Midtown, Mid-price and More

[Katie Meadow]

I'll be in town next week for my mother's 90th birthday. Part of the time we will be between 4 and 8 people. I have some ideas for one or two splurge dinners (my mother is fond of Lupa) when my family thins out, but I am looking for ideas for mid-price restaurants not too far from her apartment, which is 57th and 6th Ave. Walking distance would be fantastic, but a short bus or cab ride is okay too.

Japanese would be good, since that's what my brother usually wants when he eats out, and all of us like it. I'm thinking my husband and I will sneak off and try Momofuku Noodle, but that's not my mother's style and sounds out of the question for a relaxed dinner with a party of six--not to mention the long ride.

Toloache sounds fun, and relatively close; is most of the food very spicy? Won't work for my mom or my brother.

Seafood is good. I'm thinking of dragging her to Mary's Fish Camp, but that's an excursion as well. I would be in heaven with a great bowl of steamers or plump mussels, since northern CA lacks both. Are there any good seafood places that aren't all the way downtown? If neighborhood was no object, where's the best lobster roll? That would make my brother and me AND my mother happy. Vietnamese would work well, or bistro-type fare. Chinese maybe.

Just curious: is it still shad roe season and soft-shell crab season? My mother's a sucker for the first and I'm nostalgic for the latter. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Nathan]

define "mid-price"...

frankly, I'd say to most on this forum, Lupa is on the low end of "mid-price" (by Manhattan standards).

Tsukushi would make sense for your food and geographic preferences, but it's probably a bit more than you want to pay.

Mia Dona seems like the obvious bet (easy walking distance, cheap and good).

some of the best seafood restaurants in midtown are Esca, Sushi Yasuda and Le Bernardin.

for a lobster roll the standard candidates are Pearl Oyster Bar, Ed's Lobster Bar and the store inside of Chelsea Market.

[Mayur]

You have an enormous variety of options, I'd say!

First off, what would you rate as "splurge"? As Nathan mentioned, Lupa is generally considered mid-priced rather than particularly expensive, so if Lupa defines your high end, we should think in different terms from the default on these boards (which would put a New York Times four-star into the "splurge" category, meaning ~$200 pp or possibly more!).

The best option for a "splurge" in that neighborhood would, IMO, be Esca. Price point is a *little* higher than Lupa (call it +$5 for apps and +$10-15 for mains), service is excellent, and the seafood is exemplary.

I second Nathan's recommendations of Tsukushi (for cooked Japanese) and Mia Dona (for Greco-Italian). Toloache is good, and IMO you can easily avoid the truly spicy dishes (of which there are a few). I'd also recommend Casellula (52nd St between 9th and 10th Ave), which does mainly wine and cheese but has a few decadent cooked dishes as well.

If you prefer sushi to cooked dishes for Japanese, I'd recommend Shimizu (51st near 8th Ave). Not cheap, but really, really good and not far away from you by any means.

On the seafood front: For what you're talking about (shad roe, lobster rolls, etc.) you are going to need to come downtown for the best options. Mary's, Pearl Oyster Bar, and Ed's would be my choices, though I'm not hugely fond of Ed's.

Shad roe is definitely in evidence, as are soft-shell crabs (although we're coming to the end of that season pretty soon). Were I to go after the *best* soft-shells, I'd go to Le Bernardin, but you'll be spending a packet, even at lunch. For something at a lower price point, you are, again, going to have to come downtown. I'd recommend Aquagrill (Spring St and 6th Ave) for soft-shells, although there are many other options. (Mary's is likely to have them as a special.)

As to Chinese or Vietnamese: There's really nothing in the way of a good Vietnamese restaurant in Manhattan north of O'Mai (9th Avenue and 19th Street). There are some excellent Sichuan restaurants in midtown, however. Lately, I prefer Wu Liang Ye (48th between 5th and 6th Aves), which is right near you, though the food tends toward the strongly spicy side.

If you feel like a Chinese-food splurge and/or soft-shell crabs, there's always Shun Lee Palace (155 East 55th). Not cheap, but excellent Cantonese food. Obviously, there are much cheaper (and potentially better) examples to be found in Flushing or Chinatown, but Shun Lee is comfortable and within easy call.

[Mistinguett]

Sushi-ya on 56th bet. 5th & 6th has always been my choice of Japanese in that area. While not earth shattering, it has been consistently good over the last few years and very reasonable priced.

[daisy17]

Definitely agree that Mary's Fish Camp and Pearl Oyster Bar are the way to go for casual but really good seafood. Great for lunch. (Have heard not good things about Ed's.) Keep in mind that both places are on the small side and may not be able to seat a group of 8.

I was at Toloache again last week and continue to think they're putting out very good food. I would imagine that they would accommodate any requests you had for toning down heat.

[Mayur]

Another thing, Katie: I'm assuming you've been to NY before. That said, I wouldn't be too concerned with cabbing it, at least in the evenings; nowhere in mid-to-lower Manhattan is really more than a "short" cab ride away.

