Combined Suggestions, New York City

I live in NYC and Many neighborhoods have food halls with excellent restaurant, take away food and food shopping. They are usually contain stalls owned by famous restaurants with really fine and reasonably priced foods. I recommend:

The Plaza Food Hall
Location: 1 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019 (212) 986-9260
Created by Todd English - Wonderful restaurants wind around the lower level of the Plaza Hotel. Wonderful breads, baked goods, wine. This is NYC's version of Harrods but a bit pricier with longer waits.

Chelsea Market in the Meatpacking District
Location: 75 9th Ave, NY 10011 (212) 243-6005
Florist, wines, beers, bakery, breads, fish,, produce, chocolates, soups, pizza, lobsters & seafood, ethnic, groceries, kitchen products, The food channel is filmed upstairs.

Gotham West Food Hall
Location: 600 11th Avenue (44th Street), 212-582-7940,
10,000-square-foot market at the ground level of a block long residential project on the West Side with food counters, open kitchens and retail space. It's an industrial version of the Plaza Food Hall in between the theater district and Hudson River Park, Tapas, Mexican, soup, sandwiches, beer, wine, charcuterie, noodles, beer, wine, and everything from produce, groceries and kitchenware

Hudson Eats
Location: 200 Vesey St., New York, NY 10281 at the World Financial Center
14 fast-casual concepts with over 600 seats and an outdoor terrace from chef-driven eateries over looking the Hudson River; Black Seed Bagels, Chop’t, Dig Inn, Dos Toros, Little Muenster, Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, Num Pang, Olive’s, SkinnyPizza, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Tartinery and Umami Burger.

Eately 50,000 square ft. Italian marketplace & restaurant
Location: 200 5th Ave, (West 23rd Street) New York, NY 10010 (212) 229-2560
Created by Mario Batali - Gelato, pizza, fish, bakery, chocolates, fruits, vegetables, butcher, pasta, wine and a rooftop beer hall. Kitchen items, cookbooks and everything Italian can be found here.

Grand Central Market
East 43rd Street at Lexington, New York, NY
To the right of the clock inside Grand Central Station is an amazing market. Produce, fish, flowers, cheese, appetizing and spices are very reasonably priced. Food is packaged to go but can be taken and eaten downstairs in the food hall. The food hall is filled with 35 more delicious fast & inexpensive NYC foods from pizza to knishes, cupcakes, chicken, wines, soups, chili, steaks, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, pita, coffee, Shake Shake, Mexican, seafood ....

Essex Street Market in the Lower East Side
Location: 120 Essex St.at the corner of Delancey, NYC | (212) 533 - 9616
From the 1940's, Smaller with 35 stalls selling Coffee, pickles, pastries, chocolates, produce, meats, fish and specialty items.

Smorgasburg/Brooklyn Flea Beer Hall
Location: Outdoors on Sundays from April to November at Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park near Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens,
About a hundred ethnic and varied restaurants in Brooklyn took there best to stalls on the waterfront. Amazing dishes from over a hundred restaurants, any and everything you can imagine.

Arthur Avenue, Bronx Food and Beer Hall
Location: 2344 Arthur Ave at 187th Street Bronx 10458
Also from the 1940's, containing bakery, pizza, appetizing, cigar shop, butcher, fruits, vegetables florist, and beer. The blocks in the area contain wonderful & reasonable Italian food and delicacies.

Thursday May 2, 2013
As we only had an hour for lunch, before we had to get back on the bus, we looked for something quick, but good. Then we spotted all the Food Trucks lined up along 50th Street. I had a craving for a Phily Steak and Cheese and to my delight, I saw the Truck OLD STYLE PHILY CHEESE STEAKS. It was lunchtime and the lines were already getting long, so I hurried up and got into line. There was only about 4 people in front of me, but one guy was ordering a bunch of sandwiches for the people he worked with. When it was finally my turn, I ordered the mushroom Phily Steak Combo, which was $10.00 and included a beverage and small fries.
Hans and I shared the huge sandwich and it was absolutely delicious. A generous helping of steak and cheese, that just melted in your mouth. YUM!

Other Food Trucks there included the Ziad Halal Food, Thai Street Food and the Food Network Truck which was giving out goodies and goodie bags.

