Dcarch's place!

Actually, I have no idea which celebrity chef is in New York, other than Bobby Flay, and I just don't have any interest in him as a chef. I don't know why, but I don't.

Sally

WD-50...or Le cirque.
But babbo's wouldn't be far down the list....but he's probably been there.
Linda C

I would go to Bobby Flay's Grill. But only if he was there. :)
Maybe one of the restaurants in Eataly?

Wherever you go, make reservations NOW!

Here is a link that might be useful: guide to restaurants in Eataly

we ate at Charlie Palmers' Aureole a few years ago. Excellent food, fun evening. Fixed price menu, and the chef sent out little 'extras' throughout the meal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aureole

I would love to visit Lidia Bastianichs' restaurants and Mario Batali.

We were in New York last summer and ate at Becco (owned by Lydia Bastianich of "Lydia's Italy")in the Theater District. The food was excellent. We had the pre fix dinner which included 3 unlimited pastas and salad or antipasto for $22.95.

Visiting Lidia Bastianich's restaurant is on my "to do" NYC list. I love her show. Doesn't mean her restaurant is any good, but it does make me curious!

Le Bernardin, Eric Ripert's place.

I'm not so sure that these celebrity places are really worth it. Lots of hype but.....

However if I was to do one it would be Lidia Bastianich's restaurant hands down....

I'd like to try Tom Colicchio's restaurants - Craft, Colicchio & Sons or Riverpark. Not sure about vegetarian options though.......

I too avoid celebrity restaurants.

First, celebrities are showmen and entertainers; they are not always good cooks.
Second, many just license their name to other restaurant operators. They don�t cook there.

There are many great restaurants with good reviews. And with a little luck, you can actually run into many real celebrities.

I saw John Lennon and Yoko at Mr. Chow�s
I saw David Rockefeller at Stone Barns (he is the owner).
I saw Woopie at Patsy�s
I saw Conan O�Brian, (forgot the name of the restaurant, upper Westside)
I saw Kathy Lee and her husband at La Panetiere.
I saw Ted Tuner (no J. Fonda) at his restaurant Ted�s Montana Grill (across the street from Le Bernardin, Eric Ripert's place, which BTW has very good food).

Circle Line is great. (I think they sell hot dogs on the boat). Try to work it out this way:

Start with the Seaport Museum (Intrepid) then time your Circle line tour just before sunset. You will have a spectacular dusk view and totally amazing night scene of spackling Manhattan.

Oh, add a few minutes if you want to pay homage to Ground Zero.

dcarch

You might find this link useful. It has menus (with prices) for just about any restaurant your're thinking about visiting in NYC. It will show you their vegetarian offerings too.

Here is a link that might be useful: NYC Menu Pages

A lot of these people mentioned I associated with California for some reason, such as Eric Ripert. I have no earthly idea why. Obviously, I was wrong. If I were to eat at a fancy restaurant, Le Bernardin would probably get my vote, and I'd even eat the seafood.

As for Craft, there was an episode of Top Chef a few years ago where the contestants had to cook at Craft for a celebrity. They were all stoked to cook some MEAT. Boy were they surprised to find out they had to cook for Natalie Portman, a vegetarian. There was a walk-in fridge and pantry full of stuff they could cook with. So, if that's where you wanted to go, I bet you could get something vegetarian, even if it is primarily a steakhouse.

Sally

If darch's is booked, I would go to one of Lidia or Mario's restaurants.

Jim

I also would skip a Celebrity Chef's restaurant. I've been to two in Chicago and cannot imagine what the hype is about. Expensive, crowded, and not nearly as delicious as many other restaurants I've eaten in. I use many celebrity recipes, but their restaurant food has just not been as good, IMveryHO.

Maybe your son has a great place in mind. My kids always knew where they wanted to go for their celebration dinners - they get familiar with the city, even if they can't afford the fine restaurants! There is no shortage of really fine dining in NYC.

I forgot to add: Most celeb chefs have more than one restaurant and seldom if ever visit the dining rooms. On the other hand, many owners of fine restaurants do visit and chat with the diners, and are very good at making a big deal about your special occasion.

At one son's graduation, for instance, the owner came over with Champaign for all of us, poured it himself, and sent oyster something-or-other appetizers for all of us because my son said he loved oysters, plus appetizers for the little kids! Hub and I, all six of our kids, their four spouses, gkids and my mother were at the table - 15 of us - so he wasn't counting heads of pennies, but he sure made a wonderful impression on us. We spent several hours there, loving every minute, being well taken care of.

If my experience in Los Angeles is any indication, I would surely SKIP dining at Craft. While the service was excellent, I thought it was contrived, under seasoned, overly expensive and boring. There was not much on his menu I that spoke to me. While I like watching Top Chef, after dining at Tom's restaurant, I always take his evaluations with more than a grain of salt! LOL YMMV

Posted by jimster "If darch's is booked, I would go to one of Lidia or Mario's restaurants. Jim"

LOL.

For vegetarians, (even for non-vegetarins), do try out Zen Palate. There are three locations.

dcarch

Well, I hope Lidia's is better in NY than her Kansas City location. The food is good if you can get your waiter to bring it to you or check back on occasion. The service is so terrible at Lidias here I know many people who won't go back ever again. I did have one good meal there, but the service made the entire experience one I won't repeat.

I'd want to go Katz's Deli, and probably try some Junior's Cheesecake at their Brooklyn location.

Here is a link that might be useful: Katz's Deli

May asked specifically about celebrity chef restaurants and, for that, I stand by the opinions I expressed. However, I have not experienced any celebrity chef restaurant and the many negative reviews above give me pause.

