Best Manhattan neighborhood for food?

[adegiulio]

Ok, say you were really into food, and you decided to move to Manhattan. What do you think is the best neighborhood to live in? Consider several factors:

1) Destination restaurants

2) Neighborhood eateries

3) Ethnic markets or take out

4) Great food stores (grocery, butchers, bakeries)

I'm sure there is no one correct answer, but I have a feeling some of you hardcore food people have your opinions...Also, if possible, add some examples of why you think it is so..

Edited December 17, 2007 by adegiulio (log)

[Nathan]

the only legit possibilities are:

the EV/LES

or

SoHo/NoLIta/Tribeca

or

WV/southern Chelsea

or

midtown (really only for the four stars, Japanese and expense account places...it's lacking in everything else)...

if you could call the vast sprawl of Queens as one neighborhood that might work as well.

[jon777]

New Jersey!

(oh wait, that's a different thread)

[adegiulio]

New Jersey! 

(oh wait, that's a different thread)

←

I used to live in NJ. It's no Manhattan...

[Nathan]

I'd probably vote for the combo of SoHo/NoLIta/Tribeca due to Chinatown. it adds to much extra oomph.

(another inclusion in the discussion would have to be USQ/Flatiron/Curry Hill/Gramercy)

Edited December 17, 2007 by Nathan (log)

[Fat Guy]

I'd position myself near the Union Square stop on the 4/5/6 trains. Like maybe I'd try to find a place on 16th or 17th between Fifth Avenue and Union Square West. That puts you within walking distance of several of the neighborhoods that I'd consider the top picks. You can walk to everywhere in the Union Square/Flatiron/Gramercy area. You can walk to the East Village, the regular Village and the Meatpacking/Chelsea area. And you live right on top of excellent transportation options for the neighborhoods you don't live in: 4/5/6, N/Q/R/W, L and PATH.

[Chris Amirault]

Calling SoHo/NoLIta/Tribeca/Chinatown a neighborhood seems like a stretch to me. How many blocks radius are we talking about?

[Fat Guy]

P.S. I think living anywhere on the 4/5/6 line (for example the Upper East Side if you live near Lex) is a pretty good place to be for access to a high percentage of the best food in Manhattan. The weakness of being on the East Side is that it's a little tough to get to the West Village/Meatpacking/Chelsea places. But pretty much everything else is within easy reach.

P.P.S. In my own apartment hunting, which has been an ongoing process for almost 20 years, I've long focused on the blocks around Fifth Avenue and 125th Street. Needless to say, food is a big concern for me, but I can't afford a nice apartment in the best food neighborhoods. However, due to the layout of the subway system, if you're standing at 125th and Fifth you're one avenue block each from the 4/5/6 and the 2/3 trains. So that gives you excellent access to just about everything.

[Mayur]

the only legit possibilities are:

[sNIP]

midtown (really only for the four stars, Japanese and expense account places...it's lacking in everything else)...

if you could call the vast sprawl of Queens as one neighborhood that might work as well.

←

Midtown?

I'd have to go with the East Village or *possibly* (simply for better access to DiPalo's and Chinatown) NoLiTa.

For instance, in the EV (my neighborhood), I'm within spitting distance of both Momofukus, Degustation, Prune, Hearth, Barbone, Pala, etc etc, a not-too-bad walk from the Union Square Greenmarket, an equally not-too-bad walk from Chinatown, have a fancy supermarket (the Bowery Wholefoods) in my back yard, and have easy access to both the Essex St Market and the Tompkins Sq Greenmarket (which is actually pretty good and growing these days). Plus there are all the best cocktail bars in the city (the only one that's actually far is Flatiron, and I don't miss that when M&H, D&Co, PDT and Pegu are all within about 5-7 minutes walk), Astor Wines and Warehouse, 9th St Espresso, and the 1st Avenue/6th St strip of Indian grocery stores. I can reach DiPalo's or Raffetto's in a not-too-long walk as well.

The two things I'm lacking are a decent butcher and a decent fishmonger, though I can buy meat from the Greenmarket and break it down myself as needed, and the fish at the Greenmarket is probably as good as one is getting these days if you're a home cook (or I can scavenge cheap stuff from Chinatown).

[Mayur]

Calling SoHo/NoLIta/Tribeca/Chinatown a neighborhood seems like a stretch to me. How many blocks radius are we talking about?

←

I think Nathan may be talking about "sitting on the fault line" between those neighborhoods. For instance, living on Lafayette and Spring is a two- to three-block walk from "central" SoHo, NoLiTa, Chinatown, and TriBeCa. You'd have access to a fairly OK butcher (Albanese), an excellent Italian grocery/formaggeria/salumeria (DiPalo's), the vast wealth of stuff that is Chinatown, and (actually, what would you want from SoHo food-wise, Nathan?).

