Must eat fine dining NYC

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

@johngonzales

I hit up Katz’s for the second best pastrami sandwich in the U.S… I also like to grab a Shake Shack burger and eat in the park. Motorino makes a damned good pizza (so do Keste and others you’ll see recco’d). I like to walk the East Village environs of Motorino as there is a great ice cream shop, cheese shop, and other interseting stuff.

EMP and Momo seem like excellent dining choices. Obviously I’m not a local so others know better. We’ve had a couple of fun and good qpr meals at Degustation. If you are at W-Lexington walk over to the bar room at Modern.

Second best?? You and Saul have opinions I respect, otherwise I’d be making rude sounds. I’ll have to do a Langer’s/Katz Battle Pastrami one day.

[John_Draper]

@Barry L i p t o n

Best lunch in town is Jean Georges. Food somehow is better at lunch than dinner.

By the way, the general wisdom over at Flyertalk is the W Lexington is the worst W in NYC. Tiny rooms. W Union Square supposed to be much better.

Sushi Yasuda is by the W Lexington; Eataly (worth a visit for sure) is by the W Union Square.

Can’t speak to lunch at Jean Georges but I agree that W Lexington is awful, rooms are small and rundown. W USQ is a much better property. If you are trying to use Starwood points there is a significant premium for the USQ property. You may want to look the Parker Meridien, just a little north of W Lex, nice rooms and they have Burger Bar downstairs.

for fine dining, I say EMP.

[CFu]

@John Draper

@Barry L i p t o n

Best lunch in town is Jean Georges. Food somehow is better at lunch than dinner.

By the way, the general wisdom over at Flyertalk is the W Lexington is the worst W in NYC. Tiny rooms. W Union Square supposed to be much better.

Sushi Yasuda is by the W Lexington; Eataly (worth a visit for sure) is by the W Union Square.

Can’t speak to lunch at Jean Georges but I agree that W Lexington is awful, rooms are small and rundown. W USQ is a much better property. If you are trying to use Starwood points there is a significant premium for the USQ property. You may want to look the Parker Meridien, just a little north of W Lex, nice rooms and they have Burger Bar downstairs.

for fine dining, I say EMP.

I hear the same thing in regards to the W. We’re getting 3 nights paid for through my wife’s work and I might be a bit too lazy to swap hotels for the sake of two nights.

[Brent_C_l_a_y_t_o_n]

Take this gwei-lo to Flushing and I’ll blow your mind.

[Peter_Kleban]

@Barry L i p t o n

Eataly (worth a visit for sure) is by the W Union Square.

We found Eataly seriously unimpressive. Dark, overcrowded, overpriced, and what we ate (I forget exactly what, it was lunch) was only so-so.

[Ramon_C]

@Peter Kleban

We found Eataly seriously unimpressive. Dark, overcrowded, overpriced, and what we ate (I forget exactly what, it was lunch) was only so-so.

Dark? I’ve been to Eataly a few times and dark is not what I’d characterize it.
It’s a bustling, very touristy indoor market-place. While I’ve had some good dishes at Manzo and the others elsewhere were not as memorable.

[M.Kaplan]

The porchetta sandwich from the roaster in Eataly is pretty good.

[Brad_B_a_l_l_i_n_g_e_r]

I like the beer garden on the roof of Eataly for just hanging out for casual drinks and snacks.

[mark_rudner]

sticking to the title of “must eat fine dining” if you want to stay at the level of emp, there just aren’t all that many choices. bouley, daniel, jg, per se, emp, brooklyn fare, ko, atera, le bernardin immediately come to mind. maybe del posto, ai fiori and marea but i just don’t see them at that level (some do).

[SteveC]

@Brad Ballinger

I like the beer garden on the roof of Eataly for just hanging out for casual drinks and snacks.

I didn’t know they had that. I must check it out!

[Jay_Miller]

I’ve had consisently excellent but disappointing given the reputation meals at EMP and Le Bernardin. My last lunch at Jean Georges was so bad I never went back to give them another chance though I hear good things.

Never been to Per Se or Momo, or Masa.

At this point I’ve settled into Marea being my fine dining default. Comfortable high end atmosphere, excellent food and service and I could eat the Ricci and Octopus Fusilli every day of the week. Though I still dream of the desserts at Daniel (main courses do not, alas, measure up).

