This is a little early, but it occurred to me today, so I thought I’d post and start getting some answers.
Many of you know my daughter is going to be attending NYU in the fall.
Being the Dad, I get to move her in at the end of August. It occurred to me that once we’ve got all her stuff hauled up to wherever she’s gonna be, I might as well take the opportunity to treat her to a really nice (albeit modestly priced) dinner in the area.
Soooooooo…
How’s about some suggestions from Dopers what knows the territory? Sakura has simple tastes, and doesn’t really care for spicy or exotic food (I’m hoping that the new venue and new friends will change that somewhat over the next couple of years :D). But I’d like for us to have a little dinner together in a nice spot there in the area.
If you can provide links to the restaurant’s homepage/menu, that would be greatly appreciated.
Well, NYU covers a lot of ground, so it depends on the area. Near the dorm at 11th and 3rd (or thereabouts) is a restaurant called Penang ( http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7087309/ ) that’s Malaysian food. I personally dont like terribly exotic food, but I remember they had a great chicken and scallion dish.
I’m not sure if you’ll be near it, but there’s this place I love called Peanut Butter & Co ( http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com/ ) that makes fun and funky peanut butter sandwiches. I mean yeah, it’s a bit much to pay for a funky pbj, but it’s the novelty that’s great.
Everything sara said is true, and I’d also like to add the benefit of Time Out magazine, which you should tell your daughter to subscribe to as soon as she moves here. It comes out every week and is chock full of restaurants, theatre, clubs, movies, music, etc…
Anyway, the closest thing to you that this week’s issue recommends is the winner of the 2003 Eat Out Award for Best New Spuds in Town: Pfiff. Yeah, you read right… Pfiff. Average main course is $19 (which is not bad at all), and they mention the salmon tartare, sea bass with a rice crust, and pork tenderloin with truffled potato salad. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat the entire contents of my kitchen…
Heh, Volare is practically the official Italian restaurant of NYU, frequented by faculty, deans, and the university president. Excellent service, make a point to tell the waiter that Sakura is starting at NYU. They will fawn. This is my first choice for a really memorable evening (and quite possibly a spike in your cholesterol level from the rich sauces).
Ye Waverly Inn is one of the oldest restaurants in Greenwich Village, it’s got a great 19th century look going on. The menu has recently been updated, which I am rather lukewarm about because it used to feature fantastic homestyle food like chicken pot pie, and now it’s a little (faux) ritzier. It still has basic stuff like steak and pork chops. It is a Village landmark and it’s definitely special, although more for the unique atmosphere than the food.
The Knickerbocker is another NYU classic. This is where my dad took me when he dropped me off at college. Good burgers and good crab cakes, although the menu isn’t really very exciting otherwise. It does tend to be very loud, however.
Right on Washington Square, the Washington Square Hotel has a restaurant which is now called The North Square Restaurant which used to be called CIII. This menu is pretty nice, a lot more interesting than most places in the immediate NYU area but I still think Sakura could find stuff she liked to eat.
Hmmmm, not for dinner but keep this in mind for when you come back for weekend visits for brunch, but the The Pink Teacup is also tons of fun.
Woohoo! I can’t thinkof any nice places near NYU, or at least I can’t remeber their names off the top of my head, but for the not-so-flush times after you drop off your daughter and she’s on her own, tell her to check out:
Mahmoun’s Falafel on MacDougal, a couple of blocks south of Washtington Square: they used to be open til 5 am, and a falafel was $1.50! Everyone knows the place.
DiRosatis Bakery: homebaked yummy Italian pastries, open since the '40s. On 1st Avenue at about 12th street (I can’t remeber exactly). Everyone will tell you to go to Venero’s, which is just around the corner and much fancier, but this place is at least as yummy and much cheaper. You can also get table service and various cafe beverages.
Kiev: on 2nd Avenue, around 6th Street: used to be a 24-hour Ukrainian diner; has changed ownership and still serves a mean blintz, but I don’t think it’s 24 hours anymore.
2nd Avenue Deli: classic kosher meat deli, there since the dawn of time. Also on 2nd Avenue, but a couple of blocks uptown, maybe 9th street?
Darn, now I want blintzes and I can’t do anything about it…
I know you said girlie doesn’t like exotic food, but if she ever wants to have Japanese/Korean, there’s a nice little place called Choga on Bleeker and LaGuardia that gives discounts to NYU students.
You can go to amazon.com and look at restaurant menus for New York City. There are 1000s and can be browsed by area.
I don’t know how to do the coding so that it doesn’t give out my real name: Hello Cookeze’s Real Name!
So:
Go to amazon.com
Go to gray drop down menu on left and select “restaurants” then “go”.
On new page, click on “restaurants” again.
Next page click on “New York”
Now you can click on any neighborhood on the left.
You must eat a vodka slice (of pizza) at Pomodoro’s once a week. Perfect dough, creamy, spicy vodka sauce. Fresh tomato chunks. Fresh slabs of haphazardly-placed mozarella.
Dojo
4th Street and Mercer (right on campus)
8th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenue (St. Mark’s Place, convenient to many dorms)
The confluence of varied, creative, and delicious food, very fast service, unbelievably cheap prices, convenient location, excellent music, and attractive waitstaff creates what is unarguably the #1 NYU student eatery. I ate kunch there approximately 8 billion times in my four years at NYU and never got bored. I liked it so much, I’m going back to NYU for grad school in the fall. An absolute must!
You must eat a vodka slice (of pizza) at Pomodoro’s once a week. Perfect dough, creamy, spicy vodka sauce. Fresh tomato chunks. Fresh slabs of haphazardly-placed mozarella.
Dojo
4th Street and Mercer (right on campus)
8th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenue (St. Mark’s Place, convenient to many dorms)
The confluence of varied, creative, and delicious food, very fast service, unbelievably cheap prices, convenient location, excellent music, and attractive waitstaff creates what is unarguably the #1 NYU student eatery. I ate kunch there approximately 8 billion times in my four years at NYU and never got bored. I liked it so much, I’m going back to NYU for grad school in the fall. An absolute must!