[Nathan]

Calling SoHo/NoLIta/Tribeca/Chinatown a neighborhood seems like a stretch to me. How many blocks radius are we talking about?

←

I lived on Elizabeth and Spring for years. it's all walking distance...frankly, I basically considered the EV and LES part of the hood too.

but let's take Spring...the furtherest east you need to go to encompass the restaurant parts of SoHo is W. Broadway or maybe 6th Ave. that's not far.

the eastern part ends at Bowery (unless we want to include the LES). the southern part only needs to go a couple blocks south of Canal to encompass most of Chinatown and the actual important restaurant parts of Tribeca.

so no more than about 8 blocks either way. that's a pretty small circumference. much smaller than say the WV or any of the uptown neighborhoods.

[Nathan]

and (actually, what would you want from SoHo food-wise, Nathan?).

←

Balthazar, Fiamma, Lure, Pegu.

it's only a couple blocks south of Canal to Bouley, Bouley Upstairs, Megu etc.

[Nathan]

Midtown?

←

unfortunately, JG, Per Se, Masa, Yasuda, LB, Esca etc. are all above 14th street...

[Fat Guy]

Right, if you want to dine based on the center of gravity of Michelin stars you need to live on Central Park South.

[Mayur]

Midtown?

←

unfortunately, JG, Per Se, Masa, Yasuda, LB, Esca etc. are all above 14th street...

←

Those all strike me as meals that one will probably plan ahead for, and can afford to take a cab to...

[Chris Amirault]

Given the new parameters and for the reasons Nathan gives, Elizabeth and Spring works for me.

[kathryn]

For instance, in the EV (my neighborhood), I'm within spitting distance of both Momofukus, Degustation, Prune, Hearth, Barbone, Pala, etc etc, a not-too-bad walk from the Union Square Greenmarket, an equally not-too-bad walk from Chinatown, have a fancy supermarket (the Bowery Wholefoods) in my back yard, and have easy access to both the Essex St Market and the Tompkins Sq Greenmarket (which is actually pretty good and growing these days). Plus there are all the best cocktail bars in the city (the only one that's actually far is Flatiron, and I don't miss that when M&H, D&Co, PDT and Pegu are all within about 5-7 minutes walk), Astor Wines and Warehouse, 9th St Espresso, and the 1st Avenue/6th St strip of Indian grocery stores. I can reach DiPalo's or Raffetto's in a not-too-long walk as well.

The two things I'm lacking are a decent butcher and a decent fishmonger, though I can buy meat from the Greenmarket and break it down myself as needed, and the fish at the Greenmarket is probably as good as one is getting these days if you're a home cook (or I can scavenge cheap stuff from Chinatown).

Fair enough but the EV could use more/better bread-bakeries. And a nice chocolatier. And more post-dinner dessert places than Chikalicious and Veniero (Black Hound doesn't count as it's mostly takeout, Build a Green Bakery doesn't have seating). There's no great Chinese aside from Grand Sichuan, really. The Indian and Thai options are pretty much mediocre across the board.

It also depends on how much you prefer to eat out (and which cuisines) versus cook for yourself versus depend upon delivery.

A really good friend of mine used to live off of West Broadway and Houston, and he'd know all the great Soho/WV places, whereas I was always more into EV/LES/Noho, but we alternated choosing places to eat and thereby kept a lot of variety going on. If you care enough, it's worth the short cab ride to the other side of town when you don't care to walk.

Edited December 17, 2007 by kathryn (log)

[Nathan]

what it comes down to is that anywhere below 20th and north of FiDi is awesome. and between the N/R/W/Q/E/L....it's generally pretty easy to cross town as well...

[feedmec00kies]

I'd position myself near the Union Square stop on the 4/5/6 trains. Like maybe I'd try to find a place on 16th or 17th between Fifth Avenue and Union Square West. That puts you within walking distance of several of the neighborhoods that I'd consider the top picks. You can walk to everywhere in the Union Square/Flatiron/Gramercy area. You can walk to the East Village, the regular Village and the Meatpacking/Chelsea area. And you live right on top of excellent transportation options for the neighborhoods you don't live in: 4/5/6, N/Q/R/W, L and PATH.

←

I myself moved to the East Village a couple of months ago, and although I admit to not having taken advantage of all the food possibilities, it's a great location. (I'm further south than Fat Guy suggested though... St Marks Place... But no, not the tattoos-and-bongs block, thanks). It's still a few blocks to get to Union Square, but it's certainly not bad at all. I am also still surprised how close some things actually are, if you're willing to walk (and being young and having gone to school in Rochester, I can say that it's really not that bad to walk when it's cold out, because there is rarely a lot of snow covering the ground).

