NYC Itinerary Review - Thanksgiving Week w/Teens
 

Could someone "in the know" take a look at this? We are leaving Saturday for 5 nights in NYC and it's not too late to tweak our schedule. My kids are 14 and 16.

Day 1: Check in to Morgans Hotel around 3:00. Walk over to Empire State Building. Do observatory. Walk to NY Public Library (if time.) Back to hotel to clean up. Dinner reservations at Vice Versa.

Day 2: B'fast at Bloom's Deli. Go to 10:15 Mass at St. Patrick's. Spend an hour or so at International Museum of Photography before grabbing lunch - John's Pizzeria on W. 44th or Dean and Deluca's Rockefeller Ctr. Cafe. See Hairspray (if showing!) at 3:00 p.m. Walk to Rubyfoo's after for dinner.

Day 3: NYU Visit (daughter age 16 is considering) - Do Info session and official tour. Lunch after at Baluchi's OR North Square. Head down to Ground Zero on the E train. Do their sightseeing tour. Dinner back close to hotel, either Rare Bar & Grill OR Qdoba (need cheap food for teens.)

Day 4: Subway down to Battery Park. Do Ellis Island. Eat lunch there. Spend most of day. If time after, go by United Nations and take official tour. Back to hotel, dinner close by. (Suggestions?)

Day 5: Sleep in while hubby runs in Central Park, see 11:00 a.m. performance of Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Take subway after to Papaya King near Met for hot dog (weird, I know, I just want one of their hot dogs) then spend 3 hours at the Met. Dinner that evening at Blue Water Grill. Would like to do jazz room if okay with teens.

Comments/suggestions are appreciated!

I'm not in the know, but I am doing the same thing--arriving Saturday for 5 days with my two teenage sons--who are 17 and 19. We're having dinner at the Blue Water Grill in the jazz room on Saturday night.

We have tickets to Wicked and Spamalot--so our itinerary is in flux right now.

Have fun!

This sounds like a nice itinerary. You have a lot of good restaurants already in line. If you want something close to the hotel on Day 4, I'd suggest one of the restaurants on Third Avenue.

You could go to Caliente Cab (3rd Ave./33rd St) for mid-priced Mexican.

I'd also recommend Blue Smoke for really good barbecue, but it's a bit farther from your hotel (27th between Lex and Mad). If you want to go there, you absolutely need a reservation. Or you could go to one of the Indian restaurants on or off Lex in the 20s. Maybe Copper Chimney, which is a little more upscale (can't remember the exact street).

You could also just go to Patsy's (3rd Ave between 33rd & 34th) if you don't go to John's pizza and don't want to deal with reservations. Or Hudson Place (36th/3rd); they have really good hamburgers and consistently seafood if you want something more healthy.

If the weather's nice and the theater strike still on, you might consider taking the subway all the way up to the Cloisters. Your teens may not be so keen on Medieval art, but the views of the Hudson are breathtaking, and the park is also very nice. Then go back down to Harlem and have an early dinner at Sylvia's instead of Ruby Foo's. Alot of people skip the Cloisters, but it's a nice place, especially if you can watch the sunset over the river.

I would skip Baluchi's. There are better palces namely Banjara, Haveli, and Mitali.

I would also take a sandwich to Ellis Island rather than eat there.

For pizza try Lombardi's or Pizza Fresca.

I went to NYU for grad school and still use the gym. (Native Ny'er.)

There is great diversity and the adminsitration wants it to continue to climb as academic institution. It is a massive university with the city as a campus. Some kids like that others feel comfortable in a smaller school with a grassy campus.

Sorry forgot to add the following-

I am also not a big fan of Blue Water Grill, try Mermaid Inn.

As far as jazz is concerned, go on line or get a free copy of the Village Voice or buy Time Out NY for a complete listing of jazz and music.

Thanks aduchamp. I may make some changes to our plans regarding the restaurant choices. I agree with your Indian choices after looking at the online reviews.

Apppreciate your thoughts on NYU. Any opinions are helpful, considering the amount of $$$$ we might be spending........

Day 1: Check in to Morgans Hotel around 3:00. Walk over to Empire State Building. Do observatory. Walk to NY Public Library (if time.) Back to hotel to clean up. Dinner reservations at Vice Versa.

The 42nd Street Library is open until 6:00PM on Saturdays now - go inside it's beautiful.


Day 2: B'fast at Bloom's Deli. Go to 10:15 Mass at St. Patrick's. Spend an hour or so at International Museum of Photography before grabbing lunch - John's Pizzeria on W. 44th or Dean and Deluca's Rockefeller Ctr. Cafe. See Hairspray (if showing!) at 3:00 p.m. Walk to Rubyfoo's after for dinner.

If you're at ICP on 6th and 43rd street you'll be closer to John's than Dean and Deluca . Dean and Deluca is nothing special - not worth going out of your way for . . .

Day 3: NYU Visit (daughter age 16 is considering) - Do Info session and official tour. Lunch after at Baluchi's OR North Square. Head down to Ground Zero on the E train. Do their sightseeing tour. Dinner back close to hotel, either Rare Bar & Grill OR Qdoba (need cheap food for teens.)

Aduchamps suggestions are right on for Indian food, but if you're looking for Indian food right around NYU, and close to the W4th Street subway stop to go downtown, I can suggest a more interesting place than Baluchi's, which is a kind of mediocre mini-chain. There is a wonderful little place on Greenwich Ave called Lassi. It is Indian snack food -and specials of the day - really good, fresh food, just a narrow counter really - but the owner/chef is the former pastry chef at Union Square cafe:
http://www.lassinyc.com/index.html
You could also get a hot dog right there near NYU at Grey's Papaya - 6th Avenue and 8th Street. great people watching from the windows. the vegetarian place across the street - Gobo - is good too . . .


Day 4: Subway down to Battery Park. Do Ellis Island. Eat lunch there. Spend most of day. If time after, go by United Nations and take official tour. Back to hotel, dinner close by. (Suggestions?)

Good places near Morgans - the restaurant in the Morgan Library: Artisinal; rare; Kang Suh (Korean BBQ) Black Duck; Keens; Ali Baba; Hangawi;

Day 5: Sleep in while hubby runs in Central Park, see 11:00 a.m. performance of Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Take subway after to Papaya King near Met for hot dog (weird, I know, I just want one of their hot dogs) then spend 3 hours at the Met. Dinner that evening at Blue Water Grill. Would like to do jazz room if okay with teens.

Papaya King and Gray's Papaya are interchangeable, IMHO - and the one on 86th street is in the opposite direction of the Met. If you appease your hot dog need downtown, you can stop at Cafe Sbarsky in the Neue Gallerie on your way in or out of the met and have some wonderful viennese desserts . .

www.menupages.com for addresses and menus

have fun . . .


Comments/suggestions are appreciated!