I grew up on West End Ave. in the 1960s-1970s, close to the string of movie theaters mentioned earlier (the Symphony and Thalia are still there). IIRC the restaurant scene in general was far different in those pre-foodie, pre The Food Channel, pre celebrity chef days. You had the high end like Lutece at one end and pizza, delis, diners, lunch counters, bars, Chinese and Indian on the other, with just a sprinkling of stuff in between.
First memory of course is Pizza. 20¢ for a slice at Phil's in 1967. Phil's was on Broadway just south of 94th St. They left sometime in the mid 1970s. A half block north was Sal's, a tiny place, and years later moved to 102nd & Broadway as Sal and Carmine's, where they are to this day. One of the last real old school pizzas. We made a trek to V&T once, it was more of a restaurant than by-the-slice.
We ate often at La Victoria China, one of those Cuban-Chinese places mentioned earlier. It both amazed and amused me to hear Chinese guys speaking Spanish to one another. I believe its location is where the present La Nueva Victoria is. I assume they are related because of the similar names, but not sure. Anyway, it was inexpensive and was pretty good. Although the Shanghai D'or was close by I don't really remember going there. I think my parents preferred their Chinese restaurants plain and not gussied up with red drapes and tuxedoed waiters.
We got one of the very first McDonald's in NYC in 1973. Lines around the block, if you can believe it. It was so unusual to have a fast food chain in Manhattan. It said "McDonald's Townhouse" out front. That signage is gone but the place is still there, om Broadway south of 96th St. Old school fast food was the Nedick's somewhere on Broadway that I think was long gone by the time McDonald's showed up. IIRC I wasn't a fan of Nedick's.
I do remember At Our Place/Cleopatra but being a kid it wasn't the type of place for me to go to. I think it was one of those dimly-lit take-a-date-to places, But it is reflective of the era as my parents were happy because we were actually getting new restaurants in the area, though I don't think they cared for that particular place (if I remember correctly, dimly-lit restaurants were not their cup of tea, or maybe they weren't thrilled with the food, don't remember.) In other words the immediate neighborhood didn't have a lot to choose from, and that was just starting to change.
A place called The Library opened on Broadway and I think 92nd. The would have been late 1960s or early 1970s. IIRC several restaurants tried to make it in that spot, came and went, but The Library lasted for a decent while. If I'm correct about the location it's now a Petco next to the earlier mentioned Equinox that was a Key Food when I was a kid with a bowling alley on the upper floor. I could swear it used to be two spaces, the restaurant on the corner and Berman Twins between the restaurant and Key Food.
That's about it for this particular area (Broadway in the 90s)
More reading that I found:
http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2009/02/lost-citys-guide-to-upper-west-side.html (Be sure to see the comments)
http://www.westsiderag.com/2013/11/24/a-writer-shares-1980s-uws-memories-and-asks-for-yours (Ditto)
http://hungrygerald.com/2011/12/the-golden-age-of-food-on-the-upper-west-side/ (Ditto)