I'm really happy with the area... although I would not want to live on that one really annoying block of St Marks (between 2nd and 3rd).

[feedmec00kies]

Fair enough but the EV could use more/better bread-bakeries. And a nice chocolatier. And more post-dinner dessert places than Chikalicious and Veniero (Black Hound doesn't count as it's mostly takeout, Build a Green Bakery doesn't have seating). There's no great Chinese aside from Grand Sichuan, really. The Indian and Thai options are pretty much mediocre across the board.

←

I've been happy enough with the bread at St Marks Market to not really mind the lack of bread bakeries. And it's on my way home from the R/W or 6 trains, making it even more awesome.

I do agree about the Chinese food though. I'd just go down to Chinatown, but it would be nice to have something else near me. I'm not really a huge fan of Szechuan peppercorns; I grew up eating way more southern Chinese food.

[kathryn]

I think the grass looks greener to me in Soho/WV where you have Blue Ribbon market, Kee's, Grandaisy, Dean & Deluca (not like I'd shop there every day though), Murray's, Amy's Bread, etc. all the shops on Bleecker.

[Nathan]

oh I'm not complaining about where I live now...with easy access to both the shops on Bleecker and Chelsea Market...and there's a number of very good restaurants and wine bars.

but I'd rather have the Momofukus, PDT, D&C and Chinatown on my doorstep...

[vivin]

Another vote for Tribeca/Chinatown/Soho. I lived on the east side (more mid town than upper) for years. No contest.

[daisy17]

I'd position myself near the Union Square stop on the 4/5/6 trains. Like maybe I'd try to find a place on 16th or 17th between Fifth Avenue and Union Square West. That puts you within walking distance of several of the neighborhoods that I'd consider the top picks. You can walk to everywhere in the Union Square/Flatiron/Gramercy area. You can walk to the East Village, the regular Village and the Meatpacking/Chelsea area. And you live right on top of excellent transportation options for the neighborhoods you don't live in: 4/5/6, N/Q/R/W, L and PATH.

←

I'm just south of where you describe (12/bway/univ) and I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that everything I want is a few blocks east or west or north but let me tell you, the middle village (as I call it) is a freaking culinary wasteland. It's amazing, actually. We don't even have a good dive bar anymore. It's hard to complain because I do like the central location, but I really wish we had better food right here.

If I were to move for easier access to better food I would go either 3 blocks east or to the far west village. Or close to Bleecker - Murrays, several good butchers, and a decent bakery make it in my mind a great shopping block for food.

[raji]

midtown (really only for the four stars, Japanese and expense account places...it's lacking in everything else)...

I dunno Mayur, I would argue pretty strongly for Midtown/Hell's Kitchen, ESPECIALLY if you are combining Midtown East and West. Similarly, . I'm a bit skewed, my residence in the Kitchen and probably dining out Japanese disproportionately, but objectively I'd maintain that answer -

The strip of 9th Avenue between 34th and 59th Street has long been considered the international culinary center of Manhattan; you wouldn't find such a concentration and wide variety of #1-#4 below, more of #1 skewing eastward. I'd say since the 90s the rest of the city has gotten up to speed while hell's kitchen has aged and declined, but plenty of new stuff has popped up -

In a matter of several blocks I can go from Kyotofu, Shimizu, to Sugiyama & Yakitori Totto, the Modern, everything at Time Warner Center (Masa, Porterhouse, Cafe Gray, Per Se, Asiate), now the counter at Beacon, Bahn, Toloache, Aboccatto, Jean-Georges, Le Bernadin, Alto, Esca, Quality Meats, Anthos, Tehuitzingo, Tulingo Del Valle, Esca, Insieme, Daisy Mae's, GR, burger joint, Nobu, - now, that's just on the westside, mostly centered around the west 50s (with a few exceptions closer to 42), and I probably missed a bunch. Living downtown and in brooklyn, I always considered midtown stuffy, overpriced, and expense account. Nowadays downtown is also overpriced, so what's the difference...? Downtown will always be younger, hipper and more exciting, but eating out in the east village, for instance, there ARE now plenty of outposts/foodie destinations, at the same time, I always feel more liable to strike out there as well.

Anyway, armed with an NFL-like ability to hurdle tourists, i guess i'd argue Midtown is the best neighborhood for food by these criteria

1) Destination restaurants

2) Neighborhood eateries

3) Ethnic markets or take out

4) Great food stores (grocery, butchers, bakeries)