Steve R.

Maybe I'm missing something here (no doubt I am) but I think that, unless you're going for "regular-hood" at a top 50 NYC restaurant (where there's intense competition for status), many of these "tips" are not on my planet. I do agree with generous tipping, sharing the wine a little & making some of the comments described... but I've never brought a bottle of liquor in as a present and never tipped the manager or maitre d' on the way out. And I'm not buying rounds of drinks for the kitchen while they're on duty either, although I've been known to drink with some of them at other times. Overall, the entire tone of the article is that demand exceeds (by far) supply and that the owner is the one with all the cards. My take is that owners want regulars and will go out of their way to create a base of solid customers for their restaurant. To do all of the things described in the article comes off as "needy" and even a little oily to me, as opposed to giving the feeling that you genuinely like a place and appreciate it. But, as I said, maybe I'm missing something.

I could easily be wrong, but I remember Supper as having a nice wine collection off the back room. The food isnt going to make the top 10 list, but I also remember liking it each time (2 or 3) that I've gone.

This is the sentence that I would like to construct my weekend around. Thanks! ← Found it: http://www.sherwoodhousevineyards.com/FrameSet.htm Nothing spectacular but very different than the big vineyards with huge tour buses coming thru.

Oakapple is correct that Claudio's is not exactly a go to place. But... Claudio's owns most of the pier in Greenport and has, at last count, 3 places. The old building has the Cape Cod lobster dinners (think Lobster Pound) which are only a notch above City Island... mediocre at best but they do serve to quell a craving. We went last year and it was fine for what it was. If you get a better idea, go with it but in a pinch... At any rate, Claudio also has the place out on the edge of the pier where there's live music, an incredible outdoor seating area, great vistas of water and ok food. Again, you could do worse but, hopefully, you'll do better. I get very easy on these trips and a beer, a view and some mediocre steamers &/or lobster works just fine. If you're stopping at wineries, Shinn is a relatively small one, owned by the former owners of Home restaurant in the Village and has above average wines and a small tasting room. But around the corner is an even smaller place with outdoor seating and a shack for a tasting room... believe it or not, it has very nice wines (I cant remember the name) and does some NYC distribution. To get there, you drive down a very long dirt road with vines on both sides to a shack at the end. Worth it.

Down the road, in Southold, is the North Fork Table & Inn (blog report here). It's run by Manhattan exiles, including former Gramercy Tavern pastry chef Claudia Fleming. It is certainly worth a visit. ← A big second on North Fork Table and Inn. Went last summer and had a great meal. Mike Mraz, from Hearth, is the other owner and the food/wine is excellent. Very nice room... a little too N.England-y for me, but well done. http://www.northforktableandinn.com/

That's why I recommended Centrico. Aaron's style is classy enough to merit a visit and the cocktails (the jala-pina especially) are fine. Otherwise, East Harlem, Roosevelt Ave or, I hear, Sunset Park for low end (or the Red Hook ballfields on the weekend).

I could easily be wrong, as well. But I do know those were the prices as of 6/14. ← Serious Eats reports it at $25 as well http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2009...to-mondays.html

I think raji is on the money with his approach to answering the OP's question. If someone is coming from the UK only to NYC, the question is more what can be had here that's better than the UK. So bbq and Mexican food become viable answers, even though we know that NYC isnt the best place within the US to get either. That being said, I'd definitely not recommend an Indian restaurant, since we compare so poorly. So... Rub, Hill Country or, if Bklyn is a possibility, Fette Sau for bbq (although I had a very good meal at Blue Smoke this week... unexpected). A place like Centrico may not be a bad recommendation either. I also think that a nice small place like Redhead is good for a mid-week meal of Southern-ish US creative cooking and decent cocktails. Then I'd recommend E. Harlem for some inexpensive Mexican and Latin cooking (unless trekking to Roosevelt Ave in Queens is doable). I wont start a new pizza war here but ya gotta go to some really good pizza place dont you? If not Franny's then someplace else... but one cannot come to NYC and not eat good pizza. Same with pastrami at Katz' Deli. And I agree with Sneakeater on Ssam Bar and Babbo. Maybe WD-50 as well (although I havent been). I'd also recommend getting a group together to hit some Chinese place... I'm not sure what's least available in the UK but we have some very good Szech. (Wu Liang Ye, Spicy and Tasty), Cantonese (Cantoon, Noodletown) and other regional places readily available. Anyone want to advise her to wait on line at Shake Shack or to go to Gray's Papaya?

