We have a long weekend planned in late March 2011 in NYC. Staying on W 57th Street and looking for suggestions for must do's, fabulous broadway shows, good places to eat, cute boutiques, comfortable bars. We will definately do the Met. Went to the Museum of Natural History two years ago so will probably skip that. We are a couple of middle aged couples but we have energy. The trip is planned around an Allman Brothers concert at the Beacon. We have from Thursday to Monday. Suggestions?

You must do what you like to do. That is about it. I suggest you get a guidebook

There is a separate "Broadway Banter" thread that will be a good start. Do a search here on NYC restaurants. Dozens of threads. There are also threads on bars and shopping. My guess is that there are more on NYC than any other city!

Seasonal is a great Austrian Restaurant on 58th. Go to the Oak Bar at The Plaza for great drinks on Central Park S. Cipriani's is a fun place for lunch on 5th Avenue across from The Plaza. Alto is a great Italian place on 53rd. Convivo is a fine restaurant at Tudor Place. If you get a chance catch a cab to Water Club at 30th and E River for a great lunch overlooking the river. P J Clarke's is a fun bar and decent bar food.

Seasonal Restaurant @ 132 West 58th St., New York, NY 212 - 957 - 5550.
http://www.seasonalnyc.com/
Oak Bar at The Plaza Hotel @ Central Park South, New York, NY 212 - 759 - 3000.
http://www.fairmont.com/theplaza/Gue...nts/OakBar.htm
Harry Cipriani Restaurant @ 781 5th Avenue, New York, NY 212 - 753 - 5566.
http://www.cipriani.com/locations/new-york/
Alto @ 11 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 212 - 308 - 1099.
http://www.altorestaurant.com/home.html
Convivo @ 45 Tudor City Place, New York, NY 212 - 599 - 5045.
http://convivionyc.com/
The Water Club @ The East River at 30th St., New York, NY 212 - 683 - 3333.
http://www.thewaterclub.com/
P J Clarke's @ 915 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 212 - 317 - 1616.
http://www.pjclarkes.com/

Take a cab to the Central Park Boathouse for lunch or late PM drinks overlooking the lake. Jean George's is a great restaurant for lunch/dinner. You can eat in the more casual section by the bar.

The Loeb Boathouse @ E. 72nd St. & Park Dr. N., New York, NY 212 - 517 - 2233.
http://www.thecentralparkboathouse.com/
Jean George's @ 1 Central Park West, New York, NY 212 - 299 - 3900.
http://www.jean-georges.com/

Have lunch at Cipriani's on 5th Avenue across from The Plaza. After lunch walk E to Madison and turn left. Go N on Madison about 20 blocks on one side and come back down on the other side. You will find more boutique's than you can visit.

To give you good restaurants and bar recos it would help to give us a budget and types of food you like and dislike. For bars it would help to know more than comfortable. Are you looking for trendy? bars with a view? upscale with music?casuale?

For discount tickets to broadway shows go to broadwaybox.com in early January and they should have a list of shows which are selling discount tickets in advance - for the best choice of seats.

To nytraveler: We aren't going to NYC until mid June. How far in advance can we find good deals on broadwaybox.com?

MAA27, if you like the Brothers, I would be very selective as to what Broadway shows you choose, maybe American Idiot.

The West Village might be fun. You can pass by Electric Lady Studio initially made famous by Jimi Hendrix

http://www.electricladystudios.com/History.htm

There are great independent record stores like Bleecker Bob's and if you Goggle records nyc, there are many others in the neighborhood and near by. There are also scores of bars that have rock and jazz plus many places to hear.

Also drop in at Matt Umanov on Bleecker Street. It is a guitar store run by adults and you never know who will drop in.

The West Village was also the home to the Beats in the 1950's and early 1960's.

If you do some research, I think you would enjoy walking the neighborhood.

As for show discounts for June, you won't see any offers until end of March, or more likely, April, at the earliest.

For the OPs - I wouldn;t focus on Central Park in late March - which can still esaily be winter. (The record breaking blizzard of 88 was late March).

You may get some warmer days - but the trees in the park don;t leaf until end of April at the earliest at end of March the Park is most likely to be brown, crunchy and not very appealing.