My husband and I just booked a trip to NYC for 9/24-9/27. It will be our first time visiting. We have lived in Chicago for 10 years, so we're city people, but for some reason I'm completely overwhelmed with planning this trip to New York City. I'm mainly looking for restuarant suggestions. We'll probably do one fancy dinner for our anniversary but the rest of the time eat at casual places. We are staying at Le Meridien and plan on being complete tourists since it's our first time! Any suggestions or tips would be great.

There are so many threads right now on New York, that you might try reading some of them. If you would tell us where you are staying or what you would like to see while you are here we can probably be of a bit more help.

Also I'd suggest getting a book on the city so you have a handy quide with you. That way you can pick some of the things that are of interest.

For your short visit, there are literally thousands of things you could do.

A good friend sent me the Eyewitness Top Ten New York City and it proved to be a very useful book.

I'm not sure if you know about the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien, but it is one of our favorite places. You can google it for more info. It's good for dinner when you're in a hurry--like trying to get to the theater on time, for instance. Roberto Passon is also not far from where you're staying, and is very good and not too expensive. I also like Red Cat in Chelsea and Kefi for Greek on the Upper West Side. Somewhat more expensive are Red Cat in Chelsea and Public in Nolita--both are really good. Blue Hill in Greenwich Village is also good, but more expensive than the others I've mentioned.

i keep hearing about this Burger Joing - will have to look out for it!

Fancy dinner: Eleven Madison, Gramercy Tavern, Jean Georges, Per Se, Savoy, Blue Hill, The River Cafe, Daniel, Le Bernadin. It all depends on your budget, preferences, etc. For reviews of these places look them up on Yelp or Zagats, for reservations most of them are on Opentable.

Casual places: Tartine-BYOB, craftbar, Scarpetta, again depends on your food preferences, neighborhoods. NY Magazine has a good restaurant section.

Tips for finding decent food while walking around: stay away from the delis in the heavily traveled tourist, on the main avenues. You can find better food options if you walk down the numbered streets.

Bloomingdales, Saks and Lord and Taylors have good food options if you want a quick bite and are nearby.

There are also Le Pain Quotidiens all over. You might want to print out a list of NYC locations from the website and keep it with you. The food there is good, quick, and not too expensive--a good place to grab a quick bite.

If you want a fancy dinner in NYC, then expect to pay at least $100 per person (more if you drink wine), and make your reservations asap. You're probably already too late to get a table at a top restaurant at anything other than 5:30 or 10:30pm, but always check Opentable first then call the restaurant (Opentable only has a few tables at its disposal).

The economy is picking up, bankers are once again getting huge bonuses, and it's a little harder to get a restaurant reservation than it was this spring and summer. But restaurants are still having wait-lists, so if there is a place you really want (like Le Bernardin), they will wait-list you for a table if one is not available. It's easiest to get a table on a Monday or Tuesday night.

FYI: If you are overwhelmed at planning a trip, then I really do suggest you get a travel guide that has good coverage of NYC with some basic maps that give you a layout of the city so you can plan your time. It doesn't much matter which book you get as long as it has maps and the kinds of recommendations you might want. But you will end up wasting a lot of valuable time if you just show up in NYC and have no plan. And then you'll end up eating at Tavern on the Green and going to the Empire State Building because those are the only things you know. It's worthwhile to check out some of the less-visited things that might catch your fancy, even if this is your first trip.

Tips:
>menupages.com for restaurant research. Your hotel is in the west 50's if you're looking for nearby places but west 60's will also be close4. Some of the best restaurants in NYC are within a short walk of your hotel depending on your tastes.
+ Le Bernardin outstanding French seafood.
+ Picholine for mediterranean
+ Asiate for Asian/French with view in the Time Warner building
+ Marea is a new upscale Italian
+ Petrossian for caviar and very nice prix fixe meals across from Carnegie Hall

opentable.com is the booking place for many restaurants.

>If you like jazz, Dizzy's Coca Cola in the Time Warner building is pretty close to your hotel and is a lovely venue with moderately priced food, lovely view and very good jazz. They do have a heavy cover charge though and you can also go before or after dinner.

>For more casual meals, many places have prix fixe 3 course menus that are good value. For ex., Asiate has a $24 lunch which is a nice way to try their food, see the view etc. without spending a fortune. Le Bernardin also has a very good value lunch although still pricey.

> If you consider a tour, Real NY Tours uses a combination of walking and subway to take you around so you don't waste time in a bus.