[Merrill_Lindquist]

Next week I am going to Gramercy Tavern (again) - I have always liked it there a lot. Corkage isn’t bad - I think $35. The night after that Diane Kessler and I are making our long-waited visit to LaGrenouille (despite their $85 corkage charge - we figure anything we will want to drink will be way more than that on the wine list, so we are bringing our own). Will post back our thoughts. I will eat at Nougatine at Trump Towers - a first night in town tradition for me, and it always pleases me.

[John_Davis]

@Brad Ballinger

I like the beer garden on the roof of Eataly for just hanging out for casual drinks and snacks.

Just did that last fall and had a great time. It is a touristy place but if you have extra time there are worse things that you could be doing. I’ve really enjoyed Bouley, Daniel, Le Bernadine (esp. the lunch). I’ve been to Jean George a few times and as previously noted as good at lunch as at dinner. Our last dinner there lacked luster, the previous ones were stellar. EMP was great but that was before the menu change so take that for what its worth. Marea last fall was outstanding!

A few years ago we had a remarkable meal at Babbo with the best tasting menu wine pairing I’ve ever had. That said, after a lunch at Lupa and a dinner at B&B in Vegas a year or two later, I’ve decided to give them any more of my money. Per Se is on the list for my next visit.

JD

[mark_rudner]

john
are you saying you didn’t like lupa?

[John_Davis]

I’m sorry it was Otto we didn’t really care for. Lupa is fine!

JD

[dcornutt]

So guys, Lupa or Babbo for the Mario experience with good food? Count me as someone who actually liked B and B.
Been there twice. Excellent meals in Las Vegas.

[Jim_Friedman]

Don
What about Del Posto?

[johngonzales]

@Barry L i p t o n

@johngonzales

I hit up Katz’s for the second best pastrami sandwich in the U.S… I also like to grab a Shake Shack burger and eat in the park. Motorino makes a damned good pizza (so do Keste and others you’ll see recco’d). I like to walk the East Village environs of Motorino as there is a great ice cream shop, cheese shop, and other interseting stuff.

EMP and Momo seem like excellent dining choices. Obviously I’m not a local so others know better. We’ve had a couple of fun and good qpr meals at Degustation. If you are at W-Lexington walk over to the bar room at Modern.

Second best?? You and Saul have opinions I respect, otherwise I’d be making rude sounds. I’ll have to do a Langer’s/Katz Battle Pastrami one day.

Oops, I forgot, make Katz’s the THIRD best pastrami sandwich! That pastrami that Saul made from the A-5 Kobe was epic, as well as Langer’s.
I actually love both Katz and Langers. I know it is sacrilege but I actually get the #19 more often than not at Langer’s, and not to get me kicked off the food board, I even have it on an onion roll sometimes. As far as the standard sandwich comparison I have to agree with the much publicized Nora Ephron attended taste-off. I think the rye bead at Langer’s is definitely better. As far as the meat goes I think it is close. The Langer’s seems to have a bit more spice but the Katz’s might be a little fattier, which isn’t a bad thing. I’ve long wanted to do a taste off on the sandwiches. Norm Langer actually told me that it probably wouldn’t be fair as the Katz’s would have to be shipped and the bread would not fare well. So I’m resigned to a meat-only throw-down. Maybe at next year’s Superbowl (for which we always do Langer’s) and we can try and get Saul to make a batch of his.

Back to topic. I was under-impressed by Eataly. It was fun to browse at, but there certainly weren’t that many products I was interested in buying and I can’t even remember what we ate. I’d rather have a Shake Shack burger across the street. Never knew there was something on the roof. Apparently they are looking for an L.A. location to open an Eataly branch here.

I’ve only been to Bouley twice, and not in the past five years, but I had two really excellent meals there and both times had really good wine pairings.

[Ramon_C]

Somehow, since it’s “back to topic”, I still don’t see anything in Eataly that calls out for the fine dining requirement.

[Merrill_Lindquist]

I’m going to shamefully move to the left here because of the readership and ask if anyone has any experience with Red Eye Grille. 56th at 7th? I know it’s not high end, but curious if anyone has an experience. Looks strange on the website, but someone made a reservation so I guess I’m going. Lunch.