NY December: Restaurant Tips
 

Hi again! I've begun a new topic for restaurant tips: travelling with my husband this december for just 3 days and want some restaurant suggestions: I'll tell you what type of place we've been to, so you can see our tastes:
Last years we've gone to:

our special dinners: River Cafe, Babbo, 21 club

brunch or casual: pastis, the view

breakfast: we usually had breakfast at Rosens next to St. Patricks because we stayed at the New York Palace, but this time we are trying the Intercontinental Barclay, so any nice place near will be appreciated (also for dinner, near the hotel in a nice place for the 1st night)

thank you for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to add that my favorite ny burger place is JG Mellon!!!

Restaurants are extremely busy during December due to tourists and holiday parties. It is usually easier and cheaper to eat in residential areas during that time.

Nevertheless here is a reccent discussion reagrding burgers in NYC:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ers-in-nyc.cfm

Not sure how you define "nice place," but you may want to investigate The Four Seasons (restaurant, not hotel) on West 52nd Street, four blocks north of your hotel. It's in the same rank as Babbo and River Cafe, and a little above "21."

mas farm house in the west village is GREAT! pricey but very good food & excellent service.

Hi Carlota. I hope you're not going to be disappointed with the Intercontinental Barclay. It's one of the grand old dames left in NYC but nothing to compare to the Palace. I would have suggested perhaps one of the newer hotels. Intercontinental just opened a new Times Square location that's getting good reviews.

Anyway, for eating, the Intercontinental isn't that far from the Palace so if you liked Rosen's (I don't know it) you could go again. Looking on a map, it's actually closer to the Barclay than to the Palace. Burger Heaven is a local chain of coffee shops that are also in that area. There's one on Madison & 54 st. & another on 49th st. between Madison & Fifth, right near your hotel. http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/burger-heaven-4/ Le Pain Quotidien is a small chain of Belgian cafes and they do a nice breakfast. I think the nearest one to your hotel would be on 40th st. & 6th ave. on the side of Bryant Park.

For a casual dinner near the hotel, Morrell's Wine Bar in Rockefeller Center is surprisingly good. Minetta Tavern in the village is a nice casual place for dinner, lunch or brunch. Eataly is the big new "it" market/restaurant from Mario Batali. http://www.urbandaddy.com/nyc/food/1..._Central_Store

For a fancier dinner, if you like seafood, Le Bernardin within walking distance of your hotel is outstanding. They also have a more affordable prix fixe lunch ($65). I also love La Grenouille for a fancy French meal, also within a walk of your hotel. This is the last of the old school fine French restaurants. If you're looking for new and trendy, this isn't it. For that, I like Locanda Verde in the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca (gorgeous hotel).

Btw, I meant Burger Heaven for breakfast, not as an alternative burger place. I also love Melon's but many people prefer the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien hotel and ofcourse Shake Shack which now has several locations.

mclaurie! I thought the Intercontinental Barclay would be "similar" to the palace...I already booked it, so there's nothing I can do about it but cross my fingers and hope I get a nice room...
thank you all for your suggestions!!
I was thinking of having lunch or dinner at Peter Luger (I think maybe it's better lunch and then try to walk through the bridge if the weather allows it...)
the Mas Farmhouse and the Locanda Verde seem good options for dinner (le bernardin, like per se, are a bit overpriced for me...)
and the Burger Heaven for breakfast sounds perfect (le pain quotidien we have in Spain and also, o prefer the bacon&eggs type of breakfast)
For Burger, last time I tried the Burger Joint at the Meridien, but Melon's is still my favorite!!! (I haven't tried the shake shack though...any near our hotel??)

thanks again!!!

now i'm very nervous about the hotel...anyone been to the intercontinental barclay recently?? mclaurie, isn't still a 5 star hotel??
I think I'll begin a post about it!!

Carlota it has very good reviews on TripAdvisor.

Yes, I've red them and at first it's what I thought, but it's number 165 out of 421 hotels...

Yes but that does not really matter.

There are many great places that for some reason or other are not ranked highly, but when you read the reviews, they are great....maybe they just do not get as many reviewers as other hotels. If there is something particular that you want to know about the public areas, I will walk there and take a look, as I live fairly close to the hotel.

Thank you so much! my worry is about the room and bathroom...
the nearest thing I need is for breakfast (the eggs&bacon type) and I think I'll try mclaurie's suggestion and go to Burger Heaven, at least the 1st day

Have a look at the write up and photos of the hotel here. http://www.oyster.com/new-york-city/...clay-new-york/ It's certainly not 5* and not nearly as glamorous as the Palace but it's a perfectly fine hotel. I think I know your taste and I didn't want you expecting the Palace. Bathrooms are small, rooms just ordinary, no real views. I don't put much importance in the rating # on tripadvisor.

