Nathan

Yasuda consider Babbo anyway Ssam Bar if not Babbo than do a tasting menu at Insieme do something Frenchish (we do this much better than anywhere else in the U.S.)...maybe the bar at Picholine? WD-50 or Tailor Bar Room at the Modern

although I think you strongly overrate the UWS, the answer is probably that restauranteurs, for whatever reason, don't think the interest is there to make interesting restaurants or bars feasible on the UES. with that said, the cheaper rents uptown are certainly going to force some to try. edit: what it comes down to is that uptowners are more than willing to come downtown to eat and drink but downtowners won't come uptown.

I thought Per Se charged exactly the same at both lunch and dinner?

ah...didn't realize it was a weekend thing. check that then.

I don't see it being hard to get into for very long. The number of people willing to pay that price at lunch....and with the time to eat that lunch in the East Village is going to be rather small. if anything, it's probably aimed at foodie tourists and people in the entertainment industry.

believe me, everyone has access to better than mall foodcourt chinese.

I tried this last night. it really works...just make sure it's only a couple drops...otherwise the balance gets all off.

there are some excellent and hard-to-find noodle dishes. the tom kha gai was rather wan. it's not Sripaphai but it's by far the best in Manhattan.

oh my goodness....

I liked the green goddess salad, it's not on the current menu. the buttermilk fried chicken is good but not different from what I've had many times before (that's not a bad thing).

I'd be shocked if you could do Picholine for anywhere near $100 after tax, tip and wine. and though I thought the Kitchen Counter was a great deal, it's simply not at the level of the others (Bar Room is a good idea though). but dollar for dollar, it'd be hard to beat eating at the best Italian restaurant in America...by a large margin....or at one of the best seafood restaurants.

Babbo at the bar is, I think, the best meal you can have for $100 in NY (and really one of the better meals to be had in NY, period.) Esca is another option. or you could have fun at Ssam Bar and try a bunch of things.

it's probably the best southern comfort food going in NY...by a fair margin.

this has been open as a bar for sometime with Thursday night prix fixe meals. now it's serving a menu week-round. the cocktails have never been great (free-poured and not aiming toward complexity) but they show some care and they're well-priced at $9. the inexpensive bar bites are fun....bacon peanut brittle, chips with buttered onion dip and the like. definitely worth stopping into for a drink and a snack... as for the food itself: it's basically a better Mara's Home-Made. one-eyed caesar salad was good. buttermilk fried chicken a good version of the classic. I can see why people like the trout with a bacon dressing. who doesn't like bacon? and the trout is nicely cooked. the problem? you can't taste the trout. might as well use tofu then. this is when I think the current pork trend goes too far. you're not actually accomplishing anything when you make fish taste like bacon....of course people are going to like it though.

if that price includes wine, tax and tip....hmmm....well, you could pull off a meal at Ssam Bar or Noodle Bar by ordering two items.... you could eat at Lupa. you could have lunch at Jean Georges (only during the week). you could have lunch at Perry Street. those are the best meals you could have at that price point.

ha! better not run a search on that...

If I had to guess, I'd imagine they got their muddling stick expressly to make mojitos. Christopher ← yup

Nope - don't think I've ever seen one of their stores. Might look for it though just to taste their Hot & Sour soup. scb ← since you live in a city with legitimate Chinese available I can assure you there is no reason whatsoever to do so.

both PDT and D&C attract people for non-cocktail related reasons. a LOT of people have heard about PDT not as a serious cocktail bar but rather for the phone booth entrance. both PDT and D&C also attract lots of dates because they both have relatively seduction-conducive atmospheres.

Carpano brings a lot to a Negroni.

Its a good product but it's definitely being overused. I think it's partially that it's very neophyte friendly.

NY Mag now says "late September"...which means they have a shot of opening in October. like I said.....

oh, I do question whether it will be workable in that location. we'll see. I'm definitely going back.

Venetian in culinary orientation. but a full restaurant menu, not cichetti. Its uber-designed in a MOMA sort of way. they'd only been open a couple days so there were the expected forgiveable service flaws. the wine service is still a work in progress (which they rightly admitted from the beginning).....that's to be expected. what wasn't was the relatively paucity of the list. a reasonable selection of Italian bottles but almost nothing by the glass. hopefully that will be remedied. a scallop app was excellent. they were served with the muscle still attached over a bed of (good) veggies. liked this a lot. beef tartare with truffle was fine if predictable. spaghetti with vongole e pomodorini was a good rendition of the classic. ditto for the bigoli with anchovy. fried gamberini and scallops over polenta was adroitly done.

the wine list is impressive for such a small place. excellent range by the glass (including a marvelously funky Tocai). service was good. packed at 10 on Friday night. my "bloody mary" soup with vodka gelatin was quite flavorful. unfortunately, my friend's stuffed zucchini with basil sorbet was lacking in flavor. his lamb secondi was quite good...as was my pork belly. both secondi were accompanied by excellent vegetables....that really seems to be an emphasis here. its contemporary mid-range Italian urban restaurant food. traditional but with some "modern" touches. I've eaten at a number of places like this in Italy. prices are exceptional (in a good way)