Over the past three decades, New York has emerged on the international scene as one of the culinary capitals of the world. It now rivals cities such as Paris, Barcelona, London (also a recent newcomer) and Beirut for the variety and quality of the cuisine. It is often said that one could eat at a different restaurant in New York each day and never repeat a single one. While this may be true, naturally, not all of these places are worthy of our patronage as New York has its big share of restaurants that are a nuisance to our refined palates, probably far more than at the other aforementioned culinary capitals.

Below is a list of only a few favourite restaurants. I will expand the list and describe the restaurants in more detail over time.

Spanish/Catalan: Casa Mono (17th St & Irving Place)
Lebanese: ilili (Fifth Ave & 27th St)
Middle Eastern/Mediterranean: Taboon (52nd St & 10th Ave)
Steakhouse: Strip House (12th St & Fifth Ave)
American/International: Gotham (12th St & Fifth Ave)
Italian high end: Da Umberto (17th St & 6th Ave)
Italian casual: Zampa (13th St & 8th Ave)
French Bistro: Balthazar (Spring St & Broadway)
French high end: Nougatine (at Jean George - 59th & Central Park West)
Greek casual: Snack Taverna (63 Bedford St & Morton St)
Greek high end: Ammos Estiatorio (Vanderbuilt Ave & 45th St - late Friday night is best!)

I have been a lot of New York's restaurants
Here it is the list of my favorites:

Kelly & Ping
Asian food-$$
On Green St. Between Houston Ave and PrinceSt.

Saigon Grill
Thai food-$$
On Broadway and 86th St

Raul
French-$$$
On Prince St. Between Thompson St. and
Sullivan St.

Spice
Thai food-$
On Second Ave between 73rd and 74th St.

Planet Thai
Thai/Japanese-$$
In Williamsburg, 1 block to Bedford L train stop.

While in Paris, I became somewhat of a macaron maven. If you have eaten one you may have gotten hooked like me. I lay some blame to them for my weight gain while there. I have written this tip in response to another person who was bitten by the macaron bug and posted a question in the forums regarding where to find these delights in New York. I haven't been to any of these places yet, but my mouth was watering as I read blogs written by people who have.

======================================

The list below is copied straight from the website Serious Eats. I have never been to any of the places listed. In Paris I like Gregory Renard in the 7th or Pierre Hermes in the 6th. The one time that I tried macarons in NY they were dry and crumbly.

As for a good restaurant in SOHO, I can vouch for June's (zuriga) recommendation, Balthazar's. It's my favorite. It has a French feel about it and the best Pavlova I have ever eaten. I always get the same thing when I go there, the goat cheese tart, a glass of white, and the Pavlova. There is a beautiful bar there too. Although it has been said that it is booked up weeks in advance, I have always walked right in and gotten a table with no more that a 15 minute wait. You can also eat at the bar.

for Macarons

http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/where-to-find-macarons-new-york-city-and-paris.html

New York City

Almondine (Brooklyn, DUMBO)
Bouchon Bakery (Columbus Circle)
Bouley Bakery (Tribeca)
Financier (Financial District)
Georgia's Bake Shop (Upper West Side)
Joyce Bakeshop (Brooklyn, Prospect Heights)
Jacques Torres (Soho and Brooklyn, DUMBO; seasonal availability; check with the store before you visit)
Kee's Chocolate (Soho)
Madeleine Patisserie (Chelsea)
La Maison du Chocolat (Midtown, Upper East Side)
Payard (Upper East Side)
Silver Moon Bakery (Upper West Side)
Something Sweet (East Village)
Tisserie (Union Square)
Trois Crepes Patisserie (Upper East Side)

Another website that lists places where you can buy macarons in NYC.

http://thewanderingeater.com/2007/04/03/in-search-of-the-french-macaron-in-nyc/

Read her blog on the best macarons.

http://thewanderingeater.com/2006/10/20/macaronswho-has-them-in-nyc-whos-the-best/

I would suggest you call these places before they go to see if they still sell macarons.

The Door
If you find yourself in Queens check out this place. It is 5-10 min drive from St. Johns University. There is a take out part and a sit down area. Takeout takes forever; dont order when hungry. The restaurant is small but nicely decorated clean and neat. Everything on the menu tastes great, is authentic, yet still creative. For example they serve escovich chicken. The waiters and waitresses are very good too.

