Recos needed for father-daughter arriving by tall ship

[Elizabeth E.]

My brother and his 8-year old daughter are arriving on a tall ship this weekend. After several weeks at sea, they will be very casually dressed, scruffy even -- jeans, flip-flops, t-shirts. Looking for some fun ideas for lunches and dinners while avoiding chains. Niece is reasonably unfussy eater for her age; brother doesn't eat red meat and likes microbrews. Restaurants with a view or unique, NY feel would be great.

Ship will be moored at Governor's Island, so they'll always start out at South Ferry or Bowling Green subway stations, but I'll be showing them around Manhattan so suggestions as far uptown as Central Park/Museum of Natural History would be good.

[EBT]

I would also go to Fraunces Tavern in the FiDi - a little slice of history and great beer selection. Food is fine, nothing amazing but should do the trick.

[Pan]

NY feel:

Katz's for pastrami (juicy brisket for those who don't like pastrami, juicy turkey for those who don't want red meat, and he has to ask for it juicy or it'll be merely a good, fresh turkey sandwich rather than a great one that's moist and delicious).

Any number of pizzerias mentioned in discussions of pizza on this board. I like South Brooklyn, for example. It's very casual and not much of an eat-in place, but they definitely have room for 2 people at a table. I've also really enjoyed Arturo's, an old-school New York-style coal-fired pizza place that oozes history in a comparable way to Katz's. Some hounds have reported the food has deteriorated somewhat, but it's a good place to hear some jazz, so there's a bonus if your brother and niece like live music.

Great New York Noodletown. Classic Cantonese food. Filthy bathrooms, but no-one looking scruffy will be out of place there. Great barbecued items (I love the duck, but the baby pig and pork also get great reviews by fans), nice thick congee, good lo mein with ginger and scallions, good dishes with Chinese chives or pea shoots, nice soothing beef stew with plenty of ginger - real comfort food done right.

While in Chinatown, also go to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. The 8-year-old will love the chance to get some of their' "normal" flavors like ginger, mango, lychee, taro, red bean, green tea, etc. Or if not, there are always "exotic" flavors - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry... :-)

For Italian-American food, John's of 12th St. is another real old-school place, over 100 years old, with pretty good food and wine and excellent service. (I'm not sure what their beer selection is like.).

If at some point the 8-year-old can be asleep or otherwise occupied, DBA bar in the East Village has a very good selection of beers on tap, though it's a bit more expensive than average for the neighborhood (last I checked, beers were on average $7, as opposed to $6 elsewhere).

[Elizabeth E.]

Excellent ideas, thanks. I've never heard of/been to Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and it looks like a good walk from the seaport.

[LNG212]

Up near to AMNH is George Keeley's. They have a terrific selection of microbrews on tap. They also have pretty good food for a bar. (And people do bring kids in there during the daytime because there are tables.)