There are other categories of famous NY restaurants which, while not trendy, offer a great dining experience. Large dim sum restaurants in Chinatown would be well suited to a celebration, for example, and offer mighty fine eating. The NY deli, such as Katz's, is unique, copied elsewhere but never equalled.

A favorite NY restaurant landmark of mine is the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station. Nothing nouvelle there. It's all classic. Hasn't changed since the days of Diamond Jim Brady so far as I know (including the waitstaff), although I haven't been there for a while. Their pastries are on a par with their seafood.

Then, there is Little Italy. I once headed for Umberto's Clam House with some friends, anticipating a great meal. Got as far as the entrance stoop where a vivid image of Joey Gallo's demise there came to mind. We turned away and went across Canal St. to Chinatown and ate some noodles there.

Jim

I agree that Katz's is a great NYC eating place, but it is relatively inexpensive, and it may not have the right atmosphere for a celebration dinner. No vegetarian dishes other than salads.

Oyster bar is good, make sure you make the reservation in the saloon in the back room. It's very noisy in the front area.

There are many waterfront restaurants, The Queens and brooklyn side have much better views of Manhattan.

dcarch

Keep in mind that the Oyster Bar is closed Saturday and Sunday.

Study that menu for its many unique items.

The ambience is unique. Unique, I tell you!

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Oystermenu

Thanks for the recommendation for Katz's. My husband and I are planning a trip to NYC for mid-summer. (I know, not a great time to go, but I'm a teacher and my summers - unpaid - are off.) I want to get to a good NY deli for a corned beef on rye or similar. My husband wants to get a NY hot dog from Nathan's, too.

Donna

Ok, so we're already going to go to Katz's and to Nathan's (although, of course Nathan has been to Nathan's multiple times before but I wanted to go again). He's been to Bobby Flay's which I wanted to go to but I also wanted to take him someplace he hasn't been yet. We're planning on going to Eataly during the day so we might do lunch there if we can easily get into one of the places without waiting in long lines. And we're going to Jeng Fung (recommended by a native New Yorker) for dim sum. Also, planning to hit wichcraft, although not Tom Colicchio's prime restaurant,

I know that a lot of it is hype and I know that celeb places aren't necessarily the best places to eat in the world. But we live in Houston. We have TONS of restaurants here. I mean tons. And tons of nice places too. So I have a sort of different perspective on the whole thing. I mean, we're not going to go to NY with our eyes popping out and our jaws dropping at the sight of nice restaurants. But it would be nice to eat something we can't get in Houston. Really good Italian and really good Chinese food (we have tons of both Italian and Chinese but not REALLY GOOD of either) are about the only thing we don't have an overabundance of here. And celebrity spots. So what the heck.

Honestly, I'm not going in hopes of seeing someone, I probably wouldn't recognize them anyway!! LOL But just for something in the way of a different experience.

I do like the idea of the circle line tour at sunset, that sounds pretty cool. I tried to talk Nathan into the seaport museum but he's not interested. And we've been to the Ground Zero display which I think is there till they build the permanent one. Very moving.

And we're pretty much going to have to find a place that serves vegetarian. I don't think Ben is impressed enough with any of these "names" to eat any kind of meat, especially fish which he never liked. Which is too bad because some of these seafood places sound to die for!

Currently leaning toward Lidia's place. At least I've seen her on TV (dvd) and know who she is! :)

What about going to a great raw restaurant? Surely that would make Ben happy. I've always wanted to go to one and I'm not remotely vegetarian.

May, you and I think alike. Planning a trip is half the fun, maybe more than half.

Jim

Ahh bumblebeez. Herein lies the rub. I'm sure Ben would be interested in any raw or vegan or vegetarian places. But the thing is, as much as I do need to take into account his food choices, I also have to consider Nathan's. And he is a carnivore. Not to say he eats meat at every meal or won't eat anything that is vegetarian. On the contrary, he's pretty flexible and easy to please. But catch him at a raw restaurant? Not likely! The whole thing is actually pretty funny! One loves meat and the other has never had much of an affinity for it. Ah well!

Jim,
Yes!! I LOVE the planning. It is a large part of the anticipation. And I'm like that about most things. You shoulda seen me planning my kitchen remodel. LOL

So! We've pretty much decided what we're doing. The celebration dinner will be at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Turns out Nathan had been to Bar Americain but not to Mesa Grill. NOT very vegetarian but there are a couple of things on the menu that will work and I'm sure they will work with us once we are there. And I can't wait to try a Bobby Flay steak which Nathan says is wonderful based on his meal at Bar Americain. In addition we are going to hit Lidia's Becco which is VERY vegetarian friendly.

Look, the whole trip is a big foodie thing. Two themes, graduating and eating. We're also going to do our foruth food tour (we've previously done Brooklyn Pizza, Greenwich Village and Lower East Side). This time, NoLIta. Yeah. We like to eat!

The big deal now is getting reservations which we can't get till 30 days in advance so I sure hope our plans come to fruition!! Thanks all!

If you are in Brooklyn, check out Polish Town, and Little Russia, then take a tour of 44 Eagle Street Roof top Farm.

dcarch

If you're going to Katz's, you could combine it with a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. It's only a few blocks from there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tenement Museum

I would go to Aquavit , Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant. I have a couple of his cookbooks and like the recipes, including the ones from this restaurant.

Lars

I would want to go to Aquavit too. I remember when reading one of Reichl's books how impressed she was with it.

Well I must say for a nice Italian Casual meal i did like BECCO....Lidia Bastiniachs restauraunt near the theatre district....I went to her other one cant remember the name I was not impressed it was higher end and not to my liking! but Becco was great for a early dinner and def nice wine list at reasonable price!