New York City Restaurant Tips by Dabs

Restaurant Name: Carnegie Deli

Last visit 7/12/07

The Carnegie Deli is well known for it's huge deli sandwiches, in particular corned beef and pastrami. I had my first corned beef sandwich at Carnegie Deli several years ago so on my 2nd visit to NYC I made a repeat visit when there by myself and a 3rd visit when I was there with my in laws in 2007. The sandwiches are huge, big enough for two people to share, and expensive at around $13.

I've eaten in twice but the 1st time we got it to go and took it back to our hotel, you're also very close to Central Park and could easily take it and have a picnic and avoid all those silly sharing and per person limits. There's nothing particularly exciting about eating inside the restaurant so I'd recommend getting it to go if it's an option.

My most recent visit was with 3 kids and 3 adults. Now the kids would never be able to finish a sandwich on their own so they split one and my sister in law and me split a corned beef and we got hit with 2 $3 sharing charges which is clearly stated on the menu but annoying nevertheless. They also state that there is a minimum $12.50 charge per person, our bill was slightly less than that but after the included service and tax our bill was $100! If the food wasn't good, I'd probably move this tip over to tourist traps, I could get a similar meal in Chicago for about 1/2 the price and no attitude...

Favorite Dish: The corned beef and pastrami are both excellent.

I was going to try a piece of cheesecake but the portions of that are also enormous, enough for a whole family to share.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Deli
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: 854 7th Avenue (at 55th Street)
Directions: Midtown Manhattan/Theater District
Website: http://www.carnegiedeli.com

Restaurant Name: Republic

I was looking for a place to grab a quick bite on Union Square and remembered that I had read some good reviews of Republic. I was eating by myself so I had a seat at the bar which gave a good view of the open kitchen. The rest of the seating was mostly communal tables, the interior is modern decor, the servers all wearing black.

The service was very quick and the meal inexpensive, entrees run from $6-$9 and are filling.

Only negative-I was a little surprised when they charged me for 2 diet Cokes at $2 a piece, most restaurants in the US don't do that.

Favorite Dish: The menu is Asian with Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian and Japanese influences.

I tried the spicy coconut chicken noodles and broth, it was a little too spicy for a full meal and I found it a little hard to eat full noodles in broth but it had a good flavor and there were plenty of other dishes that looked and smelled quite good as they were passing.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Pan-Asian and Pacific Rim
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-627-7168
Address: 37 Union Sq West, between 16th and 17th
Directions: Right on Union Square: you can't miss it.
Website: http://www.thinknoodles.com/

Restaurant Name: Tio Pepe

Julie (travelmad478) picked this for our small VT meeting on a Saturday night. Mark (acemj) and Tania (skye820) came in from Philadelphia and Chris (cjg1) joined us a little later in the evening.

The place was crowded but not overly loud, nicely decorated. We stayed for quite a while but the server never seemed to be rushing us.

Favorite Dish: Everything we tried was good but I especially enjoyed the paella, we started off with a bunch of tapas-chicken quesadillas, caracoles Tio Pepe (escargot), pulpo a la Gallega (octopus), chorizo and gambas al ajillo (shrimp), followed by an order of paella valencia (saffron rice dish with seafood and chicken) for two and chiles rellenos accompanied by a couple of pitchers of sangria. Even with all this food and drinks the bill came to only $35 per person.

I couldn't get the menu to load off their website, but I could from here

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=754&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=0

Although most of what we tried was Spanish, Tio Pepe also has many Mexican dishes.

In the photo (courtesy of acemj) from left to right: Chris (cjg1), Julie (travelmad478), me, Mark (acemj) and Tania (skye820)

Leave a Comment

Theme: Mexican
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212.242.6480
Address: 168 W. 4th
Directions: between 6th and 7th Avenue in Greenwich Village
Website: http://www.tiopepenyc.com/

Restaurant Name: Taboon

This was another one of Julie's (travelmad478) picks, we had brunch here with her mom before going to see a play at a nearby theater.

The restaurant is a small comfortable place, crowded on a Sunday afternoon but not noisy.

Our waiter, although quite pleasant to look at, was rather inattentive, as we were not in a rush, it didn't matter much. Other servers seemed to be friendly and attentive.

