Going to Metropol..., er, New York City next weekend. Where should I eat?

I could see myself doing a prix fixe lunch at a $$$$ restaurant, but could just as soon take in an up-and-coming $$ restaurant. Or end up at Lombardi's again (great pizza!!), but was hoping to try something new.

Gramercy Tavern? Could I still get reservations?

Bouley's? Are the chairs really that short?

Any ideas, NYCers?

at the handy, dandy Olive Garden! Maybe this is not the classiest place, however they do a brisk business there. You can choose from their downstairs (big glass windows) or upstairs (very intimate). Their lunch menu includes the choice of all you can eat tossed salad and minestrone soup (or other kinds, too!). It was comparatively inexpensive -- around $8.95. We got there at around 11:30 AM and we had fun watching the crowd go by! They also serve this for dinner for a few dollars more.

New York prices are SUPER expensive, as you probably know already.

Have a great visit!

In peace,

Radio_Lady

Great Pics! That's a great idea, too, except.... I hate Olive Garden! The food is so bland to me. My sister loves it, though. I was searching for fettuccine alfredo recipes on the web a while ago to make tomorrow for my family coming to visit and Olive Garden's came up and I deliberately did not look at it. I found a version of Chef Alfredo of Rome's original and I'm going to use that.

I wasn't going to go to any shows, but now your photo makes me want to go see "Mamma Mia!"

I took a woman friend last year to the Broadway in Portland touring show, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Be aware that some Broadway shows close up for the summer, so make sure that "Mamma Mia" is still going. I hope so, for your sake. It's a cute story and the ABBA music is delightful, if you're into that sort of thing.

Another quick suggestion for lunch. You might like Lou's Cafe, definitely not a fast food place -- it's a lunch and dinner place on Sixth Avenue and 53rd Street(south side of the street at street level). Just a simple little place, but very good food, and pretty reasonable. I went there for lunch with my husband and first cousin during our visit.

Have a good Sunday! You're up late, too???

Warm regards,

Radio_Lady

I will check it out.

Yes, I should be in bed and will be there soon. 'Night!

I seriously thought that was a myth. I guess it's true though.

it is empty. If you dont know it, its a super old, dark and authentic bar where O'Henry hung out and wrote. They have good bar food. Its located in Grarmercy Park, on Irving Place I think.

If you like that you should go to McSorley's

http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com/

There's like three dozen brilliant Italian places on Mulberry between Canal and Broome, and you're suggesting the Olive Garden?

:rofl::rofl:

:thumbsup:

You were in New York City, and you ate at the fucking OLIVE GARDEN??? Are you fucking shitting me? You're making a joke, yes?

Now my friend that suggested Pizza Hut while we were in Manhattan, that's just sad. My friend's from Jersey. There's no excuse to eat Pizza Hut in NYC or Jersey.

It's as bad as suggesting Pizza Hut. Maybe worse, since the value is so much worse.

This is a place where the cuisine is part of the vibrancy of life...I just...I...this makes me so sad.

Just shoot me in the face!

He was making fun of the Olive Garden commercials that had the Italian relatives visiting, and the American family takes the old Italians to the Olive Garden. The comic's line was great. It was something like "What happened? Did they run out of fucking Chef Boy-ardee at your local supermarket?" That's about the speed of it. Oh, wait for it. If you insult the Olive Garden on these boards, you are immediately labelled an elitist (I was once called a Republican because I know what everyone with a lick of exposure to Italian food and culture knows: that the Olive Garden is utter shite, and not worth a third of the price). Now, if you live in some bumfuck suburb where the only "Italian" place is the Olive Garden, you can be marginally forgiven, although in that case I'd suggest a good Italian cookbook or two, and you can make food 100 times as good for a third of the cost. But to eat at the Olive Garden in New York City is the height of philistinism, yes, I said it, rube fucking central. You can get a much better Italian place at half the cost within five minutes travel in any direction. It should say "FOOD FOR SUCKERS" on the door.

For the money you would have an AMAZING meal in any number of legendary establishments.


Oy vey!

so you can still go to a really good Italian place (at similar cost as the Olive Garden) in less than a 10 minute drive. In a weird way, I like NJ.

