New York Questions
 

My husband and I will be visiting New York during Columbus Day weekend for 2 nights. Please share your favorite restaurants, neighborhoods, and names of Jazz and Blues clubs. <BR><BR>We will be staying at the Hilton in the Times Square area, and have tickets to 2 Broadway shows -Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We would like to eat at nice romantic restaurants for dinner -before the show on Saturday and after the show on Sunday.<BR><BR>Your help will be most appreciated! Thanks in advance.

If you like seafood and would like a wonderful view of Times Square as you eat, make reservations at Foley's Fishhouse at the Renaissance Hotel at the northern end of Times Square (entrance on Seventh Avenue).

Postal, thanks a bunch for the suggestion.

Lots of wonderful restaurants in the theatre district.<BR><BR>French and romantic...great service and food: Rene Pujol 321 W. 51st St.<BR><BR>Terrific pasta at Becco 355 W. 46th St.<BR><BR>Great sushi at Haru 205 W. 43rd St.<BR><BR>JUdson Grill 152 W. 52nd St.<BR><BR>Trattoria Dell'Arte 7th Ave and 56St. the best antipasto bar in the city.<BR><BR>

I would love a few more suggestions. Thanks to everyone!

Liona,<BR><BR>There are 10,000 restaurants just in Manhattan, so you have so many choices everywhere you look.<BR><BR>My best suggestion would be to get a dinning out guide and carry it with you, so that as you wander around the city you have a guide to make better decisions. <BR><BR>Restaurant Row, all by itself provides everything you could want and then some. We like Cafe 1,2,3 which is just off Broadway at 43rd, for before or after the theatre. For a quick lunch, try the food court on 42nd st near the Hilton, upstairs.<BR><BR>Enjoy your time in the city.

Music Clubs Part I <BR><BR>BB King's Blues Club - rock, jazz, blues, funk, oldies, pop etc - all genres and this is IMHO the nicest large club in NYC for live music. They don't pack you in like cattle, it has a great sound system and good line of sight to the stage. Food is medicore and overpriced but drinks are decent (so they say) and average NYC prices.<BR>Birdland - doesn't get the top jazz names but does get some good acts and it's a lovely room - classy and uncrowded with good line of sight from most tables. Haven't tried the food but it looked good and people seemed to be enjoying it. Very adult and dignified atmosphere - a bit staid for my liking ina jazz club but a nice place.<BR><BR>Blue Note - haven't been here myself but the general rap on this places is that i'ts long and narrow with fewer good vantage points to the stage than previous places mentioned. It's also very pricey and they pack you in like cattle. The good news? they get the biggest names in jazz - people you''ll never see anywhere else in such an intimate venue. Same management as BB King's club. I have the impression (unconfirmed by experience) that it's smokier than some other places.<BR><BR>Iridium - this is their new location - I know it's pricey but know nothing else about it except that Les Paul plays there every week and he's a living legend - c'mon.... the guy invented the electric guitar as we know it (should say made it a worthy instrument for performance and recording) and he invented multi-track recording! See him while you can.<BR><BR>Village Vanguard - traditional basement jazz club with some very good names and a great reputation<BR>Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre - a variety of jazz, folk, cabaret and other acts play here. Very intimate space and get here early to stand in line or there's no way you'll get a tabel, much less any kind of place to sit - best sound in the city - this is an amazing space for live music and a cool scene (I'm not so cool but hey.... I can observe, right?).<BR><BR>Fez (under Time Cafe) - low cielings and very cramped but food is okay, prices aren't too far out of line and the music can be very good. Has a rotating assortment of folk acts, occasional jazz or cabaret and also a variety of drag/comdey/singing performers who seem to be popular with the gay community (it's not a gay place per se but does have a broad variety in its lineup). Notable is that the Mingus Big band plays every Thursday night - sold out every week so reserve in advance and get there before doors open to wait on line so you can sit at one of the very few booths along the back wall - way more comfy than the chairs at the tables.

Music Clubs Part II<BR><BR>Chicago BLUES - closed and missed by many... sniffle, sniffle...<BR><BR>Tribeca Blues - second floor space on Bleecker or West 4th - have walked by many times and they have many local and a few regional or national acts on occasion (usually weekends). If the crowd is like the neighborhood at night expect a younger and livelier crowd than the jazz clubs.<BR><BR>Village Undergroound - have been meaning to get here and just haven't done it yet. fri3edns who have gone have describe it as having some of the same shortcomings as the Blue Note (long narrow room where they pack you in except here it's not at tables - it's mostly standing room only). Check their weekly ads in the Village Voice music section - they consistently have an incredible array of national acts ranging from blues to folk to rock to jazz and in between<BR><BR>Tonic - the club not the restaurant) lots of cutting edge music including jazz and tending towards the avant garde - downtown scene where folks like Marc Ribot and the like can be expected to appear on a regular basis. Cool space and a fairly austere room but great for listening<BR><BR>Knitting Factory - it has a very cutting edge selection of artists and the main space is phenomenal acoustically (and very intimate). Ther eis some jazz here on a regular basis (not every night) but it is rarely of the traditional variety. The downstairs pub space, called The Office, (I think) often has live local jazz groups that are good and no cover charge<BR><BR>This list just scratcehs the surface and mentions only some of the more well known venues. There are any number of smaller and very traditonal jazz clubs that have great music (Smalls is among them) and also a number of reastaurants that have jazz after a certain point in the evening. I had dinner ecently at Que3en of Sheba, a delightful Ethiopian restaurant on 9th Ave in the 40's. There was an instrumental jazz group that started playing as we finished dinner - local guys and they were hot - really playing well. We retreated elsewhere for dessert as conversation was our priority but I'd love to go back when music is on my agenda.

Orso, in the theater district is wonderful! We found a great, funky fishhouse in the village called Mary's Fish Camp, really great, but long wait! If you like Brazillian, Ipanema, on west 46th is fantastic! Have fun!

Owen, thank you for the detailed information. Can't wait to try some of your suggestions.<BR><BR>Sue, Ipanema sounds interesting. I am going to see if they have a website.<BR><BR>Thanks to both of you!