Club Nakisaki
Its 5-10min drive from Hofstra University and Nassau Coliseum.
Is a Chinese Jamaican restaurant/club. The top floor is a restaurant and bar and the bottom floor is a night club. The club is only open Fridays and Saturdays. You can rent for special occassions. They serve both traditional dishes and exotic combinations. You have the choice of eating at the buffet or ordering from the menu. The buffet is ok and you get more for your money and stomach. However the menu has more wonderful combinations that you may want to try. You will need a doggie bag though. Service here is excellent.

Favorite Dish: The Door
ackee and codfish
oxtails
curry shrimp

Nakisaki
coconut run down shrimp - they serve in the restaurant you will not see on the website
brown stewed snapper

In response to forum question asking weither they should visit Smith & Wollensky's or Keen's steakhouses~>>>>

---
---

I love Smith & Wollensky's~ It was the place I'd go to eat with my pay checks from my high school jobs haha

But I will say that Keens (1880's) may be a more special of a "place"~

The Smith and Wollensky's in Miami is a great place~ one of the best going..but there are better to be found in NY for that "once in a lifetime" NY steakhouse feast..

When I'm ready for a classic NY aged steak, I wind up in Peter Lugers 4/5 times~ (also from the 1880's).. best steak in NY in my (and millions of others) opinions, but the place is in Brooklyn~only 15 minutes from midtown, but that may be a factor for you..

Sparks and Mortons are also certainly worthy of mention if we're going off the two initialy mentioned~They're both Midtown locations~

Favorite Dish: ...steak!

The three bakeries above are one of the best in New York but are underated. Quite a few New Yorkers do know about them and they have been featured in a few articles but they still do not get the prestige that other bakeries do. The thing is their goods taste better than those that are featured in Zagats etc.

Make My Cake has the best cupcakes in town particularly the one on 116th street and 7th ave (otherwize known as Adam Clayton Powell Blvd). I've tasted the others and they just do not compare. On top of that they make sugar free cakes too.

Settipani is owned by a mixed couple; he's Italian and she is Ethiopian. Most of the cakes and tarts come from those countries but they have a good mix of European and American pastries as well. It is on 120th Street Lenox Avenue. In the summer they have a sidewalk cafe and sometimes a jazz band comes on Sunday afternoon. Mainly the elitist of Harlem jam this place.

Favorite Dish: red velvet cupcake- Make My Cake
german chocolate cake - Settipani

I can compare this area perhaps to Cape Town's waterfront although on a far less grander scale. There are many choices for dining in our indeed outdoors on the decking although seafood remains the predominant choice in restaurant such as Sequoia, Cabana and Harbour Lights. So to accomodate my dislike of seafood my friends very graciously decided to dine in the food court. What a selection there is in the top section of the mall your choice of Sushi, Italian, Chinese, Tex Mex, Burgers, Cajun, Subway, Crepes and more!! It all comes on a tray and its all big and invariably unhealthy. There is a seating area for 250 people and you would think finding a spot would be easy however single people tend to relish occupying tables designed to seat 4 but then again sharing is caring.

The new nexus of exciting dining/shopping/entertainment at the Lincoln Center area can all be had at the mammoth Time-Warner Complex on Columbus Circle. All the restaurants there combine great dining and superlative ambiance with sky-high views overlooking Central Park and Manhattan's Upper WestSide. A few of the restaurants at the complex I can recommend are:

-Asiate (212)805-8881) serves eclectic French-Japanese fare.
-Cafe Gray - dining a la brasserie type.
-Masa
Porter House NY
Per Se
(these three are designer chef restaurants with great international cuisine)

On the street level right across Time-Warner building on West 61st Street is Gabriel's, a more moderately-priced good restaurant with a good menu. Next to it around the corner in front of Trump International Hotel is Sapphire, a medium-priced Indian restaurant.

If you want classic romantic dining with equally great cuisine, head to Cafe D'Artistes, at 1 West 67th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. This is a New York City institution where the dining experience is literally putting one back into a splendid old-world atmosphere and charm of dining. High class and you must reserve way ahead - 212-877-3500.

If you like Mexican, right across Lincoln Center on West 62nd and Columbus Avenue is Rosa Mexicana with outstanding noveau Mexican fare and fantastic decor.

since this tip is about some of my fave restaurants on Cornelia Street, I put this under "restaurants" as well. There are so many good places to eat on this block.
If you're walking around the village
(and if you get tired or hungry)
here is a good street
Cornelia between W 4th and Bleecker.

