Dinner with a 1 year old
Well the time has come to start brining our son out into the restaurant world of the city...
He's been to a few places and is luckily a pretty calm baby...but still the last thing people need or want is a night out next to ours or anyones elses 1 year old..and we'd like a few places where the food is decent
so anyone out there have any good suggestions for spots that are kid friendly..(high chairs, other families, etc..) looking mostly on the East Side 1st Ave to 5th ..from roughly 25th to Houston
any suggestions or links to previous posts would be great thanks
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Nick F.
Jun 17, 2010 07:14 AM
Cowgirl! Surprised no one mentioned it!
As the story goes when I was a young lad, I was quite a fright. My parents had just moved into the neighborhood and I was but a few months and so difficult to take anywhere. When my parents saw the open-dining room of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, with their kids' menu, they thought they had been delivered. But my six-month old self was not and I wailed and wailed so much that other diners began yelling and glaring at my family. My dad eventually got in an argument with the fellow at the next table, only to have another patron unexpectedly come to his defense. After the argument, the angry fellow returned to his dinner and the patron and my father shook hands.
The patron was the owner-manager of the restaurant, Joel, a great guy. My family has been coming back there ever since.
As a more recent update to this story, I recently found a girlfriend (I know! Quite an upgrade from a wailing, screeching infant to that, right?) and when we talked about our childhood and our mutual love of the Cowgirl, she revealed that she too had been brought there as a child, where her parents had also sought refuge (and some strong frozen margaritas).
N.B.: It is on the West Side, so let me know if that doesn't fit your criterion well enough.
Yours,
Nick F. -
If you go early enough, and plan ahead, there are many places you can go comforably. Obviously, not the true 3-4 star places, and you have to be concerned about space and what you need with you (strollers just don't fit everywhere), but there are options.
If I limit myself to the area suggested:
The Smith, already mentioned, is an obvious spot.
Otto is another, although it can be very loud - it is probably better for lunch, but early works.
DBGB is kid-friendly, has tons of high chairs and, looking forward a few months for you, has a great kis special with their special hotdog and fries for a great price.
Not quite as high-end, but nice, Paul's and The Stand are both very kid-friendly for burgers. The Stand has a special with a small burger and shake. The staff at Paul's just love kids.
A little further afield, Artisinal is well equiped, large and loud enough to cover most sins. Also, most of the McNally spots are safe, especially Pastis, where they seem to take special care of kids. If you need a very nice spot in midtown, the Bar Room at the Modern works well.
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DBGB
299 Bowery, New York, NY 10003 -
Noodle fanatic
Jun 16, 2010 11:20 PM
Any particular types of cuisines and price points?
Sobaya on 9th St. between 2nd/3rd Ave serves fantastic authentic soba noodles and is very baby/family friendly.
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I am very interested in the same and would appreciate info on restaurants that are baby friendly.
That being said I think The Smith (3rd ave and 11th) has pretty good food and can be baby friendly if you avoid peak times like brunch where it is terribly loud and crowded. Petite Abeille (20th & 1st Ave) has lots of kids/babies but the food is not particularly great -- it's good for the selection of Belgian beers though. Other than that I cannot think of any real family oriented places but I am dying to learn of some as I also have a baby and would like to be able to resume dining out.