Then it's not a bumfuck suburb.

Q.E.D.

;-)

it's bumfuck. If you go up the road we live off of, then it really turns bumfuck. Not to mention, that road brings you to West Milford, which is not only bumfuck, but provides at least half of the fucked-up shit in Weird NJ.

tourist trap areas and chain restaurants. There are sooooooo many amazing restaurants all over the city. And, if you aren't in it to see and be seen, you can stuff yourself silly with the most delicious food you've ever eaten at little out of the way places.

NYC is one of the best food towns in the world. Don't give in to Olive Garden. While I'll admit I'm a foodie I can understand the appeal of Olive Garden for a quick lunch (the potato soup is actually pretty tasty). But not it New York. There are too many other options far more delicious and even cheaper.

that is nearby, that replaced a GOOD restaurant on 50th!

That Olive Garden was the bane of my existence, and every time I walked past it (and I worked in Times Square, so that was a lot) I wanted to burn it down and shoot to death every goddamned tourist fuck who decided that Little Italy wasn't good enough, and ate at that shithole.

Fucking Disneyfication of Times Square. That Olive Garden has stood there prominently as the most visible NYC monument to the dumbification and general shititude of America, as it watches serenely over the destruction of everything that is good and decent about NYC.

I can totally relate.

Westside...we never miss Louie's Westside Cafe'

There's more good joints than bad it seems

and you'll hit a bunch of good restaurants.

Otto - Fifth Ave and East 8th street, right above Washignton Square Park. Good for lunch or mid-afternoon. Busy at night. This is Mario Batali's low-end restaurant. I wasn't wild about the pizza but the pasta, wine, cheese and all of the sides were fantastic. Neat space, neat area, neat concept (italian train station). Sit in the very back and you have a view of the Washington Mews (converted carriage houses from the 1800s)

http://www.ottopizzeria.com/menu.html

Petrossian - near Carnegie Hall. Go Prix Fixe for lunch or dinner and you can have a consistently great meal for a reasonable price. http://www.petrossian.com/restaurant.cfm

Bouley is good but I really like Danube better. It is David Bouley's other restaurant in Tribeca. They do updated (un-heavy) austrian food like vanilla infused spatzle, braised beef cheeks, etc. Pricey though. https://www.davidbouley.com/

If you are stuck in the Times Square area maybe John's Pizza in a converted church on West 44th
http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=9&restaurantid=3759&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=50
or Carmine's for family style (huge platters) Italian food in a bustling atmosphere. http://www.carminesnyc.com/

I've got more if you give me guidelines.

I also like Republic on Union Square for appetizer-type food. Although their drinks are kind of pricy ($9 for mixed drink) and it's insanely crowded at night. Their food prices are reasonable though. It's not bad to sit at the bar during the day and grab some quick food. I recommend the coconut noodle crusted shrimp. They also used to have incredible Pomegranate margaritas, but they took them off the drink menu. I think they're website is thinknoodles.com

HK is good too. I forget what street it's on but it's in Hell's Kitchen. You should be able to find more info online. They have the BEST mojitos ever!

I'm not a big fan of thin crusted, burned on the bottom pizza (Otto and John's). So at Otto I go for the pasta and at John's I go for the atmosphere. John's Bleeker location has tiny, butt-hurting seats, rushed service and the same food as the other locations. But you gotta love the high ceiling and stained glass on 44th.

I probably like the one on Bleeker better, because I hate mid-town and usually hang out down in the village.

When I'm celebrating my gay heritage.

Go to brooklyn, eat at "al di la," a great Italian restaurant on 5th Avenue in Slope of the Slope.

Seriously. Get the eff out of Midtown.

As do all the other parts of Manhattan.

And you're right - Brooklyn rocks - as does Queens. But OLIVE FUCKING GARDE?


Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Just sayin'...

the Olive Garden applies the same markup.

I am no Olive Garden fan, however I am no fan of telling others they lack good taste either.

I'm saying that the Olive Garden is fast food with waiters and there are better places to eat here. I was never saying anyone had bad taste and I resent the implication that I would.

