lunch in NYC?

[JVL1018]

I have some <gasp> internet friends coming for a long weekend this Thursday.(We actually meet at least once a year-and have for the past 6 years-we were on a pregnancy board together )
Anyway-we're going into the city Friday. Taking the bus into the PA.
We are taking the hop on/hop off bus tour because people want to visit things all over the place and I figured that was easiest.
We are going to Carmine's in the theater district for dinner--but lunch, I have no idea.

Any suggestions? I think we will be downtown around lunchtime, maybe by the WTC site, but we will be all over the city so we can plan to be somewhere else if you have suggestion in a different area.

 

[RickinNYC]

I have some <gasp> internet friends coming for a long weekend this Thursday.(We actually meet at least once a year-and have for the past 6 years-we were on a pregnancy board together )
Anyway-we're going into the city Friday. Taking the bus into the PA.
We are taking the hop on/hop off bus tour because people want to visit things all over the place and I figured that was easiest.
We are going to Carmine's in the theater district for dinner--but lunch, I have no idea.

Any suggestions? I think we will be downtown around lunchtime, maybe by the WTC site, but we will be all over the city so we can plan to be somewhere else if you have suggestion in a different area.

There really isn't a whole heck of a lot restaurant wise in the financial district that I can recommend. It's not far from the Soutstreet Seaport but that's really a glorfied mall.

Perhaps, after WTC, you can hop the subway and go to Little Italy or Chinatown. They're both super close.

 

[JVL1018]

There really isn't a whole heck of a lot restaurant wise in the financial district that I can recommend. It's not far from the Soutstreet Seaport but that's really a glorfied mall.

Perhaps, after WTC, you can hope the subway and go to Little Italy or Chinatown. They're both super close.

Yeah, we're going there(Little Italy/Chinatown) anyway, good idea-thanks.

 

[luvwinnie]

Be sure to get the calamari at Carminie's!

I can recommend a place called Uncle Jack's Steakhouse on 9th and 34th, but not sure if you will be in that area. Really nothing else to see around there! I work on 34th near Macy's. Not much good eating around here if you ask me.

 

[RickinNYC]

Yeah, we're going there(Little Italy/Chinatown) anyway, good idea-thanks.

If you end up in Chinatown for lunch, check out Joe Shanghai and ORDER THEIR SOUP DUMPLINGS! This place serves family style at a huge table and you might have to sit with complete strangers, but it's part of the experience. NOT a fancy place at all but GREAT chinese food. It's a Manhattan institution. It's at 9 Pell Street near the corner of Bowery, right in Chinatown.

There's also Lombardi's at 32 Spring Street at the corner of Spring and Mott in Little Italy. It's one of the very first pizzeria's in America, gets consitently excellend reviews for the "best of NY" and is reasonably priced. It's brick oven thin crust and GREAT. I love it. It's cash only by the way, no credit cards. They have some pretty good sangria too I might add.

FYI, Lombardi's does not sell by the slice. And because they're pretty thin pizza's you might want to order more than you think only because it's easy to power through half a pie.

Now I want Lombardi's. Maybe lunch today for me. It's just a couple of blocks away from the office.

Both restaurants won't have a long wait for lunch on a Friday afternoon. Both will have folks waiting but no worries. Of the two, Lombardi's is MUCH easier to get to.

Another added bonus with Lombardi's is that it's a hop/skip from SoHo for some good shopping AND next to Chinatown.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I agree 100% with Rick as far as restaurants in the Financial district, especially South Street Seaport ...don't waste your time.

Two places that we consider go-to restaurants when entertaining out-of-town guests are the still celebrity-studded Balthazar in Soho (at Spring & Crosby) and Aquagrille (at Spring & 6th). We earned big time family points when Jude Law was siting next to us at Balthazar when my wife's cousin visited late last year, but you're almost always guaranteed to see one celeb there. Balthazar's been around for quite some time, but has definitely withstood the trials of becoming a foodie-tourist destination in stride. Aquagrille is simply outstanding for seafood. If the weathers nice, get a table outside on the patio, a bottle of wine, an order of oysters, and enjoy!! Have fun!!

ETA: I just noticed you're talking about this weekend...I'd skip the patio at Aquagrille and eat inside.

 

[JVL1018]

Thank you all so much-I wrote everything down so we can figure it out when the girls get here.