Meals near the Alex hotel

[masha bousha]

Holler.
I'll be in the city for two nights at the end of next week. I usually stay at Le Parker Meridien because I love the location but this time we're staying at The Alex on E45th Street, I'm a little out of my comfort zone geographically.

I am all about food when I visit NY. I do a little shopping and lots of eating.
Unfortunately my SO isn't as adventurous as myself when it comes to food. She doesn't really like Japanese (for example). She likes Italian, will eat Indian, BBQ...and she loves burgers.

To give you an idea of places I'm planning on hitting:

The Cart at 53rd and 6th (only open at night, right?--dinner Thursday night)
Pommes Frites (poutine--a snack)
William Greenbergs (black and white cookies-to take home)
Bouchon Bakery (nutter butter cookie---snack)
Economy Candy (love this place!)
Shake Shake (probably the one uptown if is known for a smaller line--lunch Friday)

What can you tell me about the nabe where The Alex is, for food. (for any meal)
The Amish Market sounds cool...how does it compare to Chelsea Market?

Lastly, where should we get breakfast on either Friday or Saturday morning? We've done Normas and while that was fancy (read: the most expensive breakfast we've ever had)....we want something just plain GOOD. Is there anything around the Alex?
(or anywhere else within reasonable subway, taxi distance).

Thanks! I live and breathe chowhound and love your city. You guys know your chow.

[cimui]

The area you're in is really stellar for Japanese food, but I think there are a decent number of other options you might like, as well. May I infer that you and your SO like casual, less spendy restaurants?

For takeout or cafeteria style Indian (great chaat, decent north Indian steam table options), try Indus Express on 48th between 5th and 6th.

If you like Mexican, try the inexpensive Taqueria Pampano or its more expensive (and excellent) sibling, Pampano restaurant.

Anthos on 52nd between 5th and 6th has pretty good lamb burgers. It's a more upscale restaurant, but they have a good value prix fixe at lunchtime.

There are a gazillion and a half beef burger joints in the area, most which I haven't tried, but some of which are supposed to be decent: Five Guys, Good Burger, Better Burger. Smith & Wollensky might be more spendy that you're looking for, but they have a nice burger. I personally detest the massive, greasy monstrosities that are Jackson Hole burgers... but I know it has its fans, so I might as well put that out there, too.

There's an Ethos near you for Greek-style grilled fish, Sip Sak and Akdeniz for pretty decent Turkish.

-----
Anthos
36 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019

Sip Sak
928 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10022

Smith & Wollensky
797 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022

Akdeniz
19 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
43 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019

Goodburger
636 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022

Indus Express
48 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036

Pampano Taqueria
805 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10022

Better Burger
561 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10016

Ethos
905 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10022

[Pan]

For what it's worth, I really didn't find Anthos' prix fixe a good value at lunch:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5716...

Masha:

If you two like Indian and are OK with some spiciness, you should take the bus down Lexington Av. to 26 St. (or walk, if you feel up to it) and go to Saravanaas. There are a bunch of other Indian restaurants centering around 26-29 Sts. and Lexington Av., but Saravanaas - a Madrasi restaurant that's a branch of one in fact IN Madras (Chennai in Tamil) is the one I've liked best.

[cimui]

Yeah, actually I agree with you re: most of the prix fixe options (and also very much prefer Kefi). But the lamb burgers are noteworthy. They may appeal to the SO's love of burgers and Masha's more adventurous palate.

[Pan]

I follow your line of thinking on the lamb burgers.

[RCC]

I hate not being able to patronize local establishments in my neighborhood but they give me no choice. Of the burger places that you mentioned, only Smith and Wollensky appealed to me. Good Burger is a neighborhood joint that is overpriced for it's average quality, Better Burger is not any better, and Five Guys, well, where is Five Guys anyway?