That being said I'll "give it a rest". Thanks.

;-)

DO NOT, I repeat
DO NOT HANG AROUND MIDTOWN.

Midtown is not New York!...It's for tourists only.
Overpriced crappy prefabbed overcrowded ridiculous.

Not authentic NY by any means. Natives never, ever go there to eat.

Try the West Village for great inexpensive, original fare
or the wonderful but more expensive restaurants
in the Flatiron district:
Fleur de Sel
Gramercy Tavern
Mesa Grill
Union Square Cafe
Veritas.

And, Soho, Tribeca, all over downtown for great eats.

My dad, who never, ever, ever ate the salad that my mom lovingly prepared for him every night for dinner while she was alive, LOVED the Olive Garden in his later years. I would pick him up from the nursing home where he lived and ask him where he would like to eat and he would invariably say "Olive Garden" (which in itself is funny because he had never eaten in one before seeing one down here)

I kid you not. He would eat 2, or three or four bowls of their salad. Our entire family was in hysterics because he never before had even considered letting a green vegetable pass his lips.

Anyway. I thought it was a cute story. He was a great guy.

I'd blow out some sarcastic snobbery, but *some people* might take it for serious and immediately begin branding me as a food snob.

This place has gone mad!

;)

:hi:

as to what restaurants we like or don't like.

:eyes:

I was about to reply when the thing was (unsurprisingly) locked.

You puke, and a certain poster suggests you're not progressive. (Didja catch that smooth comment by our friendly neighborhood watchdog?)

:eyes:

:hi:

Sorry that I have an opinion. I don't like Olive Garden. If people like it (obviously they do because Olive Garden's are everywhere!), then that's cool with me. I am not telling anyone not to go there (well OK, if you're in NYC, don't go there, IN MY OPINION there are better (and even cheaper price-wise places to go) nor do I think any less of any one who goes to Olive Garden (even in NYC) but jeez.......

can't I have a fucking opinion and not be called "not progressive" :eyes:

:eyes:

I was challenged as to my "Progressive" credentials on another thread (I was also called an ASSHOLE and a TOOl, but who's counting), and it did make me think about it. But really, I don't identify myself as a Progressive. I'm a Leftist. So, what's the difference? Leftism was cool because it didn't require you to suffer stupidity in the name of general tolerance. The namby-pamby world of Progressives seems to be devoid of critique, because the moment you critique something, you are suddenly being "intolerant." This is nonsense, as every Leftist knows. Now, I'm not accusing progressives of being secretly complicit with conservatism (although this is the general Left critique of such positions), but it is clear that conservatives were easily able to co-opt the discourse of tolerance and turn it against real reform, such that the legitimate struggle for gay rights is now portrayed as "intolerant" of Christian fundamentalism, and other nonsenses of this type. This is the political and rhetorical cost of the utterly vapid discourse of tolerance touted by our "progressives."

Leftism was built on critique, identified itself with critique, and had the stamina to say yes, some shit is stupid, some shit should be criticized - maybe even everything must be critiqued, ruthlessly and without "tolerance" in advance. Read Adorno and Horkeimer, read Marcuse, hell, read Debbs. You'll never see the empty notion that "opinions" should be "respected" simply because they are opinions. Rather, you see ruthless, cutting, even vicious attacks on opinions, with the following question always at stake: where do such opinions come from? Where do tastes come from? This is progressivism's greatest failure: the segregation of the "personal opinion" from the realm of political and economic power. In progressivism, the "opinion" is attached to the essence of the person (it comes from some mystical Self), and then raised to the level of a sacred entity. Hence all the wailing and moaning about "attacking my opinion," which is immediately equated to attacking the person. Leftism had none of this. The opinion, for Leftism, was a social phenomenon that was instantiated in individuals. It didn't come from the Self. Rather, it came from the social realm of political and economic power and was picked up by "selves" as a result of their placement in a dynamic social realm. For this reason, the critique of "personal opinions" is actually the critique of social power, always. The faux respect for "personal opinions," for Leftism, is complicity with social power, the failure to ask, rigorously, where opinions come from, and work on the power relations that form them.

