Nathan

26 Seats, like its cookie-cutter compatriots -- Flea Market, Casimir, AOC (not AOC Bedford!), does well because it's very cheap and inoffensive. And if the OP and her boss were on a $30 per diem they might be practical...but they have enough room that they can eat somewhere significantly better.

yeah, I read that. Babbo's going to be packed, packed with V-day diners. steak's my idea of a birthday dinner.

it certainly seems around here like a one-star review can be seen as a diss (obviously it is in some cases). see the discussion on Porterhouse NY, or others.

the thought occurred that it was a Man for All Seasons reference..but I don't quite get what that has to do with the cat.

btw, I came up with something I'm happy with: to wit: The Tia Cocktail .75 Perique (or other) tobacco liquor 1 Irish Whiskey (I used Knappogue Castle 94). Scotch would work well. .25 Benedictine .25 Green Chartreuse. 2-3 dashes Peychaud's. serve up in a Sazerac glass.

where to begin? Manhattan, the post 1880 Sazerac, the Delmarva, and countless hundreds of others. just peruse this board. it's filled with them. go to cocktail DB. Rye is more of a trend among cocktail aficionados now because so many decent ryes are now on the market.

Rye based cocktails are the trend. oh, you mean what is the herd drinking? Rum juleps and the usual over-sweetened hangover-inducing vodka drinks.

this whole "organic' marketing gimmick thing is getting really annoying. there is no end to what people will pay for a status symbol.

Does anyone know if they serve the menu at the bar here? Or for that matter if Wolfgang's does? I have a perennial dining problem in that my birthday falls on a certain Hallmark holiday next week which makes normal dinner reservations and/or tables a difficulty.

to emphasize my previous contention re: "mainstream" spending habits... who do you think is spending the average 3K a month rent for a one-bedroom and 2K for a studio? (actually, I think the studio average is higher than that now). its not tourists keeping Prune in business.

"The 2007 Zagat's notes that the average meal for one person is $37.61. The top twenty restaurants average meal cost is $112.49." its a lot higher than that. but I concluded a long time ago that the check averages in Zagat's were under-stated by almost half. heck, I somehow spent $140 for 2 last night at Little Owl for goodness sakes.

How often do these "not especially well-off by city standards" people go to such restaurants? If they go more than occasionally, they are well-off or perhaps in danger of going bankrupt. The average New Yorker isn't a wealthy stockbroker, lawyer, or businessman with an expense account. The average New Yorker either makes prepared foods or cooks dishes made with ingredients bought in the supermarket, or goes to cheap chains, diners, or so-called "ethnic" restaurants most of the time. Your "mainstream" is skewed toward the upper-income half of the population, at least. I sure don't know many people who regularly go to places where entrees are $25-30. In fact, I'm not sure if I know ANY such people offline! ← Of course it's skewed toward the upper half! Income stratification is a fact of life. People with college and graduate degrees hang out with people with college and graduate degrees. Something like 25% of Manhattan residents make 100K plus. probably another 25% make 70K plus. And generally speaking, people in the upper 50% of Manhattan socialize with same. I have friends in the arts who make less than me....but most people I know make more...and I don't socialize with too many I-bankers. There are probably at least 500 restaurants in the city where the entrees are in the $25-30 range or more. Its not foodies and the very wealthy that's keeping these places in business. It's the middle class in general.

numerous people have asserted that Michelin graded NY restaurants on a .5+ curve compared to equivalent restaurants in Europe. (i.e. JG would be a high-performing 2-star in Paris, etc.) I make no claim as to the truth of this assertion, but it has been propounded often on both NY Michelin threads.

yup The B.R.Guest restaurants are the prototypical NY mainstream restaurants. (if I had a penny for every time someone mentioned the "amazing brunch at Blue Water Grill"....)

In NY? I don't think that's true at all. When I catch a weekend dinner with non-foodie (and not especially well-off by city standards) friends they seem to pick places like Lucy's (profoundly mediocre but still in the $25-30 an entree camp)

when commercial msg (however it is extracted) is dissolved in water or in the digestive system....it is the same as any other glutamate.

The key thing here is that they're on a business expense account budget. Based on the OP's comments, it doesn't look like they can afford flexibility on the top end. It's common here to use "ballpark figures" for dining...but that doesn't necessarily fly with the accountants.

I certainly didn't mean to offend you. I did make an assumption that diners from Cleveland would want to eat food that is more unique to NY and/or not available in Ohio.

good call on Devi or Casa Mono. the Tavern Room at GT or the Bread Bar at Tabla are indeed options. FDS, GT proper, Tabla proper, and EMP are all outside of their price range. ← I suppose this depends on how much alcohol is consumed. Since I don't really drink, $70 pp is a lot easier. ← skipping alcohol certainly helps...but it is a literal impossibility to eat (with just tap water) at GT, Tabla or EMP with tax and tip for $70 pp.

I don't know what you mean about "from the lab" glutamates are naturally occurring and a significant factor (even the primary) in many "natural" foodstuffs. i.e. tomatoes, mushrooms, cheeses, etc.

good call on Devi or Casa Mono. the Tavern Room at GT or the Bread Bar at Tabla are indeed options. FDS, GT proper, Tabla proper, and EMP are all outside of their price range.

There is much better Mexican than Maya in the midwest. Fiamma is out of their price range. if they're willing to go downtown and want Italian I'd recommend Otto, Inoteca, Lupa etc. there's a lot better pizza than Lombardi's (although it can be decent enough. if they want to blow their budget on steaks they're much better off doing Wolfgang's or Keen's (for a NY experience and a better steak) than on an overpriced national chain like S&W (they can eat at the one in Columbus after all)

lunches: Grand Sichuan International (cheap). Perry Street or Jean Georges. (both have fabulous lunch deals which will get you in at $50 or under) dinner: hmm. Bar Room at the Modern. Compass. maybe Esca with care. a lot more options if you're willing to travel downtown. Les Sans Culotte is cheap but very mediocre. not familiar with Sotto Cinque but if for some reason you were stuck on the UES I would recommend the Bar at Etats Unis, Cafe Alsace or Vespa.

does the $70 pp include alcohol, tax and tip? what's the lunch max?

As an illustration of how we sometimes overinflate what the stars mean: according to Andrea Strong (who is cozy with the chef), the folks at WI were quite happy with their review.