Favorite Dish: The menu is Middle Eastern/Mediterranean. We started off with a basket of brioche, a fabulous selection of breads and pastries, some with a delightful chocolate filling. Our second appetizer wasn't brought out because it was not up to the chef's standards (too salty).

The brunch menu was limited, I ordered a caesar salad with cured lamb which was OK but a rather small portion although I had filled up on bread and mint tea and was satisfied. The dinner menu looked interesting, if I were to go back it would be for dinner.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: 773 10th Avenue at 52nd St.
Website: http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=5275&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=0&readmore=true

Restaurant Name: Serendipity

I read so many good reviews of Serendipity and their famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate that I wanted to make sure I tried this place. I didn't realize that they accepted reservations so I stopped by at 2 pm on a Monday thinking the wait wouldn't be so bad and after pushing my way through the throng of people both inside and outside, the host said there was a 1 1/2 hour wait! I asked him if there was any other time when the wait wouldn't be so bad and he said it was crowded from when they open to when they close.

I rewatched "Serendipity", the movie with Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack as fated lovers and I had to laugh at the scene shot inside the restaurant that showed all kinds of empty tables!

Well, I've never waited that long for any restaurant so I left still curious about that Frrrozen Hot Chocolate :-( But I sated my sweet tooth at a local bakery with a Napoleon, could the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate really be that much better???

You can buy the frrrozen hot chocolate mix at the store or online but that just wouldn't be the same to me.


Leave a Comment

Theme: Dessert

Phone: 212-838-3531
Address: 225 East 60th Street, New York, NY
Directions: Between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.
Website: http://www.serendipity3.com/

Restaurant Name: Various

You literally can't go more than 4 or 5 blocks without seeing a restaurant selling pizza by the slice, something I definitely don't see back home in Chicago. Since I was by myself, I ended up stopping for a slice of pizza at least 5 times over the course of 4 days (OK, I had one for breakfast!) This is a great budget meal, a slice only runs $2-$4 depending on the toppings, is very filling and very quick.

I'll leave it to the New Yorkers to argue about who has the best slice in New York City, I found that all of the places I tried were good and didn't get to the one I really wanted to try which was Famous Joe's in Greenwich Village.

Among those I tried were Pizza Pete's at 314 Fifth Avenue (between 32nd and 31st), not too far from the Empire State Building or my hotel and Abitino's at 1435 Broadway (between 40th and 41st), convenient to Times Square and the Broadway theaters.

Favorite Dish: I prefer to skip the bread heavy Sicilian style slices and go for the thin slices with a bit of parmesean cheese. The slices come with all kinds of different toppings depending on what they have done up, I tried pepperoni, sausage and pepperoni/sausage combos.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Pizza
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter

Restaurant Name: Various

In addition to the pizza by the slice places, you will find that New York City is filled with take out places that have hot buffets, sandwiches made to order, salads, etc. They usually also have some seating but typically no waiters.

For breakfast, there are also local places that serve bagels, muffins, croissants, fresh fruit, juice and coffee on almost every corner as well as some chains like Au Bon Pain and Cosi.


Leave a Comment

Theme: Local
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter

Restaurant Name: Chez Laurence

I stopped by here on my way back to my hotel to grab something sweet for the plane ride back home. I pointed to a couple of French pastries, they boxed them up in a pretty little box with a ribbon and off I went. When I finally got to the airport, I was so disappointed to see that they had misunderstood me and the Napoleon I thought I had ordered was not in the box. The pastries were still quite delicious but I really wanted that Napoleon!

There is also a restaurant, the reviews on Menupage.com are quite favorable

Menupages.com


Leave a Comment

Theme: Dessert

Address: 245 Madison Avenue at 38th Street

Restaurant Name: Various

Here are a few pages I found helpful when looking at restaurants:

This website has menu pages from many of New York's popular restaurants along with patron reviews
Menu Pages

If you want to make reservations without having to pick up the phone, you can use Open Table. I have not used in NYC but i have used it many times in Chicago
Open Table

The New York Times has a dining guide with some reviews
New York Times


Leave a Comment

Theme: Other