Actually, I believe it's Lucali that's charging those prices. Motorino's are more in line with the $10 - $15 per pie; as a matter of fact, their menu only shows one pie at $16. On what basis is Lucali charging anywhere near $34 for a pizza? As far as I can tell their base pizza is either 18 or 19 bucks for a large (18-inch) pizza. V&T, a decidedly mediocre pizzeria in my neighborhood, charges 15 bucks for a large pizza. Well, call me crazy, but I think 3 or 4 dollars is well worth the upgrade in quality for a large pizza. V&T also charges 3 bucks for each topping added to a large pizza. Do we have any evidence that Lucali is charging significantly more for similar-quality additional toppings? Of course, if they're making an 18-inch pizza with white truffles shaved over it or something, it's going to be a lot more expensive. IMO, the ridiculously high priced pizzeria is Una Pizza Napoletana, charging $21 for a Neapolitan-sized pizza margherita. Not to mention that, at 5 bucks a slice, DiFara is getting $30 for a pizza. And that's assuming he cuts it into only 6 slices and not 8. If he cuts it into 8 slices, he's getting 40 bucks for a pizza! Surely no one is suggesting that a DiFara pizza at $0 bucks is "worth the money" but a hypothetical $34 pizza at Lucali is a "rip off"? These two positions seem incompatible, unless you believe that Lucalu's product is far inferior to DiFara's (not to mention believing that gold drips from Dom DeMarco's hands). ← 1- DiFara is $5/slice but $25 for a 8 slice pie (unless tupac is sure its still $20... I think its now $25, but could be wrong). The pie is pretty much the same size as most other local pizza places, maybe a little smaller. Certainly smaller than places like Artichoke (which I cant stand). 2- I took folks' word for the Lucali price being in the $30s since I havent been there for a year or so but, regardless, the pies I've eaten there are not equivalent to DiFara or Franny's (it's stylistically in between but shares the use of very quality ingredients with these 2 others).

Actually, I believe it's Lucali that's charging those prices. Motorino's are more in line with the $10 - $15 per pie; as a matter of fact, their menu only shows one pie at $16. ← Yep. And, as much as I weighed in on still going to DiFara's and paying the $5 and dealing with the potential wait, my response to Lucali (which is about a 10 min. walk from home for me) has been to not go for a year or so now. It's very nice pizza but way out of line, even given the ingredients and attention paid to production. By the way, everyone does know that the owner of Lucali's never made a pizza before deciding to open a place and basically hung out at DiFara's, watching Dom, for months before going forward, right? He learned quite a lot about ingredients & technique, but also (apparently) about pricing and marketing as well. Mark is a good guy but...

A bit much, don't you think? What's that make a pie, $40? Ahhhh, and just to be treated like crap? ← Pies are $25. Yep, buy 5 slices get 3 free. Dom's not so keen on selling slices anymore. Negative incentive plan. By the way, meals cost more at EMP than at Redhead. I love 'em both but I know why there's a price difference. In DiFara's case, it sure ain't the ambience or service, so it must be the ingredients and resulting product.

