Whoa...a friend sent a blog that suggests NYC restaurants. Need help to narrow it down to 1 or 2

M

marilynfl

Moderator
I only want breakfast, lunch or brunch. I rarely do dinners out...so here's the suggestions for NYC and boroughs (I eliminated all but restaurant name, some description and general location)

Dirt Candy on Allen St. (vegetarian)

Smorgasburg in Williamsburg and Prospect Park.

Blossom (vegetarian).

Rotisserie Georgette. Simple, rustic French food

Don Antonio’s for the best wood-fired pizza anywhere.

Casa Mono in Manhattan

Traif in Brooklyn!

Clinton Baking Co on the Lower East Side.

Cosign. (wait is nearly always horrific, but the food is great)

Essex, tasty brunch!

Tipsy Parson in Chelsea

Keste: West Village Neopolitan pizza

Motorino. east side, Neopolitan pizza

Talde in Park Slope is AMAZING Thai fusion food

Nargis Grill: Park Slope choice Uzbekistan

Fiore: Italian restaurant in Williamsburg.

Buddha Bodai on Mott Street is Buddhist monk-approved

SriPraPhai in Woodside Thai and Lao food. It's cash only.

Danji (Korean) great pre-theater.

Big Gay Ice Cream Greenwich Village.

JUBILEE (948 1st Avenue in Manhattan, near 53rd.

METRO DINER (West 100th Street & Broadway).

Juliana's in Brooklyn

Klong Thai was great.

Fraunces Tavern (near Gov Island pickup). (there is the Portal Down to Old NY where you can look under the street through windows to where they found buildings and artifacts from old settlements.)

 
My two cents...

An annotated list, of sorts... I've eliminated the ones I haven't tried. Forgive the curmudgeonly tone. And a caveat: everyone in New York is trying to sell you something, 24/7. Restaurants are some of the worst offenders. There is no pizza in the West Village that is worth spending West Village prices on. There is nothing in Williamsburg that is worth spending an hour on the train. Ask yourself what you like to eat, and whether you'd like to delve more into that in NYC or whether you'd like to experiment. Ask yourself how long you want to spend on the subway to get to any of these places (relative to where you're staying). If you have particular cuisines you want to try, dig into some of those recommendations online. Eater is a good source for that, and maps choices in terms of neighborhoods, so you can see precisely how far away Williamsburg is (for example). smileys/wink.gif

Hope this is of some help. Fire away with any questions... smileys/smile.gif
-Erin

Smorgasburg in Williamsburg and Prospect Park.
--Only runs on the weekend, possibly only on Saturday.

Rotisserie Georgette. Simple, rustic French food

Clinton Baking Co on the Lower East Side.
--For my money, Breads Bakery (maybe various locations, but I always go to the one across from Lincoln Center) is excellent and convenient.

Essex, tasty brunch!
--I think the best approach to contemplating brunch on the Lower East Side might be to ask yourself how much you enjoy Millenials shrieking and Instagramming their food.

Fiore: Italian restaurant in Williamsburg.
Buddha Bodai on Mott Street is Buddhist monk-approved
--Noodle Village, soup dumplings, 38 Mott Street.

SriPraPhai in Woodside Thai and Lao food. It's cash only.
--Excellent reputation, but do not attempt to get to Queens (Woodside) on the weekend, as the 7 Train does not run.

Big Gay Ice Cream Greenwich Village.
--You can now buy BGIC in many NYC supermarkets. smileys/wink.gif And the deli counter probably has a spoon.

JUBILEE (948 1st Avenue in Manhattan, near 53rd.
METRO DINER (West 100th Street & Broadway).
--If you've been to a diner anywhere else in the U.S., prepare to be disappointed.

Fraunces Tavern (near Gov Island pickup). (there is the Portal Down to Old NY where you can look under the street through windows to where they found buildings and artifacts from old settlements.)
--Ok, Fraunces Tavern is actually quite good, and one of the few places in the city where you can hear yourself talk at lunch, provided that you arrive at about 10:45 am or 2:30.

 
If you go to the Neue Galerie, try to have coffee in their cafe! (Not the one downstairs.)

You'll feel instantly transported to Vienna. smileys/smile.gif

 
A big second on the Neue Galerie Cafe Sabarsky!

TDF!!! And you get to sit in Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III's salon to have your coffee, tea, and a piece of torte if you prefer (daily Viennese pastry and torte specialties).

If you're doing Museums up that way, of course there is "The MET" (which I adore, BTW), but they have started charging mandatory admission of $25 to tourist which galls me and the crowds are sometimes just unbearable. But if you want to take in another of the surviving Fifth Avenue tycoon mansions, the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Museum of Design is only 5 blocks further north. The rotating exhibits are quirky and fun, but you get to see the inside of this mansion which hasn't changed that much from the original home of the Cooper Hewitts/Carnegies. Stunning. The garden is lovely for a break too, and you can take in a lunch to sit and enjoy the garden (cafe available). Also, further south is the Frick which will be your last chance to see it for a few years as they've just announced a massive renovation and will be closing for a year of so.