>If you want to go to the theater, buy tickets in advance (like now). If you're looking for discounted tix, go to broadwaybox.com in the left column. Decide what you'd like to see and then PHONE for tickets to speak to a live operator. Print out the seating chart of any show that interests you before phoning.

>If you like food, the foodsofnyc.com tours are very good and popular.

>Make sure to visit Greenwich Village. Do the food tour there or plan on dining there one night.

Maybe I missed it above, but two quintessential New York eating experiences involve pizza and deli.

Places for deli I've tried, in more or less descending order: Katz's, Second Avenue Deli, Carnegie Deli, Artie's, Barney Greengrass, Stage Deli.

Places I've tried for pizza, also in more or less descending order: John's, Grimaldi's, Lombardi's. Have not been to DiFara, Patsy's, or Totonno's, but all are supposed to be very good. It's not the Chicago deep dish you may be used to, but it's still well worth it.

Menu Pages is wonderful while planning a NYC trip. I agree with bachlunch on some of those suggestions for casual meals. We LOVED Carnegie Deli and John's Pizzaria. I also had one of the best burgers ever at PJ Clarke's at their original location, mid town east. We also had very good matzo ball soup at the Cafe Edison near Broadway.
Oh and Ess a Bagel was lovely too!

I just found this website, and it has great restaurant reviews, just put in what city you are looking for.

www.yelp.com

Thanks, glimmer2, for bringing up bagels, another New York favorite. Will second Ess-a-bagel and also recommend Murray's Bagels (both are sit-down spots where you can get cream cheese and other toppings). H&H Bagels is excellent as well, though strictly take-away and not a place that offers toppings.

I have distrust for on-line restaurant reviewss. Half the people do not know of which they speak and then there are some which seem to either have a profit motive or a grudge.

I took a random peek at Yelp and you would think that Queens was the culinary capital of the world. While it is nice that there are places outside of Manhattan, it si suspicious for its Queens bent. There some Brooklyn places which has zoomed to become an important resaturant borough, but not like Queens.

For example Sal, Kris, & Charlie's Deli, was the best Deli in NYC. Now I am sure I makes fine sandwhiches, but it is suspicious that it is in LIC. The best pizza was in Astoria, the best Turkish was in Astoria, and the second kosher palce was in Flushing.

Now there is great food throughout the city, but this is a little odd. The other thing that is curious is that photos accompany each review and there didn't seem to be anybody over the age of 30.

Before you get to NY spend a few minutes looking at a map of the city. Learn the names of the avenues, what is east side and west, etc. It's not hard to get around or figure out where a place is once you know the basics. Then you can group your sightseeing activities by proximity to make the most of your time.

Adu - not so fast dismissing Queens as a "culinary capital of the world". Maybe not the culinary capital - but could rank as the diversity culinary capital. The boro is home to the most diverse (culturally) population in the world. And this does result in some absolutely top restaurants catering to a diverse clientele that knows its food. Try to compare Sripraphai to the dreary "Thai" restaurants found in midtown. Or the Indian places off Roosevelt Ave. And for Chinese, Korean - Flushing is tops in the city. Bear in mind that they cater to an affluent local clientele who know something about their cuisines. These places would quickly go out of business if they served the sort of stuff you find in cosmopolitan midtown Chinese restaurants. And Astoria - Agnanti for Greek ( also compare their prices to overpriced Greek spots in town). Little Pio Pio on Woodhaven Blvd for pollo a la brasa -- and on and on.
But I would agree with you that one should be very careful about accepting on line reviews. They can be extremely useful if you have a sense who is providing them. But you can get all sorts of recommendations (and well-meaning). E.G. On this very board you will find recommendations for Carmine's, TOTG.

This is one of the comprehensive threads on NYC that travelbuff mentioned. Try clicking or pasting this link:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...y-368665-2.cfm

Burger Joint is nice but the wait can be long during prime dining hours. I'd say a 20-minute wait is not at all unusual around 7 pm, say.

Joe-

As I noted there is great food to be found throughout the city. My comments were not about Queens but the reviewers.

Growing up in the city I know you can find great things in the boros.

Funny - my impression of yelp is that alot of the reviews are by locals - and maybe that is why there are alot from Queens included for the NYC area. But I wouldn't think most visitors would necessarily want to head out of Manhattan. I'm always interested in "neighborhood restaurants" rather than the "image, high-priced" restaurants that aim for businessmen on expense accoutns or name-dropping toursits. Just my opinion.