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.cfmI 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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