Peter Luger's is considered to be the best steak by many people but they only take cash, it's not very convenient to get to and the service is gruff. It's not my thing and it's not that near the Brooklyn bridge. If you want to experience it, I think lunch is a good idea. In fact, many people say their burgers are outstanding. I've never tried them. The nearest Shake Shack to your hotel would be in the theater district at 8th ave. & 44th st. This website raves about the burgers at Lure Fishbar which I haven't tried. http://www.bestburgernyc.com/p/rankings.html

If you want a good steak dinner, BLT Steak or BLT Prime or Porter House are in Manhattan, good steak and modern.

I just saw the bathroom and it looks really tiny...the room Seems ok...i think i'm really going to miss "My palace"...i'll check the other steakhouses! I forgot to say that i Also like smith&wollenski!!

Carlota: One place that has not been mentioned here and that is within an easy walk of the Barclay is Convivio. This is a southern Italian restaurant and the food is outstanding. It is in a pretty enclave, Tudor City, which overlooks the United Nations. I've dined there twice in the last two weeks and these two meals ranked among the best I've had in any NY restaurant this year. It is NOT a typical southern Italian "red sauce" type of place. Pastas, especially, are outstanding. It is casual and they have a very good prix fixe dinner of four courses for about $62 or so.

They have a sister restaurant, Marea, that specializes in fish/seafood, on Central Park South.

You might want to consider P.J. Clarks for a burger, it's on 55th and 3rd Avenue.

If you want a real neighborhood diner for breakfast, try the Madison diner on 53rd and 1st Ave. it's been around for over 60 years.

There's also the Nations diner on 49th and 1st.

Ess-a-Bagel is on 51st and 3rd some of the best bagels around.

We enjoyed Tao for diner on 58th Street between Park and Lex.

Happy to hear of your Convivio experience, ek. We're headed there with our "opera gang" this Saturday (not our first visit) after the matinée performance of <i>Das Rheingold</i> at the Met. The opera ends early, so it's Campbell Apartment first for drinks, then dinner at Convivio. We think highly of it, too.

Incidentally, Michael White also operates Alto, another highly rated place.

Try Ruth's Chris steak house. They are amazing. Excellent filet, amazing side dishes, and the best cheesecake...

They're located on 51st between Broadway & 7th

enjoy!
x

We enjoyed our meals at Locanda Verde. Since you're willling to travel there are many good restaurants in this area,W. Village, W. Chelsea, Meatpacking District.Spice Market is a favorite of ours.No need to eat at chains..

I just got tickets fo Spiderman at the old Hilton theatre, no idea where it is.. Any idea of where we can go afterwards??it might be very late though as it's at 8pm...
As i got the tickets we just have 2 nights "available" for dinners so now I have to choose!!
Between: locanda verde, spice market, tao or one of the steakhouses mclaurie recomends...
What do you think? It'll be nice to try 2 different styles and áreas...

carlota, you'll likely find that NYC hotel rooms tend to be smaller than their counterparts in other parts of the US. Space is at a premium in this city.

And I'll second the idea of avoiding national restaurant chains in NYC. There are scads of terrific local based options here. My impression is that you can hit chains most anywhere, so I say save such experiences for cities that are much less in terms of food destinations.

I'm not going to Any chain, just the burger heaven for breakfast at least the first morning...the Rest of the time i want to try different places...lunchtime we'll probably go to kg melón or try pjclarks and also try peter luger, but for dinner the choice is harder!!

Just a suggestion from someone who went to Peter Luger once -- I got the "steak for one" and didn't like it (nice flavor but way, way too much gristle). Folks over at the Chowhound website routinely recommend getting the porterhouse "steak for two" or more -- reports from over there suggest this is the best option, with other steak types being inconsistent.

Reports I've seen also suggest that they do a really good burger there, that they do a terrific side order of bacon, and that a few of their traditional side dishes (creamed spinach, German fried potatoes) can be good. And bring cash, because except for their own in-house debit cards, that's all they accept. Making a reservation there is wise as well.

Koi is a nice trendy restaurant in the Bryant Park hotel which would be in between your hotel and the theater. It's much better than Tao imo. There's a new restaurant called the Lamb's Club that would also be on the way and might be fun. I think either would be fine for before or after the theater but make a reservation.

The chain people were talking about I think is Ruth's Chris steakhouse which exists in other places (started in New Orleans). If you like steak, I'd do a steakhouse and then Locanda Verde. Have you been to the meatpacking district yet? That's another idea for a dinner.