BTW, Alex has a restaurant where we've had brunch with live jazz before. It's called Riingo, iirc. The food here is decent and quite expensive, but the service sucked big time. I realized that when I see guests of the hotel eating in droves at Comfort Diner just across the street , which by the way, doesn't look that appealing either.

[masha bousha]

Thank you everyone.
I too agree that our hotel isn't where I'd like it to be for we're getting an amazing room at a great rate. Additionally it's a suite w/ a full gourmet kitchen which will make eating potential take-out and storing food (for home) in our room way more convenient than our usual hotel.
I didn't have any interest in eating at Riingo at the hotel and you've ensured that with your posting so, that helps! I have read some cool stuff about the Comfort diner but I'll have to do some more digging before I decide on goin there.
By the way, I love 5 Guys...but I wouldn't go there in NY, I can hit my 5 guys anytime at home here in CT.
We will definitely be hitting the LES for my beloved Economy Candy so we'll poke around and see if we get hungry at some of the other joints suggested.

I think I'm most excited about finally getting some chicken and rice from "the cart!".

[RGR]

Since you are going to the LES, have you done my (in)famous self-guiding noshing tour? Your beloved Economy Candy is the last stop. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/493333

[masha bousha]

I haven't taken your exact tour but I've stopped at many of the locations on it in the past. By the way, you can call it FAMOUS--cause it's famous here on this board.

thanks!!

[RCC]

The only good thing about your hotel’s location is that you are a few blocks away from the M15 southbound 2nd Ave. bus that will take you to the Lower East Side (East Village, Nolita). Since Japanese appears to be out of your wife’s comfort zone (Yasuda on 43rd between 2nd and 3rd), there’s nothing else in the close vicinity of your hotel that is worth it for a visiting foodie. Yes, you will be in the same street as Amish, but this is only a “wanna-be gourmet supermarket”. We shop at Amish for basics, but only because it’s close to where we live, but admittedly would prefer to shop in better stores in the city if only convenience would allow.

Here are a few notables in the area:

Coffee – Caffe Macchiatto along 44th Street between Lexington and 3rd Ave for good Italian coffee and pastries.

Bagels – Ess-a-Bagel along 3rd Ave and near 50th Street. Your NY bagel fix will pretty much be satisfied here.

Grand Central Market – excellent market to while away the time to browse and buy some prepared foods. Murray’s cheese stall is a must.

Convivio – Tudor City Place (from 2nd Ave., go up to 41st Street towards the river ... or towards 1st Ave. and ask around). I don’t recommend places that I’ve not been to, but you can do a search here and you’ll see that it’s a well-regarded Italian. We've been meaning to go.

M15 Bus - along 2nd Ave it’s a southbound bus that’ll take you 20 minutes to get to the Lower East Side. This is one of the best, if not the best, places for foodies in NYC. Do a search here or ask for more specific advice (restaurants, cuisine, ambiance, etc.) .

[kathryn]

Please give the cross-streets of your hotel. Many NYers don't really stay in hotels, and so we don't know a lot of them are.

The cart at 53rd and 6th is open all day, too, but is on a different corner:
http://midtownlunch.com/category/53rd...

[masha bousha]

Hi-
It's between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

Ok, I need clarification on "the cart"...I've read many c-hound posts that have indicated that the authentic one, the best one opens at 7:30pm and that the other one on that intersection is similar but not the same one.
It would be convenient if the other one is the same--so please let me know.

[LeahBaila]

...And one more thing: The Chelsea Market and Amish Market are 2 completely different setups. CM houses many vendors under one roof, while the AM is more like an upscale grocer/deli.

www.thelunchbelle.com

[kathryn]

Lunch: SE corner of 53rd and 6th, or the SW corner of 53rd and 7th
Dinner: SW corner of 53rd and 6th Ave (there is an imposter here during the DAY)

You can tell the real one because they use round containers, have super super spicy red hot sauce, wear yellow shirts with their logo on it, and have yellow bags with their logo on it.

Memorize this logo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59445098...