Favorite New York Eatery?

condorlover1 · May 9, 2014

I do like to eat out. In NYC I have a few favorites like Brasserie Magritte,the French place on 78th and Lexington whose name escapes me. Peter Luger's is a fun place if you can stand the trip to Brooklyn, The Four Seasons is fun and makes a very good Vespa. Any New Yorkers here to add further ideas?

peckinpahhombre · May 9, 2014

Le Bernardin
http://le-bernardin.com
Have been to Luger's many times and it is great. For steak, I also like Del Frisco and Wolfgangs.

rmbittner · May 9, 2014

I'm not a New Yorker, but I love the city and have visited more than two dozen times.
Two of my favorites are:
Osteria Laguna in Midtown, just a couple of blocks east of Grand Central on 42nd Street. Really good Italian, with quite reasonable prices for Midtown Manhattan.
I always make it a point to have Sunday brunch at Isabella's on Columbus Avenue, just across from the Museum of Natural History. (There's a flea market at a P.S. across the street on Sundays that makes for a fun stop too. After that, a walk through Central Park. . . and what more could you want?)
Bob

northernneil · May 9, 2014

Stayed with my buddy in Williamsburg in Brooklyn a couple of years ago. We ate at this great little restaurant called The Meatball Shop. What a great little place, well priced, fun atmosphere and very high quality food. We were in town for 5 days, I think we ate there three out of the five nights, it was that good!

papipeguy · May 9, 2014

For Italian head over to New Jersey. Il Villagio in Carlstadt is 15 minutes from the Lincoln Tunnel. Terrific place.

https://local.yahoo.com/info-10716197-il-villaggio-carlstadt;_ylt=ApbGE1DzXXpHz6qyCcCgHASHNcIF;_ylv=3?csz=Rutherford%2C+NJ
For the best Italian food in the USA I'd nominate Il Capricio in Whippany, NJ. Hands down the best. About 40 minutes from NYC but 1 mile from JR Cigars on Rte 10 East.
http://ilcapriccio.com/

sablebrush52 · May 9, 2014

Not a New Yorker, but I occasionally get to the city to see family. 2nd Ave Deli. I haven't been there since they relocated and reopened, but when I heard that they had been forced to close due to landowner greed I felt very sad. Its demise effectively took NYC off the culinary map. Fancy restaurants and chop houses are common. Great deli is an endangered species.

voorhees · May 9, 2014

I've never been. But had a friend who went several times a few years ago and would bring bagels from a shop in the heart of the city. Best Ever. He got them "half cooked" and you baked them the rest of the way in your home. 8O

I have not had them in years and the crap they call bagels around here don't compare.

jguss · May 9, 2014

I usually stop by the UES outpost of the 2nd Ave Deli when business takes me into Manhattan. Terrific pastrami and an angioplasty with every sandwich.

As for great restaurants in NYC, the list of candidates is endless, and will vary by cuisine. So much depends on mood.

chervokas · May 9, 2014

Per Se really is all that if you can get a reservation. Take a big crowd, I think it's easier to get a table for six than a table for two. A really fun, new place which is very out of the way that offers a super creative approach to Chinese food by a former Per Se staffer is Fung Tu. For classic NYC goodness I love the pastrami at Katz's (and, perhaps surprisingly, the turkey is delicious too). If you like charcuterie, pates, boudin blanc and boudin noir, etc Bar Boulud is awesome. I like to get out to Jackson Height from time to time for Indian food at Jackson Diner, haven't been in a while tho. But no shortage of great eating in NYC.

ssjones · May 10, 2014

Circa Tabac, one of the few places you can smoke and eat in NYC (and the meeting home of the NYC Pipe Club). However I really miss the old venue, "Florios"....
http://www.circatabac.com/

latbomber · May 10, 2014

For me, NYC always conjures up eating some greys papaya dogs at night after being at a cocktail bar.

numbersix · May 10, 2014

Even tho I was raised on L.I. and used to visit my grandparents quite a lot at their NYC brownstone - we were never wealthy enough to eat at fancy restaurants. I did however enjoy a gargantuan corned beef sandwich at the Carnegie Deli.
That was a sandwich to remember. : puffy

:

foggymountain · May 12, 2014

jguss: i am with you about the Second Ave Deli, now near 33rd and 3rd.

Numbersix: the Carnegie was ruined when Leo died. He used to make the corned beef in the basement. Now they buy it and it is mediocre.

woodsroad · May 12, 2014

I'm in NYC at least 5 times a month, but I always have 20k or more worth of camera gear in tow, so I can almost never stop to eat. I just love driving through the city, really hungry, smelling all of the great food. Occasionally, all I'll need for work is a camera bag's worth of gear, then I'll hit Katz's of just get a slice. All of the pizza places are now run by Hispanics, BTW, and the 'zza just keeps getting better.
Occasionally, I'll stay with a friend on the Upper West Side, and we'll hit the nearby Metropolitan Diner (very good). When I'm working in The Bronx, I get lunch at a little Mexican diner off the Grand Concourse at 149th. It helps to either speak Spanish, or to go there with a regular who does.
The only other places that I've eaten are a great little Polish restaurant on 2nd between 12th and 13th, Little Poland, and the vending machines at the new Borough of Manhattan Community College building next to Ground Zero. The bottled water is always cold, but not too cold, and the Reeses are as fresh as you get straight from the plant in Hershey, PA. Avoid the Pop Tarts, though, they are dispensed from the fourth row of the machine, and often suffer breakage.

fishingandpipes · May 12, 2014

Well I'm going to have to hit up Circa Tabac next time I'm there.
I like the Meatball Shop too, to be totally honest. Not fancy but it is fun and they serve jell-o shots

Went to Chelsea Market and made the mistake of getting one of those giant sea urchins. I love uni at sushi restaurants but this was $15 worth of barf. I couldn't finish it. The Donuttery was fun though.

numbersix · May 12, 2014

Numbersix: the Carnegie was ruined when Leo died. He used to make the corned beef in the basement. Now they buy it and it is mediocre.

Too bad. It's been many years since I've been there. When did Leo die?

foggymountain · Jun 5, 2014

I believe it was in the mid or late 1980s.

My first favorite restaurant didn't even have a name, that I can remember, anyway. It was on the corner of 7th Ave and 22nd st, back in the sixties. The only employee was Charlie, the chef-owner. He served Italian food, all cooked to order. I would go in and Charlie would ask "chicken livers Marsala?" Usually I said yes and he put down his newspaper and went out to buy the livers. The dish cost about $1.25 and could not be improved upon. My other favorite was live lobster Fra Diavolo which cost $2.95. He probably paid under $100 a month in rent. When Charlie retired it was replaced with a Thai restaurant which is still there.

woodsroad · Jun 5, 2014

mso489 · Jun 5, 2014

ESCA's mighty nice. And for plain folks like me, there's always (always) Katz's Deli.

mso489 · Jun 6, 2014

Don't forget Chinatown and dim sum. Seek out the help of a native New Yorker, because the chefs

at Chinese places are transient, and as an expert I know says, they will leave a restaurant in the middle

of lunch if they get a better offer. So you are really shopping for the good chefs, not a particular

restaurant. However, you can get a magnificent meal for a reasonable price at many Chinatown

eateries.

Favorite New York Eatery?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Site Sponsors

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

The Bard Of Barlings

Lifer

Lifer

Might Stick Around

Moderator

Part of the Furniture Now

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Part of the Furniture Now

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer