Visiting & need a few suggestions

[sbchicago]

We will be visiting May 1 - 4 for my husband's work - staying at the Palace Hotel. The only meals we have free are Thursday lunch, Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. For the lunches, we're considering Gramercy Tavern, Momofuku Saam or Noodle, Eleven Madison Park and Gotham Bar & Grill. Which of the those should we try, or are there others we are missing? We're not sure of our timing on Thursday so we would have to be able to walk in and get a table. For Saturday, I see that most restaurants offer a brunch, is that a good time to go or is that a day we should try Momofuku?

For dinner Friday, we are a party of 6 coming from a cocktail reception at the Rainbow Room, so we would prefer that it be fairly close to there. Our only request is that it not be a restaurant that has a Chicago outpost. As for price point, around $100-150 per person.

We don't really need breakfast ideas, but would like to know if there are any great bagel places close to our hotel.

Any ideas or suggestions welcome, thanks for your help!

[kathryn]

Hi sbchicago, and welcome! NYC natives often don't know where hotels are, so I did a quick google search. Is it located on 50th and Madison Ave? Giving an intersection will greatly improve the recommendations you get.

I have been to Gramercy Tavern, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Noodle Bar, and Eleven Madison Park but not Gotham Bar and Grill.

For lunches on Thursday or Saturday, if you want to go to Gramercy Tavern, you have two choices -- the more formal dining room or the more casual Tavern Room in front. I like both but they are both different -- check out the menus online. Note that reservations are highly recommended for the Dining Room and the Tavern Room doesn't take them. The Dining Room is *very* popular and I suggest making reservations in advance. It's always #1 or #2 Most Popular in the Zagat guide. If you are interested in GT, call as soon as possible, and they will try to accommodate you as your trip isn't very far away. If the Tavern Room is OK with you, AND you don't know when you're getting in, then I'd drop in at the Tavern Room (assuming you're fine with a little wait if there's a crowd). The Tavern Room serves continuously from lunch through dinner.

As for Saturday lunch, Gramercy Tavern offers its regular lunch menu. The Eleven Madison Park menu has some brunch items but is more geared towards lunch items. Eleven Madison Park is more elegant, and very spacious, and the service is extremely nice. I think Saturday brunch there would be a fine choice, but the last time I was there, it felt very sedate and civilized. The restaurant was only about 75% full last time I went for weekend brunch. If you're doing GT for Thursday lunch, then it might be right for now.

As for Momofuku Ssam Bar for lunch, the menu is about half as interesting as the night time menu. I would recommend dinner here for that reason, but if you are pressed for time, it's a fine choice. Momofuku Noodle Bar serves the same menu all day. The atmospheres of the two restaurants are also completely different. Noodle Bar is lighter, brighter, and more homey, and a tiny bit more casual. Ssam Bar is hipper, louder, more crowded (marginally) and has slightly more ambitious dishes. If you're a foodie interested in David Chang, then Ssam Bar is the way to go. I'm a huge fan, obviously. :)

For dinner Friday, given that The Rainbow Room is located near Rockefeller Center -- are you willing to go further away via cab or subway? If you are coming from a cocktail reception, what time do you think you will be dining? A party of 6 can sometimes be hard to accomodate, but if you are missing the pre-theatre rush, I think there will be more flexibility. There are number of fine restaurants in the area. Any preferred cuisines?

[sbchicago]

Thanks for the info, very helpful. For the dinner, I was actually wasn't thinking of any of those restaurants I mentioned. We're totally open and willing to travel via cab, but don't want to spend 45 minutes getting anywhere. Is open-table a good resource in NY? In Chicago, several of the best restaurants don't use it. I did a quick search and several restaurants had availability, I am just not familiar with them!

[kathryn]

I actually went back and re-read your post and realized you were talking about two separate questions (picking from four restaurants for Thursday lunch and Saturday lunch, as well as asking for a rec for Fri dinner)! That wasn't really clear to me at first.

OpenTable is and isn't helpful in NYC. Some of the popular (and better) restaurants are on there but only give OT a handful of tables. Some popular restaurants are not on OpenTable at all, or only open up the books to OpenTable a day after phone reservations have started. If I'm dying to go somewhere, I basically call up the reservations line and ask what their policies are, especially since a lot of restaurants web sites never state how far in advance they start taking reservations or how quickly they book up.

Off the top of my head, if you are looking for a $100+ more upscale experience in that part of town, and I think you might want to look into The Modern (next door to MoMA, as a more casual room and a formal room but the casual room is still very hip), Gordon Ramsay (there is the formal restaurant and also Maze), Insieme, or db Bistro Moderne, which I have linked using Places. There are also some Japanese and Greek places nearby, not sure how you feel about those cuisines and I'm not as well versed. I extrapolated that you'd probably like Italian, French, etc. from your previous list of places to try.

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DB Bistro Moderne
55 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

Insieme
777 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019

The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

Gordon Ramsay at the London
151 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019

[rrems]

Another possibility for your Friday dinner would be Alto.