotel for some logistic reasons.

We're not thinking of Carmine's because two of our group have food allergies and need to order single servings of very plain food. From the sound of it this would be difficult, if not impossible, at Carmine's. I don't personally care for family-style serving, either.

Monet, yes we lived in Payson House for 7 years, apt. 31D. I still miss it sometimes. Back in the early 90's you could see the twin towers on a very clear day. It will be interesting to see what the old neighborhood looks like. Ottomanelli's is still on York, and they have other restaurants as well, I see. We would have starved without the Ottomanelli's on 71st. Street that seems long gone.

mp

Here's a link to the Shelley's restaurants - Trattoria dell'Arte is a part of this group - I've read that the new incarnation of Shelley's Trattoria, now Shelley's Tradizione is good:
http://www.shellysnewyork.com

Surie

kwsl-- the kids might like Serendipity around the corner from Bloomingdale's. It's got huge cheeseburgers, delicious frozen hot chocolate-- it's fun too.

Make as many reservations as you can!! Everywhere will be mobbed at that time of year.

A little place that I like for breakfast or lunch is the Prime Burger on E. 51st, just off 5th across from the Cathedral. It's old-fashioned and good, but not a hotspot.

Have a great trip!

GoTravel

kswl, not anywhere near your hotel but I think Fraunces Tavern downtown would be a great pick for Christmas lunch.

You could walk to 21 Club.

http://www.frauncestavern.com/index2.htm

http://www.21club.com/web/onyc/onyc_a2a_home.jsp

traveler521

wow. i live in NYC and i don't think i've seen half the things on your list. I would agree with whoever above said to count on everything taking twice as long as you think - i find when i have guests in town I have to try very hard not to plan or promise too much as the city does take time to navigate. I feel like many of the restaurants you have named are very touristy and you are missing the real flavor of the city. I often take guests to Otto which is an upscale pizzaria by mario batali. it's good for adults and kids and great for large parties. there are so many amazing restaurants and things to do and see downtown (soho, village) and i don't see that anywhere in your plans?

kswl

After calling a few restaurants, I have found that the opentable system is either not completely functional or that the restaurants will bypass the online availability, thank goodness!

We are going to have our Christmas lunch at Puttanesca, as having the widest and most reasonable range of food for our 11 people.

I've made reservations for Angus McIndoe for our pre-theater dinner on Thursday, and I'm trying to book Maison for dinner Wednesday night after the matinees and walking around Times Square.

Hi traveler, yes, we are going to be a busy group. However, there is one free morning, one afternoon, and one entire day to accomodate individual preferences. My (former) SIL and her husband have never been to New York (nor my two nephews), so they will probably stay with the main sights that everyone wants to see on the first visit. A designer friend is going to take SIL and family to the Met on the free day, I think.

Our family lived in New York and we have older kids. We'll probably go downtown on the free afternoon with them, and they'll do a bit of sightseeing on their own. I've ordered laminated Redmaps and Streetwise maps for everyone and am putting together a folder of restaurant menus, websites, info., etc. I've rebooked on the Party Shuttle for the Holiday Lights tour that leaves at 7 pm.

Now I am just praying that everything works!

mp

Kswl - as you might have figured out by now, most restaurants on Opentable do not take large party (4+) reservations online. In fact, particularly at this time of year, most restaurants will ask for a credit card to guarantee a large party reservation.

kswl

Yes, few of them will take a reservation for 11 people online. However, I tried with groups of three and four and many restaurants were fully booked for the times I wanted. Calls to the same restaurants resulted in many more choices, as they apparently had availability not recognized by opentable. Possibly there is a significant time lag when someone cancels a reservation by phone before the restaurant corrects the availability on opentable?

dmlove

No, it's pretty well known that restaurants do not make all their tables "available" on OpenTable.

kswl

Not to a country mouse But of course it makes perfect sense...I just wish I hadn't spent so much time online and had just called the restaurants directly. Lesson learned, lol.

SusanSDG

Where does one get faux grandchildren? I'd love some!