An entire lunch at Sripraphai yesterday, getting you beers and trying to beat you down on this, and this is the best I get? I'm still with Oakapple on this.... the folks I've taken to Da Nico and a couple of other places in Little Italy have actually come away happy and well fed. I'll repeat... its not Babbo and you wont find a top 20 Italian restaurant in Little Italy. But, there are places better than "not horrible" and, as I said at lunch, the next time someone is coming into town and wants to go to Chinatown for dim sum, I'll recommend going to Hong Kong... it's a better area for it. Oh, and Florence for some good Italian food as well.

Basically, you're looking too "high end" to find them. Here's a place I've been quite a few times that I wouldnt think any foodie would be recommending...it's mediocre (at best) in general, but that definitely has buckets of steamers that are what you're looking for: http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/one-fish-two-fish/ It's in an area right around Mount Sinai Hospital so there's a lot of folks there for lunch and dinner and it's train convenient. Too bad the Hoboken Clam Broth House is long gone or I'd have sent you there (by PATH train).

Not that I'm running off to Little Italy to eat any time soon, but I generally agree with Oakapple that a perfectly good meal can be had that friends from out of town (or even some NYC'ers who dont frequent anything other than old line out of borough red sauce places) will enjoy. I've taken many to Da Nico over the years: http://www.danicoristorante.com/home.php and, if you avoid being upsold and sit in the back outdoor area or near the pizza oven, it's a nice place with good food and old style ambience. And, as jaded a New Yawker as I am, there was one night there 4-5 years ago, when we sat out back and they brought freshly made bread over and there was an older generation woman in an adjacent apartment building visable as she put wet clothes and sheets out to dry on the clothes line that went across to someone else's apt, that was magic. And the lasagna, etc didnt hurt going down either. Just sayin'....

I've had a few, Steve. One in particular tasted like a pine forest. A burning pine forest headed down my throat - we mostly avoid them now, except when they force 'em on us! ← That's exactly the one I was thinking (shuddering) about. Now, why dont I find that surprising???? Sneak... werent you there with us the night several of us got half a dozen or so tastes of the owner's favorites, including the Pine-Sol, after dinner? Maybe not, since I dont remember anyone actually liking that one. "Zirbenz"?

Sampled the array of after dinner drinks yet? The owner is an expert (at least I think he is). Although one that he was particularly proud of wont go down my gullet ever again, most range from interesting to excellent. Gentle prices on these as well.

Otto is still a good choice. Doesnt have to be carb heavy, as the veggie terrines, cheeses and meats are all reasonable and the olive oil copetta unreal as dessert. On Bleecker, didnt Hemant's wife (dessert chef at Devi) just co-open a Mombai street food lunch place off 6th Ave?

They had Sicilian? ← I never had any square either.

