It is more than a few blocks (closer to two miles away), but Cafeteria in Chelsea is good. A portion of the walk to the restaurant can be done on the High Line, which is worth checking out.
Fette Sau. Excellent no-nonsense BBQ with emphasis on the quality of the meat and dry rub (sauces are downplayed).
Russ And Daughters. Legendary smoked fish and NYC Jewish deli fare.
Near The Intrepid, I can’t recommend anything specifically but walk down 46th Street to between 8th & 9th Aves. and that’s “Restaurant Row”.
http://restaurantrow.name/media/restaurantrow.html
Also check out Eating With Ziggy for info on different neighborhood eateries.
I’m kind of curious where the OP ate while in NYC.
Where’s a good Russian restaurant? Are they all in Brighton Beach?
I just want to say ‘Thank You!’ and boy you weren’t kidding! I had a tough time deciding which one to go to. I chose a Thai place called Bangkok. It was very good!
Unfortunately, due to some rainy days and hotel changes, we didn’t get to spend much time outside of midtown Manhattan, but still got some good food.
Here’s what I remember:
Cuban sandwich from some deli in Greenwich village - Decent
Hot dog from a cart - Meh
Gyro sandwich from Halal Guys - Holy crap I’m jealous. Yeah, they just opened one up downtown, but it’s not the same as being able to walk over to a cart on the corner. If I had one near me, I’d go there at least once a week
Burger from Shake Shack - Very tasty. I’ll definitely be making a trip to the one in Chicago, once the hype dies down.
Italian at Trattoria Trecolori - Nothing I couldn’t get here, but still good.
Ramen at Gotham West Market - Really good. I hope the “upscale food court” trend takes off in Chicago. Definitely solves the “what do you want to eat” problem
Brisket sandwich at Junior’s Restaurant - Good, although the portions were so big there was no room left for cheesecake
Cinnamon Raisin bagel from Best Bagel and Coffee - Yeah, the bagels are better, but holy crap that’s a lot of cream cheese
Funnel cake and Nathan’s chili cheese dog at Coney Island - Delicious carnival food
Prosciutto and potato crepe from Vive La Crepe - Great, from another one of those food court places
Chicken kebab from a cart - Surprisingly good, and again I’m disappointed in the food cart situation in Chicago
White Pizza from Lunetta’s - Here’s the thing. I love Chicago pizza, both thick and thin crust, but there’s a severe lack of white pie in this city so I loved this.
Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity’s - Tasty. My fiance’s birthday request
Pastrami Sandwich from Katz’s - Dear G*d in Heaven! Holy crap did that live up to the hype and then some. Easily the best thing I ate all week. So good that I forgot what I had for dinner that night.
I know this is a NYC thread, but I can give you several white pizza recs for Chicago. I’ll limit it to one, though. If you ever find yourself up on the northwest side of the city, Pizzeria Forno Rosso is your place for red and white pizzas. Currently my favorite brick oven style pizza in the city.
Bangkok House. That place is pretty good. We used to go there for lunch like one a week when I worked in Midtown.
Some other good spots (for the OPs next trip):
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que ( way up in Harlem)
Blue Smoke (also barbeque)
Pig & Whistle (American)
Corner Bistro (burgers)
Blue Ribbon (fried chicken)
P.J. Clarke’s (burgers)
Keens Steakhouse
Velseka (Ukrainian but I used to go for the breakfast. Also appeared in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)
Coffee Shop in Union Square (late night breakfast)
Republic (Asian fusion)
Blue Water Grill (seafood. Made popular by Sex and the City)
Nobu (sushi. I like the Nobu next door to Nobu Next Door (which provides the same menu but a more casual dining experience) ).
Sophie’s (Cuban chain. Not sure if they exist outside of NY)
I know this is effectively a zombie, but since the Carnegie Deli has been mentioned and I don’t see where anyone else has said this, the Carnegie has been closed perforce for months but I see now that it is supposed to open again next month. The city shut them down when they were found to have played with the gas line to cheat their bill, and it was treated as something worse than mere theft of service, because just such chicanery led to a fatal (to two) explosion in an East Village building just a few weeks previous.