Thinking in those terms, your dining options expand dramatically, and as such, I'd do Chinatown for seafood, including soft-shells. My personal favorite is Fuleen Seafood (Division Street near East Broadway), but Oriental Garden is a fine alternative, and I'm sure other Society members can point you to great destinations.

Pearl and Mary's are really not possible for parties larger than 4, and dinner can be a nightmare. If you can make it for lunch, you're golden, but I wouldn't try to push an evening seating unless you're eating at 5:30.

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks for all the good suggestions. My mother, at 90, is a little funny about food. When she's there and the food is good, she appreciates it, but getting her to go "out of her way" for food takes some manipulation. Don't ask why she thinks a three-mile cab ride is so much different than a two-mile ride. So, when I go back to NY to visit her I have to be clever.

I checked out the Lupa site and indeed the prices seem really good! Now my mother says she might like to try Felidia. The Japanese suggestions above all sound good. Tsukushi sounds amazing. For steamers or soft-shells maybe my husband and I will sneak off for a downtown excursion of our own. Are any of you old enough to remember those seafood restaurants in NY with the sawdust on the floor? That would probably be considered a very high-maintenance floor now. I have no idea if the food was actually good. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and cook for my relatives one night. We have to make a major Fairway run for a lox/bagels brunch, so maybe I should just buy some roe...where? At Citarella? That would eliminate my mother's taxi-cab freak-out. What retail markets have beautiful fresh seafood without the price/attitude of Citarella?

Thanks again, I think I have a few excellent ideas now. FYI, I mentioned Mia Dona to my mother and she told me her good friend ate there a few nights ago and found a band-aid in her soup. If this friend follows through as she is threatening and calls in the soup police, the chances of this happening again at Mia Dona have just gone way down.

[kathryn]

Was at Esca this past weekend, and they had both shad roe and soft shelled crabs on the menu.

Edited May 8, 2008 by kathryn (log)

[Pan]

[...]There are some excellent Sichuan restaurants in midtown, however. Lately, I prefer Wu Liang Ye (48th between 5th and 6th Aves), which is right near you, though the food tends toward the strongly spicy side.[...]

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I find Szechuan Gourmet much better, but at 39th St. between 5th and 6th, it is not a short walk from 56th St. And so far, most of the interesting stuff I've had there has been pretty spicy (but I like that).

Katie, if your mother doesn't mind cabbing it to 35th St. between 5th and 6th, consider going to Madangsui for some great Korean barbecue. Some of the banchan will be spicy, but the barbecue doesn't have to be, since it's to the diner's discretion whether to put hot pepper in the lettuce with the meat and sauce, or how much sauce to use. Madangsui is mid-priced, to my mind, though others would call it relatively inexpensive, and it's a terrific value.

[Mayur]

[...]There are some excellent Sichuan restaurants in midtown, however. Lately, I prefer Wu Liang Ye (48th between 5th and 6th Aves), which is right near you, though the food tends toward the strongly spicy side.[...]

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I find Szechuan Gourmet much better, but at 39th St. between 5th and 6th, it is not a short walk from 56th St. And so far, most of the interesting stuff I've had there has been pretty spicy (but I like that).

This is probably a subject for a different thread, but I've been doing a fair amount of back-and-forth between SG and the Wu, and while SG's overall price performance is better, I think the Wu has an edge in terms of complexity of flavor. I've had significantly better beef dishes, braised fish dishes, and cold apps at the Wu.

[Mayur]

I second Pan's Madangsui recommendation. In general, Koreatown is definitely worth a visit, and it's quite easy (IMO) to avoid spiciness.

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks! Any special dishes you recommend at Wu or Madangsui?

[Pan]

Thanks! Any special dishes you recommend at Wu or Madangsui?

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I've concentrated on barbecue so far at Madangsui, and it's all been delicious. I love the banchan, too, which includes a small bowl of excellent Dwenjang Jigae (which is pretty spicy, though).

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks to all for great suggestions. A combination of wet weather and cranky family members resulted in a campaign against destination dining in favor of convenience, so we didn't get to have many food adventures. The place my mother and daughter intersect is Japanese, so I gave them a choice of Tsukushi or Shimizu. They were unnerved about the no-menu thing, so we opted for Shimizu. Delicious! Loved the ohitashi made with watercress (instead of the usual spinach) and was totally knocked out by the spring roll with duck and vegetables. The sushi was great; my mother loved both the sea and freshwater eel and I was in heaven with medium-fatty tuna. You are right, it ain't cheap. For the fattiest tuna it's $7 per order--and an order is one piece!

We also made it down to the Chelsea Market, but only because I bribed my mother with the prospect of a lobster roll and, more importantly, volunteered to cook dinner. The Lobster Place has beautiful fish. We bought a huge haul of mussels (farmed, Prince Edward Is.) They were super fresh, tender and sweet.