Great food near 44th & Broadway?

[lecker]

A friend is treating my husband and me to Equus at the Broadhurst Theater next Friday. We want to take him out for a nice dinner before the show. I'm not too familiar with the options in that area of Midtown so I would love any suggestions for restaurants:
Criteria: no seafood (friend doesn't like fish, he prefers steak or meat), moderately priced, nothing touristy, showy or sports-bar oriented, no chains. I'd like great food, not too noisy and boisterous, and close enough to the Broadhurst Theater to walk (within 20-min walking distance). I noticed DB Bistro Modern, Chez Josephine, Breeze, Hell's Kitchen and Virgil's BBQ from the NYTimes but have not been to any of them and am not sure how good any of them are.Thanks for any suggestions you can share.

[travelames]

We had dinner at Chez Josephine on Friday night. We walked in around 9:30pm with no reservations, and got a seat with no wait. The decor is very French with the exception of two rather bizarre looking fake palm trees. I had the $35 prix fix menu, a delicious rich corn soup, grilled sea bass with leeks and potatoes, and a lemon tart with a scoop of raspberry sorbet. The sea bass portion was a little small... about 2" x 3". Overall the flavors were well balanced.

My friend had the lobster bisque and crab cakes. She really enjoyed the lobster bisque. I didn't try the crab cakes, but they were fully breaded, which I wasn't expecting.

A good choice in the area.

[PattyeT]

DB Bistro is very good. Also, the places along "restaurant row", 46th between 8th and 9th Aves and going south on 9th are promising, and some very good. All post menus outside so you don't go in blind. I live in Arizona but have to have a NYC fix a couple of times a year and stay in this area.

[RGR]

You need to be very careful about choosing a place to eat on Restaurant Row. Selecting by looking at posted menus is not always the wisest way to do it because you can easily end up eating food that is mediocre at best.

[rrems]

I agree with you, RGR, but do you realize the above poster responded AFTER the OP reported back. The dinner has already taken place!

[lecker]

No problem about posting later and yes I will be careful about Restaurant Row options. We're going back into the city this Friday to see another show so we may try DB Bistro, which several chowhounds recommended, or the Modern (I'm intrigued by their menu). Has anyone tried the Modern yet?

[RGR]

The Modern has been open for several years. We have not yet managed to try either the Bar Room or the formal dining room, but if you do a search, you will find many posts from Hounds who have.

[Rhea58]

As I suggested on another post, Lecker, you might want to skip dessert @ Marseille
& have it at Thalia after the theatre to get a feel for the place.

[lecker]

Rhea58 thanks. that sounds like a good idea. dinner will be a little tight (on time) so if we skip dessert and have it after the show at Thalia, it'll give us an opportunity to try two places in one night.

[lecker]

My friend has already been to Marseille so we're trying to find another place that none of us has tried. Has anyone tried Maze? If so, what did you think?

[RGR]

Maze would be an excellent choice. The cuisine is superb, service is cordial and professional, and the ambiance is exceedingly pleasant.

http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazeatthe...

[lecker]

Thanks for the recommendation on Maze. Everybody in our party enjoyed their meal at Maze. The seared foie gras was especially tasty. We didn't have enough time for dessert so we took Rhea58's advice and stopped by Thalia after the show for cocktails/drinks. It was a great choice as well.

[RGR]

Thanks for reporting back, lecker. I'm pleased that you and your dining companions enjoyed Maze. I, too, had the quail and seared foie gras and agree that it was a delicious dish. I'm sorry you didn't have time for dessert because the ones we had were superb.

[lecker]

Given more time, I would have ordered the chocolate fondant. However, I enjoyed a delicious glass of Tokaji before we had to rush off to the show.

[secondbecky]

If DB is on your list, I highly recommend it. I've been a number of times over the years, and it has been consistently good. I'd make a reservation.

I'd personally avoid West Bank - while you might get a Nathan Lane sighting like I once did, the food was mediocre and it was very crowded.

Agreed with Thalia.

There are a ton of cheaper restaurants as well. If you like Greek food, I highly recommend Molyvos.

Steak - DEL FRISCOS - it might be a bit father away than you want - on 47th or 48th between 6th and 7th.

[dagnytagart]

I was looking for a tasty meal in the area last night, and checked out Molyvos, based on this recommendation. It was great!

[secondbecky]

yay great! so glad you liked it.

[lecker]

Marseille it is. I just checked out their menu and they have a lot of duck options, which my husband will appreciate. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions!! I'm also going to try Thalia and the others on my next trip to that part of town.

[rrems]

Another vote for Marseille.

[BrookBoy]

My wife and I have always like Thalia, on the corner of 50th and 8th Avenue, which is perhaps a 10 or 15 minute walk to your theater. It's one of our favorites in the area, for both drinks and meals. They have an American-European menu and several meat choices.

For a brasserie menu and experience, you could try Pigalle, on the corner of 48th and 8th. We like the authentic bistro style and feel, and the food is reasonably good, but not great. But for pre- or post-theater, it is very dependable.

For Italian, you could try La Masseria, on 48th, between Broadway and 8th. It is roomy and more upscale than Pigalle, and they serve up some really tasty Italian dishes. Reviewers on Zagat's are very positive about La Masseria.

-----
Pigalle
790 8th Ave, New York, NY 10019

Thalia
828 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019

La Masseria
235 West 48th Street, New York, NY 10036

[Jane A.]

I would suggest Marseille over Pigalle any day. Not familiar with La Masseria, though. I'll try that one myself soon.

[Emmmily]

Masseria's great. I especially love their roasted rabbit alla caprese.

[carfreeinla]

Lots of threads on this. I would steer clear of everything that you mentioned based on your criteria.
Make it easy on you- Marseille and West Bank.