This doesn't mean that the taste for Olive Garden is the only "opinion" to be critiqued. Leftism demands that the opposing "opinion" (which, interest of diclosure, I hold), must also be critiqued. What are the social investments in "local economies" and "authentic cultures" that drive the dislike of chain restaurants? Are these actually reactionary and nostalgic tendencies? And if you say that that's "reading into things too much," or that choice of restaurants is "off limits for critique," then you've already performed the problematic segregation: the illusion of the person segregated from the realm of political and economic power. One could, of course, go on. But the point here is simple: you will never catch me saying that opinions are beyond critique simply because they are opinions. That is the political and intellectual dead-end that progressivism leads us to, and it is all too common. Maybe I'm the one being nostalgic here, but I want some of that Leftism back. I want some of that Adorno nastiness and contempt to re-enter the political discourse. Because some things are deserving of contempt. Yes. I'm definitely NOT a progressive, and I'm damn glad for that.

near Times Square called 'Jack's'. I thought they had fabulous food. Tapas was excellent. Very small, very NY. I think you might like it. Not all that expensive either all things considered.

eat everything. that's what i did. They had to wheel me out of that amazing city.

look for the places filled with Chinese. If it's filled with white people, move on.

and, it applies to any Chinese restaurant. If you see a lot of Chinese there, it's usually a good sign. I went to a highly rated local Chinese restaurant in Connecticut with my (Chinese) wife once, because, well it was highly rated. The restaurant was crowded, but my wife was the only Chinese person in the whole place besides the waitstaff. The food was very Americanized Chinese food (i.e., much sweeter than authentic Chinese food)

So, if we go out to eat Chinese now, we stick to authentic Chinese restaurants in the Hartford area.

http://www.hangawirestaurant.com/

http://www.mesagrill.com/

http://www.frenchculinary.com/lecole.htm

http://www.greatrestaurantsmag.com/NYC/restaurant_view/98/

http://www.greatrestaurantsmag.com/NYC/restaurant_view/150/

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/aquavit/

http://www.myriadrestaurantgroup.com/tribecagrill/index.html

Though some of the absolutely best meals we had were when we dropped in somewhere when we got hungry. Awesome Irish meal one cold winter night but I couldn't tell you what the name of the restaurant was or where it is located.

If you're after their type of food, that is. Whenever I'm in the city, I never plan out exactly where I want to eat, because i know it would be upstaged by another place on the way there.

In 2003 I tried (among others) a Chinese place on Fifth Avenue, Mexico Lindo on 2nd Avenue and Le Cafe Creme Madison on Madison Avenue - all close to the hotel I was staying at (Gramercy/Union Square). I'm going to try them again, and hunt out some more - but I'm sure there are far too many good places without resorting to the chains.

Plus I'm on the lookout for a good bar in which to celebrate the Dems sweep of Congress on Election Day !!!! :toast:

Olive Garden!
OH NO! What a waste. Why frequent a chain? We're the food capitol of the world :))

Bouley is wonderful...The chairs are not short, and they are
beautiful, just like the entire restaurant. I even named my dog "Booli".

There are so many restaurants....Do you have a Zagat's?
(just don't walk around the streets reading it---you'll look silly)

If you like seafood, I suggest Pearl Oyster Bar in the West Village...get the
lobster roll...Be prepared to wait.

Otto's does have the most wonderful cheese plate...and an undescribable scrumptious olive oil gelato dessert.
VERY noisey in the evening.

L'Impero in Tudor City is wonderful
for upscale Italian.

And Veritas is outstanding, but be prepared to spend youir last dollar there.

I can't remember the name of the dim sum place, I think it's Mandarin something or other, but it's in the 60s with an add number on Mott Street in a row of restaurants. You will know it because you will have to go up one or two steps, and in the front window you will see people making dumplings.

The Ethiopian place is on the east side of Amsterdamn, between 121st and 122nd, nearer to 122nd, next to an Indian restaurant that is also wonderful.

Every place is a good place where friends can be friends and the violin player will play everything you like. Ahh, such a place.



Respectfully submitted,

Call Me Wesley
DU Moderator