Can anyone help with a reccomendation for a restaurant in the (more or less) vicinity of Madison Square Garden?
Thank you.
Wonjo in Koreatown.
Keenâs Chophouse, on West 35th.
Cafe China, on 37th between Fifth and Madison.
MSG area is notoriously bad⌠but in reality youâre not far from the NOMAD area which does have good stuff and youâre a 10 - 15 min walk from MSG⌠(indeed anything near a 2/3 subway stop is in the vicinity of MSG) What sort of food and what sort of $$ are you looking for?
Uchu (kaiseki) is just awesome. Great vibe, love the room, service is excellent, and the food is, of course, great. Really hard to find a single aspect of the meal I didnât enjoy. Corkage is pricey but wine service was excellent. If you are feeling baller, the top end of the list has some interesting values (DRC at current auction price, service included!) and the somm said they have some stuff not printed as well. We brought a meursault that went well with the whole meal, except one course that had a curry/katsu type of sauce.
The only thing I donât really get is the âwhisky barâ aspect. They look nice, and from what I can tell itâs an impressive list, but Iâm not sure when youâd actually want to drink them (esp at the first seating). I wonder if they open it up at some point as a bar after the second seating? of course this didnât at all detract from the experience.
both marta and the breslin are an easy walk
iâm a big fan of both
Glad you enjoyed it! I sort of agree with the whiskey aspect but did wrap things up with a nice pour of Hibiki 18 year when I went. Itâs a nice mellow way to cap off an otherwise fantastic dining experience. And they have selections there I have never seen anywhere else before. And yes, they look pretty too⌠
I went last weekend and also loved the food, room, vibe (awesome soundtrack!), etc. We intended to BYOB (see âside bottleâ comments above) but forgot our wine at home, so we went with the pairings, which were quite good. They matched well with the food, were high quality, and fun. All in all, it was a great night. And the Japanese bar down the block was a solid recommendation for an after-dinner drink as well!
Thanks for the various recommendations. Happy to spend up to $100 per person (Already have Marea and Le Bernadin booked for the more serious stuff) and thinking Italian, French or US such as Union Square Cafe etc. I have one vegetarian and one person whoâs dietary restrictions cant be easily dealt with in a Chines or Korean restaurant.
Nomad is only 10 minutes walk away from MSG.
Marta for good pizza and other oven-roasted items is only about 15 minutes away.
As others have suggested
def +1 on Marta and The Breslin. Also like Union Sq Cafe and The Nomad but $100 might be tight at those if you have anything to drink. The Cafe Room at Gramercy Tavern could work though.
Also L&W Oyster Bar (28th and 5th)
Hill Country BBQ (26th Bdway-6th)
Eataly and all its options is at 24th and 5th
and if you want to see Victor hard at work slinging noodles⌠Wagamama at 26th and 5th (actually donât go there it sucks and there are way better options for noodles in NY)
Lugo Cucina . Very good food and service , prices reasonable, options for vegetarians. On 33rd right across from MSG.
Thank you all for your suggestions. Have booked Marta post Rangers game Saturday evening and may take the kids to Lugo Cucina before Billy Joel.
Has anyone done the bar tasting at the re-opened EMP? Going tonight (with pairings) and curious what weâre in for. Thanks.
not yet al
loved it when i could run in there and have a couple of dishes, but not as excited now that itâs apparently a much bigger production.
please post notes if you try it.
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Havenât done the bar tasting, but we went for dinner last weekend and the whole space is beautiful. They did a really nice job with the renovation.
Did the bar tasting at EMP last night. The main room looks fantastic. Iâm less sure about the new lounge. Seems to have a bit of the feel of a high-end airport bar (that probably sounds more insulting than I mean it). Also it doesnât feel at all integrated into the restaurant, and there are only 6 seats at the bar itself, which I think is a shame.
Food-wise, the savory dishes were excellent. Sat down to savory black and white cookies in a box. First course was their caviar/eggs in a can, lovely as ever. Second was a choice of a clam dish and a mushroom dish. Both delicious, although I found the mushroom dish more compelling. Third course lobster with a bisque sauce. Perfectly cooked and nice autumnal flavors in the sauce. Fourth was a veal loin and belly or their iconic lavender/5-spice duck. Again, both really good, but the duck is such a classic I canât resist it.
Desserts (a strange molecular-gastronomy-ish cranberry dish and an ice cream dish with a grainy chocolate coating) were decidedly meh.
The pairings were fun and a little out there. Didnât take details, but they included a dry and saline Greek sparkler, a Rully, a lighter Spanish red with the veal, and a St. Joseph with the duck. All good, but Iâm not sure we wouldnât have been better off ordering from the list.
Nice and interesting cocktail list. Bread fantastic.
Apparently you can still order a la carte at the bar if you walk in (and there is space of course).
A very nice visit. I am looking forward to trying the main room again.
I need to book my company holiday dinner for 12 somewhere on a Thurs or Fri in December, and the team has voted for a steakhouse. Any tips on who may have the best corkage policy and still have availability? Weâll happily order bottles of a well curated and priced list as well. Keens is booked and Iâd rather not downgrade too much.
nice review. thanks especially for this ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Our go to steakhouse these days is Bobby Vanâs on E 54th. Other Bobby Vanâs are not as good for some reason. I donât recall what they charge us for corkage but itâs not much. No idea as to availability.
Thanks, ended up getting in on a Friday at Bowery Meat Company, which has a decent (if overpriced) list but only allows 2 bottles for corkage, oh well, looks like weâll be hoarding the 2 byo bottles at our end of the table.
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