Upper West Side Must See & Must Eats
 

My husband, 5-year old daughter and I will be staying in NYC on the upper west side and am looking for some fun things to do and great places to eat in that neighborhood. I wouldn't say price is no object, but our pocketbook is flexible, so any ideas are welcome.

We are going to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Musc Hall at 4:00 pm, so maybe we would want to eat a later lunch there and walk around??? Any ideas?

Thanks!

The Natural Histroy Museum at 81st and Central Park West.

near the Natural History Museum, on Columbus is Maxilla and Mandible, a store with all kinds of skeletons, butterflies, fossils.

There's another indepedent (i.e., not a big chain)toy store a little further south on Columbus...can't remember the name of it right now.


Central Park-

the Belevedere Castle
the Merry Go Round
the Central Park Zoo
the Skating Rink (closer to the east side, but it you started at the castle and worked your way south, it keeps you heading in the direction of Radio City)

if you continued to walk through the park to Radio City, exit at the east side and Fifth Ave. You'll be right by FAO Schwartz and the Plaza Hotel (if she's familiar with the book Madeliene, you can tell her that Madeliene 'lived' at the Plaza.)

Then you could continue to walk down Fifth Ave and see all the window decorated for Xmas. This will be crowded, just to let you know.

As for restaurants, where on the UWS are you staying and do you have any preferences, food wise? And how adventurous is your daughter foodwise? I know 5 year olds can be picky.


Alice's Tea Cup on 73rd between Columbus and Amsterdam might be fun for lunch.

Thanks LP. My daughter is a fairly adventurous eater. She loves middle eastern, indian and thai. However, that being said, she's never turned down a chicken mcnugget either! I think it all depends on her mood.

I want to do things for her in NYC but I would rather focus on great places for us and teach her how to enjoy wonderful restaurants. So suggest away!

Pasha on the uws is good Turkish.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...mp;cuisineid=0

Here's a list of kid friendly restaurants on the UWS.
http://menupages.com/restaurants.asp...t=9&sort=2

Calle Ocho might be fun.

Ellen's Stardust Diner near Radio City is very popular with kids but will be mobbed.

For a little nicer on the upper west side try

Isabella's for Italian

Nice Matin

Ocean Grill

All are not too far from the Natural History Museum

You can also take the 79th St crosstown bus to the Met that has ot of stuff kids enjoy - from Costume Institute to Arms & Armor to Egyptian section and Temple of Dendur

For casuale you can pick up things at Zabar's or stop in at Cosi for interesting sandwiches and salads.

Not super fancy, but nice is Arte Cafe at 106 W 73rd (btwn Columbus & Amsterdam) http://artecafenyc.com we have had several good meals there, never rushed through, service has been good, never a mediocre meal!

More restaurant recs...

Cafe des Artistes- 67th between Columbus and CPW- french and the priciest option I am listing.

Espices du Traiteur-morrocan/french, 70th between Columbus and Broadway

Fiorellos- italian- on Broadway across from Lincoln Center (66th street)

Le Boite en Bois- french- 68th?/69th? between Columbus and CPW

Celeste- italian, 84th and Amsterdam...word of caution- tightly packed tables, no reservations and cash only

For an afternoon of early evening treat- Jaques Torres just opened up (last week!) a shop on Amsterdam between 73rd and 74th. Chocolates to die for! They also have a 'chocolate bar' inside the store where you can get a cup of hot chocolate or s'mores....

And Arte Cafe has a place on Columbus that is more of a cafe, recently expanded to include a wine bar, where you can get sandwhiches, light bites, pastries, good coffee- to stay or to go.

You can also add Lincoln Center to a list of possible things to see..aside from the theaters, the Performing Arts Library is there (in the back, next to the Vivian Beaumont Theater), where they have exhibitions about the performing arts, along with all the books and resources.