On one block:
good & affordable Cuban at the Little Havana, trattoria Po, Palma (Italian with a little indoor terrace); Gigot (a little NY/french bistro); Home (good specials & upscale comfort food);
there's good sushi / japanese on the corner at Bleecker (Sushi Mam Bo), and my fave hangout, Cornelia Cafe in the middle of the block.
There's a really good oyster bar too, (Pearl Oyster Bar).

Cornelia Cafe has an outdoor terrace w/tables, Palma more of an indoor but it is open/no windows in good weather.

I doubt many blocks in the village or even Manhattan have a concentration of good places to eat delicious food & hang out.

Killer people-watching and a great variety of places to chow and pass the time.
Here's a MAP

Favorite Dish: My fave place to just cafe, lunch & people-watch is Cornelia St. Cafe terrace (weather permitting);
Home serves a unique variety of good upscale comfort food. Here is the Home menu

& it's hard to top a lobster roll at Pearl Oyster Bar.

NYC has some of the best pizza-by-the-slice you will find anywhere! If you are hungry at all, stop into one of the (probably) 800 or so pizza corner shops you find all over NYC and grab a slice to keep you going. They are simply grand!

Favorite Dish: The best one to get is the classic Margherita pizza. Simple cheese, basil and sauce. Simply amazing!

Koreans call it the K-town in short, which stands for Koreatown. It a span of about 2 blocks in midtown Manhattan with concentrated Korean business district. And there are many choices for Korean restaurants and bars.

Do try the table grill BBQs. Some places use gas but the ones that I prefer use charcoals. Definitely go for GAl Bi - marinated short ribs. That's the smell when you enter these BBQ restaurants. It will get your tast buds fired up. Just writing about it is making me kind of hungry...

Kim Kang San is the biggest one. But there are many others. I believe Dae Dong uses charcoals.

Also, there is a restaurant called Gam Mee Oak that specializes in beef bone soup (known as sul-lung tang). It's cooked for so long that the soup is almost milky and it's ultimate comfort food. Best in winter though...

There is also a restaurant that makes awesome soft tofu soup. It comes by boiling on a small stone bowl. You can have meat, seafood or vegetarian (or all mixed) options and adjust the spicyness. you can get it pretty hot (taste and temperature). There is nothing like it when it's bone chilling cold in NYC. The restaurant name is called Seoul Garden.

Also, for less expensive buffet style (but amazing home style cooking) go to Woo Ri Jip. I used to work a few blocks from KTown and I used to go to this place whenever I got the chance. It's cheap but the food is amazing!

Baden Baden is a nice bar with variety of Korean drinks like soju and Korean beer. Also, I love their food, Koreans call it an-ju (which is basically bar food). The friend chicken goes great with a cold one.

Between 27th and 30th on Lexington lies a small part of India, packed with tons of cheap and tasty restaurants and amazing food and spice shops. I've never seen a selection like this outside of India, it's even better than London or Leicester! If you're looking for the standard Chicken Tikka Masala, forget it, these places are more likely to serve South Indian vegetarian or Gujarati (my favourite style). If you want to impress and get a smile, say "vanakam" in the South Indian place and "gemchau" in the Gujarati.

Favorite Dish: The Gujarati thali always does it for me. Lots of small dishes, pickles and breads.

We ate at the Pigalle Bistro on our last trip to NYC. While there, I picked up a postcard that described a "partnership" between nine NYC French eateries that they call the "Culinary Tour de France". It is based on the idea that each of these nine restaurants covers another section of French cuisine. It sounds wonderful and on my next trips to NYC, I'm going to try some of the other listed establishments.

Look below for a list of the various restaurants in "the tour" and their specialities.

Favorite Dish: The Culinary TOUR DE FRANCE:

French Roast, (Downtown) 78 West 11th - Parisian cuisine
212.533.2233

French Roast, (Uptown) 2340 Broadway @ 85th street
212.799.1533

Le Monde, 2885 Broadway - Loire Valley cuisine
212.531.3939

L'Express, 249 Park Ave South - Lyonnaise cuisine
212.254.5858

Maison, 1700 Broadway - Cuisine of Brittany
212.757.2233

Marseilles, 630 9th Avenue - Marseillaise cuisine
212.333.2323

Nice Matin, 201 W 79th Street - Nicoise cuisine
212.873.6423

Pigalle, 790 8th Avenue - Cuisine of SW France
212.489.2233

Cafe D'Alsace, 1695 88th Street - Alsacienne cuisine
212.722.5133