Looking for Restaurants for Fri/Sat/Sun Nights for our trip from London to New York next weekend and wondered if anyone could help? My husband and I are 27 and 31. We like going out to trendy places in London and would like to make the most of our eating out in New York. We like most foods (asian, italian, fish etc).

Friday - Budget $180 for 2 of us
Saturday - Budget $280 for 2 of us
Sunday - Smaller budget, was thinking of an italian in Little Italy - which are the best ones?

Thanks for your help in advance

When I go to London, I try to have things I can't get in NY. So with your request of trendy, I'd pick a Mexican meal, maybe a steak or BBQ and one of your choice. Asian/fusion trendy places abound.

For Mexican, try Dos Caminos
373 Park Avenue South (Flatiron/Gramercy/Union Square)
between 26th and 27th Sts.
212-294-1000
brguestrestaurants.com

For BBQ, The Sunburnt Cow
137 Ave. C (East Village)
Between 8th and 9th Sts.
212-529-0005
thesunburntcow.com

or

Blue Smoke (also great burgers)
116 E. 27th St. (Flatiron/Gramercy/Union Square)
between Park & Lexington
212-447-7733
bluesmoke.com

For steak, BLT Steak
106 E. 57th St. (Midtown East/Murray Hill)
between Park and Lexington Aves.
212-752-7470
bltsteak.com

Rather than my rambling on for the 3rd meal, here's a link to New York Magazine's choices and reviews

http://www.nymetro.com/nymetro/food/...724/index.html

Fyi, the 2 trendy locations are the new Time Warner building at the soutwest corner of Central Park which now houses the most expensive rest., Per Se, as well as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which has Asiate rest. on the 35 floor.

The meatpacking district (in Greenwich village) is the other with lots of choices. Vento is Italian, Spice Market is Asian, Pastis or Paradou French.

Little Italy is not, IMO worth the trip. Better Italian elsewhere. If you must, Il Palazzo is prob. the best there and not too touristy. Da Nico is more well known. Dos Caminos is not expensive btw.

Without reservations, you're going to have a tough time getting a table at the most trendy places (unless you dine at 4pm or 11pm).

That being said . . .

The Meatpacking District is very hot right now. Restaurants in that area include Vento, Spice Market, Pastis, One Little West 12, and Bivio.

The Lower East Side is also a hip area with trendy options. WD-50, Suba, and Tenement are suggestions.

On Mulberry Street in Little Italy, I like Da Nico for dinner. But you'll find better Italian cuisine and a hip crowd at Frank in the East Village. Another "less expensive" option is Mario Batali's Otto on 5th Avenue near Washington Square Park.

For more info, visit Citysearch and Zagats.

Enjoy!

Unfortunately, don't bother calling Per Se -- reservations are taken two months in advance and are gone in an hour.

Also, the food at Sunburnt Cow (on Avenue C) is very mediocre, in my opinion.

I agree that Dos Caminos and Blue Smoke are solid options -- but neither are particularly trendy anymore (in terms of the crowd).

Good luck!

You are likely to get a better response to your question if you include city names in the title of your post. All threads go to the general interst board and many will not take the time to open the thread without seeing city, country or state names.

We had a very good meal at the Gotham Bar and Grill - but they start taking reservations a month ahead so may already be booked. expensive but very good modern American dining. Five them a try.

For Friday, The Turkish Kitchen would be good and fit your budget.

www.leverhouse.com

Sally, "Which Restaurants?" New York is not the only city in the 50 States. Try being a bit more specific in your posted question.

Asian - Kittichai, new Thai, gorgeous space, very stylish, Soho; or Spice Market

Fish - Lure Fishbar, also new and trendy; Cru

Italian - Vento or Pace

Skip Little Italy. For a great casual meal, I suggest Tia Pol for Spanish or Mercadito for Mexican. Or Chinatown.

Anyplace in the Meatpacking District (Pastis, Son Cubano, Vento, Ono, Spice Market) will be uber trendy (not necessarily in the best way).

Call for rezzies immediately. There will likely only be 5:30 or 11:00 tables available. At 5, the city is dead, but personally, I like a 11:00 dinner - bars are open until 4 so you can go out for a cocktail after.

Two other choices for you....

For your Friday budget, Nobu Next Door shares a kitchen with Nobu and has wonderful Japanese food without the pretension of Nobu. You can usually get a table as a walk-in, but may have to wait a bit if you get there at the peak time. They'll give you a buzzer you can take with you, or they've also taken my cell number to call me when my table is ready. The miso glazed cod and yellowtail sashimi with jalapenos are two dishes I dream about!

For your Sat. budget, Mario Battali's restaurant Babbo takes walk-ins too. You'll proabbly have to wait at the bar for 45 mins or so, but you can order wonderful wine/cocktails while you wait. The food there is absolutely amazing.

I agree Little Italy is not worth the hype. Chinatown is a better bet...Joe's Shanghai has delicious soup dumplings and noodle dishes. If you don't mind sharing a table with other diners, it's a good cheap bet.

Hope that helps!

Spice Market is a must for you, I think, and if you can't get a reservation go anyway rather late and wait for a table.

Forget "trendy" for one night and go to LeBernardin for the most wonderful seafood meal you may ever have. It's dressy and formal and luxurious, rather than noisy, fun, and trendy -- but trust me, it is special. (And somehow they never make it pretentious or stuffy, just wonderfully elegant and relaxed at the same time). This is your Saturday night meal if you can still book it.

Yeah, it IS pretty shocking that there are other towns in the US besides New York City. Putting a city in the title would be nice.

And mclaurie, I usually agree 100% with your recos, but I would NEVER seek out Mexican in Manhattan-- it's uniformly awful.

And Nobu Matsuhisa's NY outposts are simply afterthoughts to his first successful US outpost: Matsuhisa in West Hollywood, California.

Absolutely hit any of Mario Batali's restaurants, they're incredibly good. And Le Bernardin-- great suggestion!

I disagree about Little Italy.

It is wonderful to sit outside and people watch. Maybe it isn't the culinary end all but it is great for what it is!

SallyKate, if by "trendy" you mean where hip New Yorkers your age go for dinner, then Lever House and Le Bernardin are NOT for you.

Both offer excellent cuisine, of course, but both are also midtown expense account restaurants that I go to with my parents.

With some exceptions, neighborhood is as important as venue. In comparison, how many trendy restaurants can one find in Mayfair?

Good luck and enjoy NYC!

Yes, Gekko which is why I clearly said to "forget trendy one night" when I recommended it.
I just thought perhaps one night they'd be willing to forgo the good food and and a trendy crowd for really spectacular food and a quiet refined atmosphere. If they aren't interested in that, then I'm sure they were able to figure out my suggestion isn't for them.

You might also reread their post. She never said they wanted trendy restaurants! She said "we like going out to trendy places in London and would like to make the most of our eating out in New York". That could be intrepreted a whole different way. I still maintain that Le Bernardin is the way to make the most out of their eating in New York. There is nothing in London even close to it.

How many trendy restaurants can one find in Mayfair? Quite a few!!!

rjw_lgb_ca, totally agree NY ain't where it's at for Mexican BUT, they're coming from London and I promise you, there's no decent Mexican there.

Thanks so much for all your responses, I am getting on the Phone ASAP as I now have a list of places that Im going to try and see what I get.

Sorry for not putting 'New York' in the title. I thought as I clicked on the 'New York' sub-section, it would only appear then. Didn't mean to cause any offence!

Thanks Again.

SK