Really? I've never had pizza anywhere quite like Ray's on 6th & 11th. One may or may ot like it, but it is or at least was unique. It was NY style steel deck pizza by the slice on cheesified steroids. For this pie, the cheese came first with every thing else support. Fundamentally I don't think it breaks any stylistic boundaries, no. You go to pretty much any place and tell them to put quadruple extra cheese on the pizza, and you'll get something similar. One can quibble about the spicing of the sauce or whatever, but its nothing genre-defining. All we're talking about is stainless steel deck oven pizza with a sh!tload of extra cheese. No big deal. ← I'm not saying that it was not something that couldn't be duplicated, but it wasn't - at least noty in my experience. It doesn't work to go in and ask for extra cheese on a slice. either it was on from the beginning and served fresh or it didn't work. It may not have been a big deal in terms of its level of simplicity, but I've never seen anyone else pull it off the way they did. Their hay day was before your time in NYC and before Steven's coming of age. By the mid 80's when I was in Med School it wasn't the same anymore. ← I'll go with docsconz on this one.... Ray's on 6th Ave/W.11th was special in the late '60s. As a 56 year old Bklyn raised pizza eater, I can say a couple of things (at length of course): Rays was very good pizza and not just because of the 10 lbs of cheese on each slice, DiFara's (where I grew up & ate since age 14) was mediocre, as Dom (& his brother, who made the pizzas too in the 60s) didnt do anything special till the late '80s, and Queen (on Court St) made one of the best slices anywhere (this, by the way, was where Dom worked before opening DiFara's with his brother and another partner... both others left within years). Queen's pizza, made in the type of steel oven that I do think defines NYC pizza more than anything else, was in a freestanding place 2 doors from the restaurant (old location, a block from the current one) & they had it down just right. And, by the way, it was voted #2 in NYC by whatever mag (NY Mag??) existed that did these polls before Zagat or Time Out. The #1?.... Goldberg's on the upper East Side!! I'm still laughing about that. But, cut to the present. If you can withstand the lines, the periodic inconsistancy and the indifference, Dom's pizza is the best to ever come out of these type ovens and the by the slice approach is Brooklyn's best, both for "round" and "square". Grimaldi changed hands since its legit. heyday and the folks that own it for the past 10 (15?) or so years (the same family that owns/runs Bamonti's restaurant?? (another shell of it's former self)) have made it a tourist attraction without merit. Yes, if you go when the moon is full and the breeze is blowing just right, you can get a decent pie. But these conditions exist 10% of the time, as opposed to the 80-90% certainty at DiFara's, & coal and wood fired ovens are now plentiful in NYC and the competion at many places, like Lucali (whose owner watched Dom for months to learn how to get going), Fornino's (the original owner of Cucina, a Park Slope legend), and Frannie's beat it by far. Just my (not so) humble opinions, of course

We were in Miami a month or two ago and really liked Michy's. Half orders of a lot of interesting food, although I thought it wasnt really so non-NY'ish. Our favorite, hands down, was Talula and we ate there twice. Very impressive.

Cute. Last night at Henry's End, both Ginny and I had the turtle soup, then I had the loin of antelope and she the honey/ginger duck. A bottle of Thomas Coyne Mourvedre rounded this out nicely, as did espresso. It's a tough life, doing research for you. eta: forgot to mention that this cost us $120 plus tip. Nothing was comp'ed.

Not that you asked, but if you need any local advice, I'm in Brooklyn Heights (for the last 27 years or so) & we eat out 8 nights/week, much of it in the surrounding area. Send me a pm or e-mail. If you're in the area late morning or lunch (not sure why you would be but if...), then walk to Atlantic Ave and stop into Sahadi's (betw. Henry/Clinton). Lebanese store with everything from prepared foods to nuts/fruits/cheeses/breads... dont miss this, you dont have one on the West Coast. Inexpensive decent Polish breakfast (perogis, blintzes, egg dishes...) at Teresa's on Montegue St. off Hicks. If your friends try to convince you to have dinner anywhere on Montegue St., dont. Instead recommend local dining at Henry's End (game menu... think turtle soup, elk chops, buffalo rib eye) or Noodle Pudding (Italian)...both on Henry, off Cranberry... or to go to Smith St. Or call me and I'll tell them. From Bklyn Heights you can walk over the Brooklyn Bridge right into Manhattan's Chinatown. Great walk, lots of food at the end of it. Nice in the morning. And in the afternoon. Not bad in the evening either. Dont do it at night. eta: did I mention that I grew up at DiFara's and started going over 40 years ago? (food board folks from around here are sick of hearing this so I'll spare them any more )

Has anyone had the fried chicken here? ← Yes, several times. Nicely done, worth eating. Similar style, but not as good as Redhead's.

I"m going to add a loud second for Talula. We were in South Beach a couple of weeks ago and wound up eating there twice, as it was that good. It's a very quick cab ride from the center of South Beach or a nice 20 minute walk. Either way, well worth it.

Good... I'd like to hear your take on it. Just remember when you read my opinions that I'm not generally an upper high end guy. For NYC, I'd say that Talula was a Hearth level place....approx. $100/person all in, with a $55 bottle of California Pinot Noir (hey, I like the fruity stuff... Decadence '05).