A day and a half in Manhattan -- suggestions requested

In My Humble Opinion
1

Next Friday my wife has a conference in NYC, so we’re going up together by train. We’ve visited NYC several times before. We’ll arrive at Penn Station Friday morning, at about 9 AM, and my wife is off to her conference (in Hell’s Kitchen) while I’m on my own. Then we’ll meet up again at 5 PM or so, check into our room (a few blocks away from Penn Station), and we leave Saturday by train at about 5 PM. I’ll probably have to find a place to store our bags Friday until we check in.

So I’ll have most of Friday by myself, and we’ll have most of Saturday together. We’ll be reliant on transit and don’t want to make any extra-complex trips from around mid-town (i.e. we’re happy to take the subway, but hopefully we won’t have to change lines or stuff like that too often).

Here’s what I want to do:

Friday – eat interesting and unusual food all day. Not totally gorge myself, but have lunch and snacks that I’ll be unlikely to easily find at home (more towards casual than fine dining). I like every type of cuisine, and am happy to eat at a dirty food stall or a sit-down place, with the hope that I can have some great and unusual (for me) food without spending a ton of money. Not so heavy on deep-fried and grease, hopefully.

Friday night – do something fun and have a nice sit-down meal with my wife. Perhaps a walk-in comedy club or something like that.

Saturday – wide open… probably a nice sit down breakfast or brunch, plus an early-afternoon activity that gives us plenty of time to get back to Penn Station for our 5 PM return train. Maybe a museum or something (we’ve been to the Met and Natural History, I’m pretty sure).

Any suggestions? Thanks!

2

I figure that you’re going to get lots of suggestions for well-established places in neighborhoods below Penn Station. And you probably already know about Eataly, Gotham Market, etc., so there’s no need for me to mention them here.

Here are some less-on-the-beaten-track suggestions for Friday’s food fest. Pick any of them, but don’t try to combine them in a single day. (You might be able to combine the Harlem and Upper West Side places, but there’s more than enough in each neighborhood to keep you busy and interested for the day.)

For each possible destination, I’ve given you an estimated travel time from Penn Station. All time estimates are door to door. I’ve added some time to each estimate to account for time spent figuring out subway stations, walking the wrong way at first, dealing with delays, etc. I figure it’s always better to get places early and have time to wander around than it is to get to places late and find yourself stressed out about getting to your next destination, or back to the hotel, or wherever on time.

  1. Koreatown. (Korean. And no need to take a train; Koreatown is a couple of blocks from Penn Station.)

Since Koreatown is a pretty standard part of the tourist itinerary, you probably don’t need much more info from me. In case you do, look here.

  1. The Upper West Side (about 20 to 40 minutes each way, depending on what part of the neighborhood you’re going to.)

Here are some good places on the UWS:

The Hummus Place (Amsterdam Ave., btw. 74th and 75th Sts. About 25 minutes from Penn Station on the 1 train.)
Levain Bakery. (Amsterdam Ave. and 74th St. About 25 minutes from Penn Station on the 1 train.)
Jacob’s Pickles (Amsterdam Ave., btw. 84th and 85th Sts. About 35 minutes from Penn Station on the 1 train)
Absolute Bagel (the best bagels in NYC, IMHO). Broadway and 108th St. About 40 minutes from Penn Station on the 1 train.)
The Hungarian Pastry Shop (Amsterdam Ave. and 111th St. About 40 minutes from Penn Station on the 1 train.)

The Hungarian Pastry Shop, btw, is right by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Book Culture (the one at 112th St. The others just aren’t as good.) Amsterdam at 110th to 112th is one of my favorite little pockets of the city. If you go to the Cathedral, make sure to wander around the gardens when you’re done seeing the building and art exhibits. (Exit the cathedral through the side door, so you can walk around a bit.) Enjoy the trees, sculpture, and manicured grounds. It might be cold by the time you arrive, but if it’s warm, keep an eye out for the peacocks.

  1. Harlem (about 45 minutes on the B or C train. Get off at 116th St. and start walking north on Frederick Douglass Blvd.) In the last seven years or so, Frederick Douglass Blvd. has become Restaurant Row, with lots of inventive fusion restaurants you won’t find elsewhere.

There are some great places away from Frederick Douglass, too. A few blocks away is Amy Ruth’s. IMHO, it’s some of the best Harlem-style soul food around. Try the ribs or the chicken and waffles.

