My wife and I find ourselves headed to NYC for a weekend on very short notice, basically 12 days. We will be staying in midtown but we’re open to most anything. Don’t need/want highest level, Michelin starred experience. Would like nice meals. Wine-centric experience would also be great. Suggestions on vegetarian friendly for a meal (not all meals) would also be appreciated. Either Friday or Saturday we may try to take the advice given in the NYC restaurant thread and walk in to Momofuku Ko right at five and see if we can get two seats at the bar. Would probably be a good idea to have a backup though!
All advice is appreciated, thank you!
Molyvos and Milos both serve nice meals in midtown and are vegetarian friendly. So is Trattoria del Arte.
Since you’re in midtown lunch at Marea is a fantastic value.
I was underwhelmed by Molyvos (the place near Carnegie Hall, right?) but Ma Peche is in the neighborhood, and is really good if you don’t end up at Momofuku Ko.
Nix is excellent vegan/vegetarian restaurant. I was quite satisfied and I’m not either.
As mentioned, Marea is great for lunch and has nice pastas (but is fancy).
Marta is not nearby, but not too far (E29) and is fun for a casual meal, thin crust pizza and some vegetarian small plates and many items for non-vegetarians. Great wine list the couple of times I was there.
Thank you all. My short list after perusing the NYC restaurant thread, available reservation times, etc., is as follows:
Marea
Momofuku Ko
Ma Peche (obvs. an either/or with Ko; perhaps preferable as getting in looks easier)
Bar Boulud (looks like a somewhat breezier alternative to Daniel)
Rouge Tomate (for wine experience)
Ten Bells (for wine and oysters at happy hour maybe)
Alta (looks fairly veg friendly)
So now I just need to decide amongst these and choose which for what meal. We have two dinners and a lunch. Lunch seems to be the toughest as Marea, Bar Boulud, and Ma Peche all seem to have good lunch options. Rouge Tomate might be a good Saturday choice with my sister and her partner, vegetarian but we’d be going for the wine experience and to hang out as much as anything. May try to pop into Ten Bells for a happy hour.
I appreciate the advice and will continue to compile and juggle until I come up with a plan!
I’d go with Compagnie des Vins Surnaturel in Nolita in lieu of Ten Bells or Bar Boulud for a more casual, but amazing, wine & lighter food experience.
If you are open to something different then Ousia is a fairly new restaurant. Food is excellent and they have a really cool list of Greek wines.
Thank you Paul, that looks delicious from the website, and pricing seems rather fair for NYC. Will consider that as well, maybe see which of these choices my wife does or does not want (though she is not particularly helpful at assisting in the food and restaurant choice department)
My first meal won’t be until Saturday but Atoboy is getting great word of mouth and the chef used to work at Jungsik which as far as I’m concerned made it a must visit for us.
+1 on Atoboy and Rouge Tomate
If you’re down to venture downtown, can try Pasquale Jones or Contra, and N’eat or Noreetuh in the East Village.
Okay, so here is what I am going with at the moment, subject somewhat to change as needed:
Fri dinner - Atoboy (the certainty of the reservation won out over taking my chances at Momofuku ko)
Sat lunch - Nougatine at Jean-Georges (reviews and value of the lunch pre fixe were appealing. Is not doing Marea a mistake…)
Sat dinner - Rouge Tomate
Reservations are made, so I can always change if something else seems advisable.
Jay, please let us know your thoughts on Atoboy, I’m sure you’ll post them in the other thread so I will follow there.
I would pick Marea over any of those.
Cafe China, East 37th, between Madison and Fifth.
Not eating at Marea is big mistake IMO. And the cost for lunch is not much different if you do the prix fixe, but if you can you should order a la carte and enjoy Marea properly.
Fine, I’ve succumbed to the peer pressure (after rereading the takes on Marea in the NYC restaurant thread actually and looking a bit more closely at online reviews of the two) and switched to Marea for lunch on Saturday.
If it makes you feel better about your decision Marea is one of our two favorite restaurants in NYC
And if it makes you feel even better, Marea is by far my most frequented and favorite restaurant in the city. It must be a favorite of Jean-Georges Vongeritchen’s as well, since I regularly see him having a late dinner at the bar.