Priority dining destinations . . .

[Fat Guy]

They've got a good thread going on this on the Pacific Northwest board so I figured I'd start one here too:

What's the short list of New York restaurants you've never been to but are just dying to try? Why do you want to go? Why haven't you been there yet? Explain yourself!

[rich]

Terrace - only restaurant with a view that's supposed to be good. Haven't found the time to drive from Staten Island to Morningside Heights.

Roberto's - hear it's the only Italian restaurant in NYC that's authentic and serves good Italian food aside from Parkside. Haven't been to a Yankee game in the last three years.

Russian Tea Room (since it re-opened). Very unique menu, outstanding room. Haven't practiced enough to make it at Carnegie Hall.

[Liza]

The quick answers:

1) Nearly every top restaurant in New York.

2) See number 1.

3) Money, lack of.

[cabrales]

I cannot currently think of a restaurant in NY that falls in that category. The reason for this are (1) I generally do not "die" to visit any restaurant unless I have subjectively determined it is appropriate for me, and (2) I would already have visited any restaurants I was very interested in.

There are several restaurants that I am interested in further exploring (including Cello and Bouley). I'd also be interested in dining at the ADNY kitchen table. I have not eaten at a Patricia Yeo restaurant, at Veritas, or at Atelier (relatively new). However, while I plan to try them, I am not "dying" to visit them.

I am rather eager to try Roelllinger's restaurant in Cancale (France) and certain Spanish three-stars (including El Bulli). I've never sampled Trotter's food, nor visited Morimoto and post-chef-change Le Bec Fin in Philly. However, I am not "dying" to visit any of the above restaurants.

I am "dying" to revisit the very few restaurants that I have determined, from past visits, have the potential to offer "art" experiences for me. As I have mentioned before, other restaurants I pine to visit are no longer options. They are restaurants like those of F Point, A Chapel, F Girardet ...

[LaNiña]

Babbo (so embarassed to admit it). Just haven't.

I Coppi (heard the garden is to die for)

Ihawan (they make things with blood)

[Damian]

So many - no surprises to those here (I got all of my ideas from eGullet!).

Gramercy Tavern (next month!), Le B, Cello, Jean Georges, Ducasse, Bouley,

Babbo, Union Square, Tasting Room, Picholine, Craft

Reasons for these? New York experience that is hard, if not impossible to find elsewhere. Reasons for not going- time and money. Haven't had time to go to them all since moving here. Done pretty well for seven months and counting, however:

Daniel, Cafe Boulud, Artisanal, Union Pacific, Tabla, Eleven Madison,Gotham Bar and Grill, Blue Hill, Compass, Ouest, OIBL-TIBS, Ilo...assorted others not as good or great but lowbrow.

Thanks again eGullet!

[Wilfrid]

Well, I don't know that I'm really dying to try them, or I guess I would have, but the obvious restaurants I should have been to, and am embarrassed to admit I haven't, would be:

1. Babbo

2. Peter Luger

3. Nobu

I guess you can add Bouley now. Actually, that was a shorter list than I expected - I must be greedy bastard

[LaNiña]

Wilfrid darling, we'll go to Babbo...

(who do I think I was, just then?)

[Suzanne F]

Le Soleil, the Haitian storefront next to Jimmy Armstrong's. Not exactly dying, but it's been there so long, it smells good, and friends like it. But we always end up at Armstrong's.

Babbo. Esca. Cello. March. Prune. Pearl Oyster Bar. AZ. All the places Nina goes in Brooklyn. Veritas. Copeland's. Pearson's. Charles's Southern Kitchen. Most of Roosevelt Avenue. ... Why? Because I want to see for myself. Why not? So many restaurants, so little time and money.

[Robert Schonfeld]

Roberto's - hear it's the only Italian restaurant in NYC that's authentic

There are no authentic Italian restaurants in New York City. Roberto's would be considered an authentic Italian-American restaurant.

If you want good Italian food, try Felidia, Babbo, Fiamma Osteria or San Domenico.

[Wilfrid]

Wilfrid darling, we'll go to Babbo...

(who do I think I was, just then?)

Winona Ryder? Reese Witherspoon? Anna Kournikova?

[Fat Guy]

On that point (probably worthy of a new thread if you want to start it and go into greater depth, Robert), it also depends on what you want to eat. Even the best Italian and Italian-American restaurants in New York tend to do only a few things really well. Roberto's, for example, is primarily worthwhile for the pasta dishes. It is woefully inadequate in many other areas. Manducatis has that fabulous wine list (but no good wine glasses) and has a slightly broader range of good items, but also more bad ones. Piccola Venezia is another very good restaurant in that category, but mostly for fish -- and they make excellent sauces across the board. And don't forget Il Mulino, which usually has outstanding veal for about a million dollars.

Plus, you need to remember that New American cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian cuisine. Just take a look at the menu of Union Square Cafe, where more than one customer has remarked, "Is this an Italian restaurant?" So if there's a specific Italian dish you want it's quite possible that the best New York version isn't served at an Italian restaurant at all.