Rosa Mexicana won't break the bank and the food is good. I'm sure the servers will dote on your daughter. Their tableside guacamole was delish and they got us out of there right on time to catch our show at Lincoln Center (I know you didn't mention one, but just for future reference!)

All terrific suggestions from nytraveler,mclaurie, et al . . . one place that is casual, very reasonable (although cash only) and really good is Kefi, a newis Greek place on 79th between Bway and Amsterdam. Young adventurous eaters would probably like the meatballs, the calamari, the ravioli and the roast chicken. An early dinner is recommended - it gets crowded after 7:00

I'm surprised no-one corrected this - Madeline (by Ludwig Bemelmans) didn't live at the Plaza, she lived in a Parisian boarding school. However, Eloise (by Kay Thompson) most assuredly did live at the Plaza. Eloise was one of my very favorite books when I was growing up, and it still delights me when I re-read it.

You are so correct! Thanks for catching my mistake...

Well, it is an easy mistake to make, if you aren't as big an Eloise fan as I am. They're both about headstrong little girls, although on different continents, and both written mid-20th century (Madeline in 1939, Eloise in 1956). An interesting bit of trivia about Eloise is that supposedly Kay Thompson based that character on the young daughter of her good friend Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli. What makes the book so special are the wonderful illustrations by Hilary Knight - I used to spend hours looking at the intricate pictures and diagrams of Eloise's adventures wreaking havoc at the Plaza Hotel.

Tango, if your daughter hasn't read the Eloise books, I highly recommend you get her at least the first one, and tell her that New York is where Eloise lived - I bet it will make the trip a little more exciting and interesting for her. I do remember how excited I was to see the Plaza the first time I went to New York when I was a girl.

I've read that the Plaza is currently closed and undergoing renovations, and is scheduled to reopen on December 3rd - that's a week from now, does anyone know if that's still on target to happen?

Thanks for the great suggestions!

We are going to Calle Ocho for dinner (my husband LOVES ceviche!)

Not sure about the rest of our itinerary but I am going to print this out and take it with me!

Sara, Eloise is a family favorite here. Did anyone happen to be as lucky as I and see the original Eloise on television many many years ago? The star was Evelyn Rudie and she was just perfect! It was in black and white and i don't believe it was saved on tape at that time, sadly.

lp_nyc, I didn't know about the Arte location on Columbus - thanks!

I too would be interested if anyone knows about the Plaza reopening - any scoop?

Sarabeth's on Amsterdam is good especially for breakfast/brunch. I recently went there with a friend and her 2 young daughters and they loved the place.

Here's what it says on Wikipedia (the source of all truth LOL!) "El Ad closed The Plaza on April 30, 2005, to undergo extensive renovations. It is planned to reopen on December 3rd, 2007. When the renovations are complete, the Plaza is expected to offer 130 hotel rooms and 152 private condo hotel units and be managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. In May 2007, a new apartment in the Plaza was sold for a record $50 Million."

Sorry have 2 secs to post. For dinner, try Telepan. Excellent. Go to www.menupages.com to see what they serve.

We really like the Santa Fe restaurant at 73 W 71st.

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantd...=43&home=Y

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profil.../santa_fe.html

All, thanks for making our trip magical with your wonderful suggestions!

Just wanted to say that we did the walk through the park from the West side to the East, down to FAO Schwartz and onto Radio City Music Hall.

We stopped at the Belvedere Castle and a man who works there made my little girl an honorary princess! He also had a big white beard and told her he was Santa in disguise! She was enchanted...and so was I!

We also ended up eating at Sara Beth's, Calle Ocho, Arte Cafe (we went to a baby shower here), Nice Matin and Borough Food & Drink. The only one we didn't really like too much even though the atmosphere was really great was Borough Food & Drink. I think they're new and just getting their act together.

After such a wonderful weekend...that ended with a snow fall on Sunday morning, I asked my daughter (who is 5 years old) what was better, NYC or Disney World? I am proud to say she said NYC!!!!