If you take the 2 or 3 trains from Penn Station to 125th St. (about 30 minutes), you’ll get to Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster , andSylvia’s. (IMHO, if you go to Sylvia’s alone, sit at the lunch counter, rather than in the dining room. People are friendly, and you’ll probably end up in a conversation. Despite Sylvia’s fame, the lunch counter is still very much a neighborhood place, with its set of local regulars.)

Red Rooster and Sylvia’s are both near the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is also well worth a visit.

  1. Jackson Heights, aka “Little India” and “Little Nepal.” (Various Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi cuisines, with some Korean, Mexican, and South American. Also close to Thai Town. About 45 minutes to an hour each way, depending on which part of the neighborhood you go to.) From Penn Station, take the E going uptown/to Queens. Get off at the Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave. stop. Have some of the best Calcutta-style Indo-Chinese, Nepali, Bangladeshi, Indian, and South American food on the planet. (No, really.) If you’re up for a walk from Jackson Heights, and you can still move after everything you’ve eaten there, you could head to Thai Town, in neighboring Elmhurst.

See this article for specific restaurant suggestions. I also have my own set of favorites, but I don’t want to overwhelm you with suggestions.

Jackson Heights also has truly lovely historic district. It’s beautiful in the fall. The Greystone is one of my favorite buildings in the city, mainly for its interior garden.

  1. The Bronx’s Little Italy, aka “Belmont” or “Arthur Avenue.” (Italian, Albanian, and some surprisingly good Northern Mexican. An hour and 20 minutes each way). From Penn Station, take the D train to Fordham Plaza, in the Bronx. From there, walk about four blocks to the Bronx’s Little Italy.

For whatever reason, a lot of the websites and food tours focus solely on the Italian food, leaving out the Albanian stuff. Here’s a website that focuses on Italian food and culture. Here are reviews of Tradita, and Gurra Cafe, two Albanian places worth visiting.

BTW–the Bronx’s Little Italy is also a very pretty neighborhood to walk around in. And it’s right near the New York Botanical Garden. I’ve had great days going to the NYBG and then to Arthur Ave. for dinner.

3

For a nice meal, not cheap, but worth it. Unusual and delicious.

Ilili, in the Flatiron district.

4

Ran out of time to edit my post.

I picked only those areas that are on train lines that run directly to Penn Station. That means I’ve left out some great food destinations. (Parts of Astoria and all of Flushing come to mind, here.) If you’re interested in knowing more, just ask. Not that you don’t already have more than enough options to choose from.

And one place on the UWS I forgot to mention: Xi’an Famous Foods, at Broadway and 102nd St. (off of the 1 train at 103rd St.) Cuisine from the Xi’an region of China, an area whose cooking is usually completely unrepresented in American Chinese restaurants.

5

If you don’t know already, there are a bunch of places at Chelsea Market and you can walk it off on the High Line. The Whitney is down there now, also.

6

Thanks for the great suggestions (especially Scribble!). Lots to consider.

7

Joe’s Pizza. Sixth Avenue and Carmine Street. You know, The Village. I was just there after a long time without a New York Slice. Oh yeah, it was just right.

8

A lot of great food suggestions, but what about activities for Saturday before our train leaves (5 pm)? Any ideas?

9

The Union Square farmers market will be happening Friday and Saturday, & can be alot of fun in good weather. Plenty of food & drink to sample, and often some colorful street performers. Enjoy your visit!

10

It isn’t cheap, but the best deli food (and probably the sole remaining one that serves real pastrami) in NYC is Katz’s.

11

Other ideas:

Get a cocktail at one of the rooftop bars in mid-town. There used to be one on top of the Dream Hotel that was great. Sipping a perfectly made martini while looking out over Manhattan is a joy.

Catch an indie movie. Lots of stuff plays in NYC that you’re unlikely to be able to see elsewhere easily. There are a few theaters one subway line away from there.

Lose a game of chess to the hustlers in Washington Square Park. Easy to get to on subway.

Strand bookstore. More of a hike I guess, but always a delight.

Take the Staten Island Ferry. It’s a quick roundtrip, it is free, the boat trip itself is fun, and you get to see the Statue of Liberty.

Tenement museum in LES is great. As is MoMA if you haven’t been.

12

I would claim that Fine & Shapiro and the 2nd Ave. Deli are also good. I’ve heard good things about Ben’s, though I’ve never been. And if you’re willing to go up to Riverdale section of the Bronx (on the 1 train, from Penn Station), go to Liebman’s.

