What are some nice sidewalk cafes in New York for lunch/dinner?
What neighborhoods would you recommend going to that would be outside the typical tourist attractions?
Thanks.

There are many on 2nd ave between 12th Street and Houston plus many have gardens in the rear,

For what it's worth - After doing the Highline last Sat evening some out of town friends and I had wonderful burgers on the outside of the Homestead Steak House in the Meatpacking District. I had never been before and outside was delightful.

I'd sugges the upper west side just walk up the Avenue starting around Lincoln Center, (walk up Columbus Ave) until you find one that looks best to you. We have cafes all over the city, and over 10,000 restaurants in Manhattan.

All of the residential areas - upper east and west sides (more in the latter), the village, east village, etc all have a lot of sidewalk cafes - often several per block. You will not find them in midtown (there's just too much foot traffic and the city won't license them) or the downtown financial district.

Downtown - I think Stone Street has outdoor cafes

There are about five retaurants on Stone Street. They have a different buzz after work as opposed to lunch time.

2nd Ave. in the 80's
also Beyoglu
in fact 2nd ave betw 80 and 84 is loaded

In the upper west side, Amsterdam and Columbus in teh 80's have tons of great places to dine on the sidewalk in a residential area. there sre so many on a nice evening that it's hard to choose just one!

I like Bistro Citron www.bistrocitronnyc.com

Nice Matin www.nicematinnyc.com for starters.

Further up is Max Soha on 123rd and Amsterdam. Tiny, with nice Italian. Its just a few blocks up from Columbia Univ: www.maxsoha.com/max-site-home.html

Lower East Side - St. Marks is a street that would correspond to 8th Street - off 2nd Avenue. Many, many sidewalk cafes + some shopping. And there are more on the numbered streets in that area.

I love Stone Street! Very pretty!

Any of the residential neighborhoods. Get out of Midtown.

I would check out Astoria in Queens along 30th or 31st or maybe 34th ave. also bway and steinway.
The quality of restaurants in Astoria is unmatched. Lots of pretty places, lots of "ethnic" places. I always find diamonds in Astoria.