Fill in GAPS Sept Itinerary

[panapepper]

Need HELP filling in a few gaps in our Sept 14-20 NYC itinerary of foodie family (two adults and 15 year old twins).

Sept 14th - Arrive Penn Station mid afternoon - check into hotel in Chelsea - head for Highline walk to Chelsea Market for late lunch/snack - 8pm Broadway Show W46th St - Reservations at Bills Burger Bar

Sept 15 - Breakfast at hotel - coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters (we are specialty coffee fanatics) - meet up with an old friend for lunch Park Ave South around 25 & 26th streets (HELP-need lunch recommendation) - Blue Man Group at 8pm - Reservations at Hundred Acres

Sept 16 - Another coffee stop a Stumptown - Doughnut Plan for a quick breakfast on the go - Famous Fat Dave´s Food Tour for Lunch - (HELP - need dinner recommendation - Japanese for sushi and non sushi lovers -- any location in Manhattan) -- I was thinking Blue Ribbon might be an option but I am looking for other suggestions after reading mixed reviews.

Sept 17 - Met Museum - Lunch at Halal Cart - Upper East Side walk - City Rover Village Sampler 3:30pm - Broadway show (HELP - need late night dinner recomendation after the show - Italian with great pasta would be just what the doctor ordered)

Sept 18 - Brooklyn Bagel Company breakfast - Museum of Natural History - Zabar's to get supplies for a picnic in the park - (HELP - need dinner recomendations for the UWS - need to have some great buffalo wings so this may be the night - Blondies any good?) Any other suggestions?

Sept 19 - Dim Sum breakfast China Town - Dim Sum Go Go, Golden Unicorn, Jing Fung - mid day Yankees Game - (HELP - need last night in NYC dinner recs - was thinking The Little Owl or Keenes - any other suggestions?)

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Little Owl
90 Bedford Street, New York, NY 10014

Dim Sum Go Go
5 E Broadway, New York, NY 10038

Golden Unicorn
18 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Hundred Acres
38 MacDougal St., New York, NY 10012

Stumptown
18 W 29th Street, New York, NY 10001

[citykid426]

Ok I just realized Kathryn chimed in already about the coffee issue...

[panapepper]

Thanks so much for all your responses you have been very helpful in defining the final itinerary!!! I agree about mixing it up and trying different coffee places - thanks so much for pointing the other options out - they are on my list! The lunch recommendation at Blue Smoke is perfect - thanks. I have changed our itinerary a bit given that I realized we had no Italian restaurants on our list and have read a lot on the boards about Osteria Morini - I was able to snag a reservation for the final dinner of our trip (Sept 19). Also, I have decided on Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill for dinner on Sept 17th after the show and since we have a niece joining us that night haver been able to get a reservation for 10pm. Overall I think we are set - I will report back after our trip.

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Blue Ribbon Sushi
119 Sullivan St, New York, NY 10012

Blue Smoke
116 East 27th Street, New York, NY 10016

Osteria Morini
218 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012

[citykid426]

Late night spot after your show in Times Square area: Esca for Italian, Hagi for Japanese (it's underground and very cool, just what teenagers would be into).

By the way, if you are really that into coffee, you should try several different places in NY. I would recommend you only got to Stumptown once and on the second day pick a different place. How about Ninth Street Espresso, Third Rail Coffee, Think Coffee, Hungarian Pastry Shop, etc?

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Esca
402 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036

[citykid426]

The best damn sushi I have ever had has been at Sushi of Gari on East 78 street. I go there every other week and their omakase (chef's choice) menu is to die for. There are also people who order a la carte (which I have never done) and they seem satisfied, so I think you can't go wrong there...

[kathryn]

OP was asking about a place for both non-sushi eaters and sushi-eaters, too. Can you recommend the cooked dishes there?

[citykid426]

I've seen people get the tempura dishes, which looked good. Again, I usually like the omakase menu, though they have put in tempura pieces in the past, which I loved!

[MVNYC]

I would never recommend Sushi of Gari for anyone who likes sushi. Having been there a number of times at this point I feel like they hide their fish behind their "creative" sauces. They certainly don't highlight the fish or the rice. If that is your thing fine, but it definitely isn't mine.

[kathryn]

First off, it's a big difficult to make recommendations without knowing where you're going on your two food tours. Especially if you don't want any repeats. Also it sounds like you're kind of all over the place budget wise? Or is cost not an issue?

> Sept 15 - Breakfast at hotel -

I encourage you to have breakfast at the Breslin instead. Some of the best breakfast in town.

> Sept 16 - Another coffee stop a Stumptown -

Why not mix it up and do a different place? Like the Chelsea location of Cafe Grumpy or Joe the Art of Coffee? If you're specialty coffee fanatics then you definitely need to also visit Blue Bottle, 9th St Espresso, Abraco, Third Rail... Not that I don't like Stumptown (try the mocha with local milk and Brooklyn-made chocolate syrup) but there's an embarrassment of coffee riches here now.

> meet up with an old friend for lunch Park Ave South around 25 & 26th streets (HELP-need lunch recommendation)

Assuming you are all meat-eaters, make a reservation a Blue Smoke? You're also extremely close to "Curry Hill" and could hit up Chennai Garden, Tiffin Wallah, Dhaba.

> need dinner recommendation - Japanese for sushi and non sushi lovers -- any location in Manhattan

Blue Ribbon is fine, the issue will be that it'll be Friday night and they don't take reservations at the Soho one so your wait will be long; the Columbus Circle one, they'll take reservations only for parties of 5 or more.

> Sept 17 - Met Museum - Lunch at Halal Cart - Upper East Side walk

Any specific halal cart you're referring to? There's the famous one at 53rd/6th but that's by MoMA not the Met.

The UES is one of the most boring neighborhoods to walk around in. Instead of a halal cart, you could also try Untitled in the Whitney, or Cafe Sabarsky, or the Sigmund Pretzel cart that is in front of the Met.

> HELP - need late night dinner recomendation after the show - Italian with great pasta would be just what the doctor ordered

Esca, perhaps?

> Sept 18 - Brooklyn Bagel Company breakfast - Museum of Natural History - Zabar's to get supplies for a picnic in the park

Make sure you have a back up plan in case it rains.

> HELP - need last night in NYC dinner recs - was thinking The Little Owl or Keenes - any other suggestions?

Keens is excellent. Little Owl is tiny. Unless you already have a reservation, the wait will be long. Also, I don't see any pizza on your itinerary! How about Motorino?

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Tiffin Wallah
127 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016

Chennai Garden
129 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016

Little Owl
90 Bedford Street, New York, NY 10014

Cafe Sabarsky
1048 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028

Cafe Grumpy
224 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011

Esca
402 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036

Blue Smoke
116 East 27th Street, New York, NY 10016

Stumptown
18 W 29th Street, New York, NY 10001

The Breslin
20 W 29th St, New York, NY 10001

Sigmund Pretzel Shop
29 Avenue B, New York, NY 10009

Motorino
349 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003