Recommendations for NYC
 

My wife and I are heading to NY for the first time for a long weekend. We are staying at W 55th and 7th Ave. Any rec's for a nice dinner out? We would like to stay around 50/pp. I know "nice" and 50/pp in NYC may not go together, but I am sure there are FT'ers out there with some gems hidden up there sleeves. We'd like steak or Italian.

Thanks in advance.

One of my favorite Italian restaurants is Pomodoro on Columbus Ave between 70th and 71st on the east side of the street. It's maybe a 20 minute walk uptown where you can walk by Central Park, see the new Time Warner Center and then pass Lincoln Center.

If you like japanesse food, you must try and get into Nobu! One of the best restaurants in NYC (they also have one in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel.) with a long waiting list. Secret info is that there is a Nobu Cafe next to the main restaurant that you might be able to get into on short notice. Great food!

I live (Monday - Friday) at 57th & 6th so have been to most of the restaurants in the area.

For a great steak - and incredible shellfish, there's Shelly's New York on 57th b/w 6th and 7th. They have live jazz upstairs every night except Mondays. It will run a bit more than $50 pp, but so will just about any good steak dinner in NYC.

For Italian, there are hundreds of great choices but one I like is Bello , where we recently had an FT Do courtesy of dhammer53 and Catman. It's at 56th & 9th. Excellent food at very reasonable prices - you might well get out of there for $50 pp if you don't order expensive wine.

The New York City Forum in Travel&Dining: Featured Destinations section is a great place to look, lots of suggestions. ^

What type of food? If you like ethnic foods, Turkish, Indian, etc you can keep it well within that as long as you don't go nuts on the wine. Let us know which types of food you like, and I'm sure you can get more specifics.

Italian, Spanish (Tapas), Chinese are favorites...

One of my favorites for Italian is Tony DiNapoli on West 43rd. They will serve either family style or individual. Excellent food and fun place. For American I like Blue Fin. I believe it's on West 47th in one of the Starwood Hotels. But make sure to make reservations wherever you decide to dine. Have a great time.

One of New York's most famous restaurants is in the area you are considering. The Four Seasons Restaurant (not to be confused with the Four Seasons Hotel or hotel chain) is a a beautiful Manhattan restaurant and is a premier New York experience. Best of all, the pre-theatre dinner is $55 for a complete dinner, including appetizer, main course, coffee, dessert. Six main courses are offered at this price, including filet mignon. I'll try posting here a link to the the menus, which includes pre-theatre menu. http://www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com/

Restaurant week ($30.12 for dinner) has just been extended till Labor Day

Go to www.restaurantweek.com for lists of restaurants and
www.opentable.com to make reservatiosn online.

I just made reservations for Guastavinos.

We had dinner at the Four Seasons about a few years ago. I ordered the set price dinner, and was not impressed with the food at all. However, the a la carte items were much better, and of course, much more expensive. I don't know if they have improved the quality of the prix fixe menu (obviously I was in no rush to go back and dine at the place again), but to me, it is pointless for a restaurant to advertise an inexpensive menu and then deliver sub-par food. Le Cirque 2000 was the same--unimpressive prix fixe, great (and expensive) a la carte. I've eaten at other restaurants where the set price menu was a bargain and still excellent--they might use slightly cheaper ingredients, but the preparation was still top-notch. (Daniel used to have the $35 3 course lunch menu which was amazing).

Wasn't impressed by the Four Seasons
 

I dined at the Four Seasons restaurant about a year ago, and while the food was good, I don't think it lived up to the hype. This was the generally shared view in our dinner party. I don't exactly remember what I had, but it was not the prix fixe menu, but a la carte. It was a far cry from the truly top-end restaurants I've been to, such as Citronelle in DC.

Remi on 53rd and Osteria del Circo on 55th are both quite good (though not great) Italian restaurants with interesting decor very near where you're staying. If you order carefully, you should be able to meet your $50 max. My favorite Italian restaurant here is Babbo, which is downtown, hard to get a reservation at, and would cost more than that. But you might want to try Lupa, also downtown, another Batali restaurant which has very flavorful, rustic Italian food and would meet your budget.
I'm not much of a red meat eater, but in my view the best steakhouse by far in NYC is Peter Luger's in Brooklyn. It will cost more than $50 pp and they take only cash and house cards.

Had a wonderful dinner here the last time I was in NYC - absolutely delicious with great, great service. I reserved about a month ahead (which I'm not a big fan of, but I was only in town for a long weekend) and due to the restaurant's popularity, I wasn't sure what to expect as far as the staff/ambience go ... couldn't have been nicer in all respects.

I second (or third) the Babbo recommendation. We just came back from our third visit there and it was flawless. Food was absolutely delicious - pastas that are to die for - and service was very gracious. As has been mentioned before, it is very difficult to get reservations here (even a month in advance on a Saturday, we had to redial for 30 minutes and then had to settle for 9:30pm) but very worth it. If you don't mind dining early - like 5pm on a weekday - reservations may be easier to get at the last minute.

I guess if you stick to 1 antipasti and either 1 primi or 1 secondi plus a glass of wine, you could come in at around $50/pp w/o tax and tip. It's worth it nonetheless :)