And while I'm passing out advice, another of the grand mansion museums is the Morgan Library (which I believe is in the area where you are staying. It's 5 blocks south of Grand Central). I just love this museum. The rotating rare book displays never fail to excite: last time I was there they had the original scores for Strauss' Don Juan, Mozart "Magic Flute" and Debussy "La Mer" on display. No crowds and another stunning old NYC tycoon mansion to enjoy wandering around in.

And a little "freebie" with few crowds and a place that never fails to wow anyone I've taken there is wandering around the NY Public Library on Fifth Avenue. People literally are standing slack-jawed when they enter the grand reading room up on the top floor. Think Grand Central Terminal main hall on a smaller scale with the walls lined with books.

Enjoy!

 
Great Advice!

I enjoy eating at quirky dive places when I go to NYC anyway. The Michelin restaurants have become so pretentious and status symbols, that sometimes the food can be literally awful for which you are rewarded with checks in the hundreds of dollars for the privilege. See NYTimes EPIC take down of Per Se for exactly this sort of pretentious non-sense (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/dining/pete-wells-per-se-review.html).

There is a food cart at the corner of 9th Ave around 60th St. (just south of Lincoln Center- we walk past it on our way back from performances to where we stay) owned by some Egyptian guys that have the most amazing big tub of spicy Egyptian Chicken and Rice for $5 that I would gladly opt for over a visit to some snobbish rip-off joint. There is so much food that I eat half for a snack and then save the rest for next day lunch.

I love NYC old-school diners. Good classic tasty homey food for not much money. One of my favs (because it's convenient between Lincoln Center and where we stay is the Flame. Where else can you get the big NYC cheeseburger with all the fixings and fries for $11 in Manhattan? Most of the dinners (roast beef/chicken, meatloaf, chops, etc. w. potato/veggies/salad) are $20 or below.

One of my current favs that I always go back to (even though the crowds are eternal these days -however, they give you a buzzer and you can go to the bar next door and have cocktails while you wait and the buzzer still works) is Pure Thai Cookhouse, a total dive on 9th Ave between 50th and 51st. If you go, be prepared to have amazing tastes in your mouth that you've never experienced. Amazing Thai.

 
Ha. I have a running list and C-H, Morgan and Guggenheim are all on it. MET is $18 for me-3 days.

Senior Rate: A very tiny benefit of reaching 65 that does not compensate for jowls and disappearing jawline.

 
I know you can only do so much (which means for us, we try to get back every year)...

But one thing you might like to keep in mind...

Glaser's Bake Shop (1st Ave at 87th-take the Uptown Q train to 86th and 2nd Ave.), one of the last of the old German food stores in Yorkville on the Upper East Side, is closing on July 1st I just discovered. They've been there in that store since 1902! And this will be your last chance to visit it. smileys/frown.gif

It is the original store. The pressed tin ceiling. The wooden built-in apothecary style display cases. The inlaid tile floor with the name of the bakery. Many of the pastries and goodies are using the original recipes from 1902. Same family owned it through all the generations. They are retiring and there is no next generation to continue. They are closing and it will be gone.

It's worth the visit just to see an intact 1902 Manhattan store front. But you'll want to sample the goodies if you do go in.

Nothing nouveau or fancy here: It's pure old time sugar, butter, and flour magic as well as the best black & white cookie in the city many claim.

We had several of those kind of century+ old bakeries here in Cincinnati and they all gradually closed. I still to this day, 13 years later, lament and mourn the passing of the Virginia Bakery (see link). When I returned to Cincinnati from New York, I lived in an apartment in and old turreted Victorian Gothic mansion on the street behind the bakery. Sigh.

http://www.virginiabakeryremembered.com/

 
Our most recent finds smileys/wink.gif

and every-time favorites! Like Richard, we tend to eat when we are in NYC instead of fine dining. Last time, our favs:
*Bel-Aire Diner in Queens - It was a beautiful day so we visited Astoria/Long Island City in Queens for late breakfast. Marilyn, take the NW subway from Lexington back towards LaGuardia/Queens and get off at Broadway. It's a quick walk down Broadway to 21st street and Bel-Aire Diner at 31-91 21st St, Queens, NY 11106. Everything we ate and saw others eating was amazing!
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/bel-aire-diner/menus/main.html
*Parisi Bakery and Deli on Mott by Spring for lunch in Lower Manhattan for their Italian sub w/roasted red peppers
*Saturday Farmer's Market in Herald Square
* Pre-theater snack on their blue cheese wedge salad at Eastside Marriott Lobby Bar (after 5) across from the Lexington Hotel (don't get Mezze Platter)
*Head north at breakfast/brunch to the First on First Deli at 91st and 1st Ave for Egg on a Roll. Take sandwich into Rupert Park to enjoy!
*Our favorite for after theater - Morning Star Cafe at 949 2nd btwn 50th-51st for their big Greek Salad (ask for extra feta)
*We love Sophie's Cuban - many locations throughout NYC. We walk S on Lex (with traffic) to the one on Lex just S of 41st
*Sit at the bar at PJ Clark's for the Cadillac Burger - upper west side at Columbus Circle by Lincoln Center. (We didn't love their crabcake)
*And if you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at dinnertime, try Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn Heights at 38 Henry St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Wish we could be with you! Colleen

 
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