[Robert Schonfeld]

What the FG says on the subject of Italian restaurants in New York is largely accurate. If you are stuck having to go to one of these places, it's worthwhile knowing what your best bet might be. None of them, though, is in the "gotta go" category. The ones I suggested will at least provide a satisfying full meal. As for Il Mulino, the crowd, the noise, the wait, the prices charged for the crowd, the noise, the wait; not for me.

I'll decline the new thread and bow out here. The subject is too depressing.

[Suzanne F]

RS: Why is it depressing? Is Italian the only cuisine worth eating? Are there no other possibilities in this city of immigrants?

Now I'm beginning to see how the threads veer off so far, so fast. Once a digression appears, it becomes the focus and the original question is forgotten. I realize that this observation itself is a digression likely to send the thread spinning into outer space. It is not meant to.

I find it quite interesting to see which other restaurants erudite, well-fed eGulleteers see as essential to their experience. And Tommy, too. Or at least those they just want to try, and why. Makes me consider the whole point of restaurant-going.

[Orik]

Babbo. The concensus about the food is as broad as can be, but there are also inordinately many reports about horrid service leading to lousy dining experiences. (I am probably less forgiving than many egulleteers when it comes to that).

http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...t=6636&hl=babbo

[Robert Schonfeld]

Oh, yes, SuzanneF, so many places worth going to and sure to be enjoyable. Mazal and I do it all the time. My comments were just my own point of view on the Italian dining scene in NY as it might relate to the "gotta go there" idea. I appreciate your observation about thread wandering, and all I can say is that I was never good at accepting discipline.

As for "gotta go there", in one sense, none except Alan Ducasse, because, as I understand it, the experience is literally unique in New York and therefore, to a person who likes to eat and enjoys the restaurant experience, worth a look. In another sense, this idea is also probably true of a couple of hundred places I don't even know about; places which, if not unique, are representative of the best of their kind; maybe an extension the the FG's idea of the best pasta here, the best fish there, the best wine list another place. In this sense, I am a follower of Calvin Trillin. I'm lookin' for that piece of pie.

[Suzanne F]

Fair enough, Robert.

Yes, I suppose Ducasse/NY is worth a look, as long as one does not have particulary high hopes for the experience. It also helps to have a HUGE sweet tooth, as the vast majority of unique little touches fall into the category of pre- and post-dessert mignardises. I found our tour of the kitchen itself to be the most interesting element of the whole evening -- definitely more than the food.

[Christopher]

BABBO

SUSHI YASUDA

1. These are the two places my guests keep telling me about over and over again.

2. Going out to eat is like going to the office.

3. All of my money is tied up in tuition

[cabrales]

Christopher -- Are you taking some days off before making the move? Last night, Soba and I took in a late dinner at Gramercy Tavern. The receptionist indicated that you had left the restaurant for another -- err, you might find the Restaurant Week thread interesting.

[chopjwu12]

Lets see

Alot and ill spell most of them wrong

Le bernadain, babbo, blue hill. nobu, daniels, alain ducasse's, veritas, picholine, march, the tasting room, And of jean georges places, and many many others that im to tired to think of right now.

Reasons for not going yet

A cooks life is a busy one where your time off is limited and and the cash flow is just as bad.

[Lreda]

Let's see, with a restaurant 25 miles away from the city making it a 40 minute trip I've hit a good many places although sometimes for a late meal when I see the chef inspecting the dining room and maybe enjoying a cocktail. Enough long-winded talk here goes the places I need to go to.

1. Nobu.

2.March

3. Blue Hill

4. Craft

5. ADNY

Lucky enough to have been to Gotham,Craftbar, GT (Tavern only),Peter Luger, Oyster Bar.

I need more.

Going to Esca next week. What should I be looking for?

[Mao]

Jewel Bako

Artisinal

Taka

Cong Ly

DB Bistro

Can't say that I am actually dying to go to any of these, as I would have already been. I am looking fwd to them. I think the only places I am dying to go lie in France, and perhaps California (French Laundry).

[Sandra Levine]

Babbo, Peter Luger

I almost went to Babbo a few weeks ago, but couldn't bring myself to take a 5:30 p.m. reservation. As for Peter Luger, I've never been much of a red-meat eater, but lately, I feel that I would like to experience the benchmark to see what I may have been missing.

[Lreda]

Didn't think it was pertinent but was lucky to enjoy the best meal of my life during my solitary divorce celebration 6 years ago at French Landry. ( Also had very good meals at Mustard, Tre Vigne & Brix. But the best dining experience was at Piccaso in Belagio. From begining to end just magnificent. Also had a great meal at Napa with Jean Louis Palladin directing traffic on a Fri night. Aureole followed with Charlie Palmer who I met and was extended a wine tour in his 6 story cellar. Meal was a bit off but can attribute it to being Sat night 8:00 and my bending a very polite Chef Palmer's ear. (Should never have had cocktails at that Russian bar next door. :

[guru]

Can anyone tell me why i should go to Bouley on my next trip.I noticed that people

are talking about him again and i've been wanting to eat there for a long time.

Considering that he once was considered the best of NY, i think that my visit has

become mandatory.I'll be sure to report when i'm back (in september).