pinkblossm

The week of Thanksgiving I will be taking my daughter on a trip to NYC for her 16th birthday. I was hoping there are some people who could give me ideas for different places to go while we are there. We are staying at Wingate Inn.
The one I'm having the most trouble with is where to take her to dinner on her actual birthday. She is such a picky eater and most of the menus I looked at don't have anything she'll eat. She won't touch any type of seafood or anything that looks weird has mushrooms, onions. I wanted to take her some where special that night. For less than $100 a person. Any ideas?

bugswife1

Obviously your idea of a special meal and her idea of a special meal are completely different.
What about gourmet pizza? Mario Batali has a great place called Otto Enotecca. After dinner you can actually walk to Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Guy for dessert. You can find Otto menu on www.menupages.com

pinkblossm

Thanks! That's a good idea. Does anyone have ideas about places to take a teen interested in photography and Fashion Design while we are there?

Margo_Chester

You may want to see what is on exhibit at the International Center of Photography at 6th & 43rd. www.icp.org

Fraggle

If she's really into fashion, you'll want to take her to FIT's museum (Fashion Institute of Technology).
http://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/

bugswife1

Another suggestion for dinner is Rosa Mexicano on the other side of Union Square Park. 18th St. Beautiful decor. But only if she likes mexican of course. She could make her own fajita, sans onions of course. Or perhaps Apizz for meatballs. And, it is actually too dark to see what you are eating so you may get away with a stray mushroom or two.

mp

She may like the costume institute at the Met - http://www.metmuseum.org
Does she eat meat? Perhaps a nice French bistro would work - steak frites or roast chicken. Balthazar might be fun for a 16 year old - very much a scene, Soho hip, noisy energy with good food, not too fussy.

kswl

Another vote for the costume institute. If she's interested in fashion she'll love it.

Annam

Mood Designer Fabrics, where they shop for Project Runway. 37th street, off of 7th I think. It's on the third (and 4th) floors. If you two walk into the elevator the elevator operator will probably know exactly where you want to go without you having to ask.

Not exactly fashion-design-related (well, except that Elle got her Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Merchandising), but you should take her to see Legally Blonde on Broadway. My daughter LOVED it (as did I).

pinkblossm

Awesome! Thanks everyone. We looked at the site for FIT and now my daughter has moved it to the top of her college wish list. So we are going to go to check it out while we are there.

One more question. How hard will it be to find a place in the city with homestyle turky dinners on Thanksgiving?

travelbuff

Frauces Tavern would certainly have turkey on Thanksgiving, and for your Daughter a bit of a history lesson. This is the restaurant where George Washington said goodbye to his troops and walked up to the Federal Building to take the oath of office to become President.

Also Friend of the Farmer would have a nice dinner, but make sure you make reservations early, it will fill up fast. Also across the street is an old tavern where O'Henry would sit in the front window and write his stort stories.

You are going to have such a great time, all the decorations will be up all over the city and some of the trees will be decorated and are usually lit just after Thansgiving. All the store windows will be decorated, Macy's, Lord&Taylor, Bloomies, Saks, Barney's and all along 5th Ave.

Also take in at least a part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, be something to remember next year when you watch it on TV.

Have a great time while you are here.

mp

When it gets closer to Thanksgiving, say in the last half of october, you can check on www.opentable.com - they always list restaurants that serve holiday meals.

I know Beacon in midtown on West 56th St. serves a wonderful Thanksgiving meal - as do many hotel restaurants.

pinkblossm

Thank you! I love hearing all the history behind these resturants. That is awesome.
I can not wait to get there!

ggreen

As previously mentioned, the Int'l Center for Photography (ICP) is great for its temporary exhibitions. The MoMA also has an extensive photography collection and temporary exhibits, as does the Met.

Thanksgiving may be just at the time when they do open studios at Parsons - they have degrees in both Fashion Design and Photography!

mclaurie

I too strongly recommend also checking out Parsons School of Design. Very well respected and they also offer degrees in both fashion design and photography.
http://www.parsons.edu/degrees/index.aspx

Just a heads up that any restaurant will prepare a dish the way you request. So unless it's something pre-made, she can anything "without mushrooms" or without onions etc.

If she's into fashion, you must go to the shop Jeffrey in the meatpacking district for the lastest stuff to drool over. http://nymag.com/listings/beauty/jeffrey_new_york00/
Stella McCartney also has a store in that neighborhood.

For the special dinner, it sounds like atmosphere will be more important than food. If you think she'd like something trendy and buzzy, go some place in the meatpacking district. Or if she has a favorite food, you can search for places that serve it on menupages.com.