David’s Brisket House might be a contender too, though those guys don’t keep kosher. (DBH is out in Bedford-Stuyvesant–Bed-Stuy for short–neighborhood of Brooklyn)

Something you’re not likely to find at home is Montreal-style kosher deli (it’s like NY-style, but with amped-up smoke and spices, kind of.) Anyway, you can get it at Mile End Deli. There are two branches–one in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan.

For other, non-pastrami Eastern European Jewish food, try Sammy’s Roumanian. Plus, there’s entertainment!

13

You mentioned Comedy clubs. Stay away from the clubs the busk for in Times Square. The premier club is probably The Comedy Cellar. They expanded so they actually have a few separate rooms. You have an excellent chance of seeing a famous comic working on material or just walking around. The Stand is also a really good comedy club. Carolines usually has really good headliners but you have less chance of seeing anyone drop in for a quick 5 minute set.

14

Thanks for the suggestions! Do we need tickets to the Comedy Cellar for Friday night, or can we just show up?

15

If you like art museums and haven’t already been, the Frick Collection has some well-known European paintings (19th century and earlier), is in a fairly convenient location, and is small enough not to be overwhelming. You can visit for a couple of hours and not feel like you’ve missed most of the museum.

According to their website they have a “First Friday” event 6-9pm with free admission on the first Friday of the month, and they’re otherwise open 10am-6pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

16

It’s probably best to get reservations but not always needed. It’s been a while for me. On one hand it used to be almost a secret with Carolines and Dangerfields being the big name clubs. Seinfeld and Louis C.K. changed that. On the other hand they now have three different clubs in the same area with different shows going on. The original Comedy Cellar, The Village Underground, and The Fat Black Pussycat.

17

He can easily walk to the Times Square Station and take the 7 to Flushing. Hardly far and well worth the walk.

Agree about the Staten Island Ferry.
There are so many more museums in New York than about any city in the US besides DC that they should be able to find a good exhibit. I’m always up for the Museum of Natural History where I spent half my childhood, but the Met is great also, and I’ve been to some good exhibits at smaller ones.

18

Walk the High Line. It’s free and it’s interesting.

19

That’s a great museum.

It’s a bit of a trek to the northern part of Manhattan, but The Cloisters was one of my favorite museums.

Fascinating collection of medieval art and architecture.

20

Just got back from a similar-length trip.

Day 1:

  • Lunch at Lombardi’s Pizza in Little Italy (coal-fired, very good, supposedly oldest one in the US)
  • Dessert at Ferrara’s about 2 blocks away (we actually skipped that this time but other visits we’ve done it)
  • Tenement Museum (you MUST buy tickets in advance)
  • A brief stop at Minus Celsius Ice Cream where they do rolled ice cream - stumbled across this as we were talking from the Tenement Museum to a bus stop
  • Round trip on the Staten Island Ferry so we could get a view of the Statue of Liberty. Go to an upper deck and stay on the right side going out, left side going back.
  • A visit to a haunted house south of the Village
  • Dinner at a meatlball shop in the west village (lots of other places near there that we love to visit including PopBar - nothing but gourmet gelato and sorbetto on a stick) and of course the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop)
  • The Empire State Building
  • Times Square

Day 2:

  • A-train to the Cloisters. There’s a bus that picks up near the subway exit but we couldn’t find the stop so we walked; it was monsooning out so we didn’t appreicate the gardens but they would be lovely on a good day.
  • The Cloisters
  • A very long bus ride back M4 goes all the way from the Cloisters down Broadway, then across the northern end of Central Park, then the eastern side, and ultimately back over to 7th and 34th. You see a lot of different Manhattan neighborhoods that way.

Other things to do if the weather is nice:

  • High Line Park (an abandoned elevated railway that has been turned into a park)
  • Central Park
  • The park area just south of the Cloisters

If you like sweets, Dylan’s Candy Bar is fun; their upper-East-side location is 3 stories of any kind of candy you might like.

The TKTS booth in Times Square is a good way to get semi-affordable show tickets. They won’t have tickets to the big shows like Wicked, Lion King, Book of Mormon, Hamilton, but to most others (including ones other than Broadway). If you’re interested in seeing Hamilton, there’s a lottery before the show that will give a handful of people a chance to buy a ticket - not sure if it’s at list price, or a discount, but it’s surely cheaper than the scalper’s prices that are currently the only option.

Dining: Hell’s Kitchen is a great place to find all sorts of great restaurants. Ditto Greenwich Village. Get the Yelp app for you phone if you don’t already have it.