New York New York

[The_Scientist]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091230/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tavern_on_the_green

Tavern on the Green shuts down as of Dec. 31.  A new owner will sell off the old decor, revamp the Eisenhower-era menu and reopen in the spring, although it remains to be seen whether he can keep the name.  Anybody been?  My mother was there with my sisters a few years ago and loved it, but she's an Eisenhower type of girl.

[Beerbitch]

In the 60s, I lived right across the street -- Then, it was operated by the city as a concession stand.
Then, Warner LeRoy took it over and made it into what was once the highest-grossing restaurant in the country.  His daughter inherited the business when he died and I think did a pretty good job.  The city was demanding extortionary increases when the lease expired.
Anyways, over the years I went there mainly for fund-raisers, events and weddings.  I belonged to the croquet club across the park drive, so we would stop by after tournaments for drinks in the beautiful garden.  Also, Jimmy Smith and others played in the upstairs lounge with no cover/no minimum.
The food wasn't fantastic but it wasn't awful either.  The total experience is what you went there for just as at other LeRoy restaurants such as The Russian Tea Room and Maxwell's Plum.
RIP

[Roxro]

It was really pretty to sit outside in the summer- very festive.  If you could have brought your own food that is.  Really it was not good and the service was miserable (they assumed everyone was a tourist and they were mainly right.)  For whatever reason it was the one place that visitors from out of town wanted to go to.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

We will be going to NYC for a couple days, we will be staying on Broadway in the theater district, are there any NEW and exciting places to go to during the day for me and for Deanne (Code Poet) and I for dinner?

I have looked at the older lists here and I"m guessing that they are still impressive..

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[Roxro]

I suggest Bistro Promenade in the Chelsea area- not touristy, innovative Italian/French with a delicious brunch.
i just got back from NYC but most of my meals were on the upper Eastside. 

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Wow, tons to say..   Many pictures to edit.. We hit almost NO spots that were/are mentioned. 


This town is too big, too fast, and has way too many restaurants.   I am overwhelmed.


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[Elijah Snow]

We go to NYC almost every year and are planning to head back in early August. We always stay in the theater district and are always hurting for good lunch places. Did you happen to run across anything that fits the bill while you were there?

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Thanks for rattling my cage a bit and getting some info out of me on our great trip..


I met a writer for one of the New York City papers in The Pony Bar, down by the sea, air, and space museum and he convinced me to throw away the list that I had worked on here.  He also said that Eataly was a tourist trap, but we had already been there and thought it was a bit pricey but fabulous.   It is by the Flat Iron building and is a conricopia of Italian food by region and by type.  I had the octopus there and it was wonderful, the sides were terrific and the feeling of the places was great.  Semi-recognizable chefs were roaming the seating areas, some from various TV food shows and others specialists in one thing or another.  A great couple of expensive hours on 5th Ave.

http://www.mariobatali.com/restaurants_eataly.cfm


I had the pleasure of being escorted by a long time friend that lives on the upper West side to lunch one of the days that Deanne was in her sessions, we went to Malecon at 764 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY.  It was great, and very inexpensive (for New York City) with a bustling crowd at lunch and some terrific Dominican fare.

http://maleconrestaurants.com/locations/

This writer name dropped a couple places and circled two on the short list he drew up for me, both of them are on Amsterdam and I'm guessing that is his neighborhood.   We ate at two of them.

The first one is first rate Italian with a really old school feel, and an attentive wait-staff that knew the specials and why they were special and what we wine or beverage we could pair them with in a short but fast-paced sit-down introduction.  It is Genaro Ristorante at 665 Amsterdam Ave,
New York, NY, 10025.  It is an Italian Mediterranean  place with seafood and pasta specials every day.  We each had a different special, and they each included the house made pasta.  A terrific meal, not way too expensive and worth going back to explore the rest of the menu.  We spoke to a couple seated by us that lived in the neighborhood and they LOVED the place, they ate there three days a week..

http://www.gennaronyc.com/


GG>- I'll add one more place for now but hope to fill in some of the places as I find time.

The writer also said that we HAD to visit The Mermaid Inn on Amsterdam.  He was oh-so-right...   We took one of Deanne's work-mates in there for dinner and our friend from NYC for dinner, the wait was a bit long, the noise was deafening, but the food, the wine choices and the service were spectacular no matter what town you are in.  They have a dozen or so varieties of oysters and we did share around a couple dozen, they were fresh, and flavorful and identifiable.  Again I had the octopus entrée that came cooked like I have had it in Fall River Mass.  The each of our dinners were great, we left there happy as a butchers dog, we split up and caught a cab back to Times Square to be in the nightly revelry.  Our hotel is right there the Marriott Marquis.

That night we didn't stop for drinks in the revolving View restaurant, but other nights we did.  I have found that it takes 1 1/2 margaritas per revolution to see the city right. . 

http://www.themermaidnyc.com/uws/


GG>- We did miss the oyster Happy Hour that night, but the next time I'm in NYC I will be there, here are some details. 

Happiest of Happy Hours AND THEN SOME
July 12 - July 14

Now there's an extra hour to get happy!
The Mermaid Oyster Bar - 4pm-7pm.
The Mermaid Inn EV & UWS - 5pm-7pm.

Oysters for $1 east coast, $1.75 west coast
$5 beers, $6 wine, $7 cocktails
& our snack menu.

Life is better on the weekend.

Part one of a delayed report on NYC and Manhattan.

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

In NYC...    been exploring, been sightseeing, CP is here doing a conference, we brought BJ Supereater with us for his graduation present. 

Carnegie Deli
Chelsea Market (X2)
    The Green Table (brunch)
    The Lobster Store (for dinner)  Not the same day
    The crepe store ( name to be found later )
Eately
others  -
The Burger Joint"
no street food

visited the newly opened 9-11 museum and memorial
Hop on Hop off tour of Harlem & the Bronx
tour around the statue of Liberty
Museum of Natural History
Top of the Rock
Empire State bldg
Intrepid Museum (again)
Central Park
etc, etc..

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[Milt]

We spent Thursday in Manhattan seeing the American Museum of Natural History followed by seeing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.  Lunch was at Gray's Papaya, 2090 Broadway (SE corner of 72nd and Amsterdam) where we each had two hot dogs and a papaya drink for $10.40 - satisfying, warm food on a cold day.  A late afternoon snack was at Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger on Columbus Circle where we each had an excellent cookie.  Before the play, we had dinner at La Bonne Soupe, 48 W 55th Street.  I ordered a mushroom barley soup and Janis had French onion soup.  Accompanying the soups were salad, bread, drink ( beer, wine, coffee, or soft drink), and dessert.  My dinner was $20.95 and Janis' was $21.95, which seemed very reasonable for that part of town.  Our food was all quite good and we would easily return to each of the three places.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Just back from NYC taking the two nieces, as a prize for good grades.   We did have a great time, and saw Wicked on broadway, but this was not the culinary trip we usually make..

More on this later.

..