I just had brunch at the meatpacking district(at pastis)I've never had dinner. At soho area neither. At greenwich village I did, at Babbo.
I have 3 days: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
the lunch are orientative because I still haven't made plans for each day...
Wednesday:
we arrive from Miami at about 12.00, if we have time I'd like to have lunch at JG Melon
Dinner: Porter House and BLT Prime seem like good options...
thursday:
breakfast: burger heaven
lunch: Peter Luger??it might be too offhanded...I'm still thinking about it...
theatre: Spiderman
post-theate dinner: I've seen the shake shack you told me about is really near the theatre, but it might be a bit crowded, maybe we can try Lamb's club, which (at least on the website) seems very nice...
Friday:
lunch: depending on the area we are..maybe soho: how's downtown cipriani? any suggestions of casual/fashion lunch at soho area?
Dinner: between locanda verde, MasFarm House, Spice Market or Convivio (or any other you suggest) Someone also recomended the restaurant at the 4seasons, is it good?
which one should I choose???
maybe I can "cancel" the steak dinner and choose another one of "this list" for Wednesday...
Saturday:
any suggestion for the best brunch??? we've been to Pastis (and also know Balthazar) what is the "it" place for brunch??maybe we can try Minetta Tavern, or Felix,

in the afternoon we (sadly) fly back home...

Mailino reportedly has a good brunch.

And one of the trendiest places that no one mentioned is Breslin at the Ace Hotel on 29th Street@Broadway.



http://thebreslin.com/menu-brunch.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/di...ws/13rest.html

Also:


http://www.thelambsclub.com/

Minetta Tavern or Felix are both good ideas for brunch downtown. Minetta Tavern is owned by the same people as Balthazar and Pastis. Maialino in the Gramercy Park hotel (so not as far downtown) has become very popular as had Locanda Verde. Here's a post from Chowhound in great detail on brunches.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/707...ist;short58926

As to your dinner choices, I don't know about you, but if I have a burger for lunch, I usually don't want more beef for dinner. If you make it to Melon's, I'd maybe do Convivio for dinner on that first night which is nearer your hotel. Four Seasons I think will be more expensive than you said you want but that's also close. Alto is another Italian not far from your hotel that's very good. http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/alto/

Another choice for breakfast I noticed but haven't tried is Isadora's on 52 st. http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/isadoras-cafe/

Shake Shack is not really a restaurant but more a snack bar for takeout. I haven't been to the location on west 44th st. They may have tables but it won't be a place with waitstaff. At best you get your food and then sit and eat it. If you just want a snack after the theater and want to take it back to the hotel, it's a good option. If you want a nice sitdown meal, not good. You could grab a burger before the show and just have drinks and dessert after.

I like Marseille for a casual dinner in the theater district too (French brasserie) but Lamb's Club is new and could be more interesting. You do need to make a reservation if you want a sit down meal.

Casual lunch in Soho why not try Lure Fishbar? You can have seafood or try their burger. Shorty's is another idea.

For your last night dinner, the only thing I'll add now to the good list you have is Riverpark which just opened-seafood and a river view. http://www.riverparknyc.com/

Maybe we can try the brunch at locanda verde, from what i red it's food and that way we have to choose to have dinner from: masFarmhouse, spicemarket or the riverpark, which one is the
most "special" for the last night?? I wanted to try spicemarket, but then again j hadn't heard of the other 2 and you all aré the ones that really know these places...

Hola Carlota: Sorry I did not see this before now. Of the three you mentioned, I have only been to Mas and it is a lovely restaurant. However, I am not sure that it has the "New York feeling" of some of the other places you mentioned. But on the other hand, it is on a charming block in the West Village.... You are spoiled for choice here. Get back to us with your recent decisions and we will be happy to offer up more opinions.

And please, when you get time, give me your thoughts on dining in Madrid..I will have only four nights, in January....I will start a new thread now on the Europe board.

For breakfast you might try The Primburger on 51st between Madison and 5th, right across the street from St. Pats. The food is realy good and the prices are too. It's a 1960's diner that is really charming, nice wait staff too.

For dinner one of my favs is Oyster Bar at Grand Central and around the corner is Docks for really good seafood. Also there is a good food court at Grand Central for a quick and good lunch.

If you head downtown to see some sites, have dinner in Chinatown at Peking Duck House and order the Peking Duck. This is one of the best chinese restaurants in the city on Mott St, 3 blocks south of Canal St.

If you're still thinking of Peter Luger, you need to call. That's only a little over a month away and may not be available by now.

But by the way, Peter Luger does now accept debit cards as well as their own credit card, or checks with ID.