NYC RESTAURANTS

FIRST THINGS FIRST!!!
Visit the High Line, a reclaimed Westside railway turned into a spectacular overhead pedestrian NYC public park on an elevated train line that runs from the Meat Packing District to Chelsea. Many years ago, before the area became the sexy, trendy, fashion-oriented place it now is, it was the bloodline of the abattoirs in the Meatpacking District.

WEST VILLAGE

Buvette
Jodi Williams’ cute spot on Grove Street near Bleeker. Very busy at night and at brunch. Feels perfectly French. 

The Clam
An under-rated, delicious restaurant on Hudson St. near Leroy run by chef Pike Price. Super nice guy cooking great food in an unassuming spot in the West Village.  One of my favorites.

Gotham Bar & Grill 
Greenwich Village 
An old veteran restaurant led in a fine manner for 34 years by chef Alfred Portale, who recently left and was replaced by a fine young chef, Victoria Blamey, with whom I worked for several years at il Buco. 

Gottino
On Greenwich Avenue, near 7th. A pleasant small plates Italian spot with really tasty food. Opened originally by... Jody Williams. It can be too busy and too loud as the night goes on, but of a Sunday afternoon or in the early evening, it's nice. Small but appealing idiosyncratic Italian wine selection.

i Sodi
Rita Sodi's more formal Italian place on Christopher Street, near Bleecker. Very good, classic Tuscan food in a relaxed, tranquil atmosphere.

Mary's Fish Camp
Go early. Often very loud (but good) music. Sometimes aloof but generally nice staff. Delicious shellfish and fish. Deceptively not not cheap. 

O Cafe
6th Ave and 12th St
Sweet cafe by a Brazilian friend, Fernando Aciar; you'll fall into his irresistible, unforgettably beautiful, seductive green eyes.

Pearl
Excellent, busy West Village oyster bar/restaurant on Cornelia Street.

Taïm
Delicious, popular Israeli falafel and smoothie shop by the tireless Einat Adony. Yummy, yummy!! Several locations, but Waverly Place is my favourite. 

Takashi
Excellent Japanese spot on Hudson and Barrow, some crazy offal things, some less threatening, some familiar, but all very good. They also feature a delicious late night ramen on Fridays and Saturdays after midnight.   

Via Carota
On Grove between Bleecker and 7th Avenue. Owned by Rita Sodi, the girlfriend of Jody Williams (who owns Buvette).    

MEATPACKING DISTRICT

The Standard Grill
Washington Street @ 13th in the Meatpacking District. One of the Standard's many places, but very good. Packed. Be sure you eat in the grill and not one of the other restaurants. 

MADISON SQUARE PARK AREA

Upland
Chef owner and former il Buco colleague Justin Smillie. Say hello if he's there. His food is excellent. Park @ 26th. There’s another Upland in Miami.

UES/harlem

Charles’ Pan Fried Chicken 
Harlem 
Definitive fried chicken

Rotisserie Georgette
A warm, charming restaurant with direct, simple food that you want to eat. Seemingly plain, it's a very professional place that focusses on its rotisserie, of course. Great meal near the Central Park and the museums.  

CHELSEA

El Quinto Pino
A Spanish- style spot on 24th and 9th Avenue serving tasty food by Alex Raij, a chef who also has the delicious La Vara in BK. Busy at Happy Hour.

Mercado at Little Spain 
Hudson Yards  
José Andrés is an extraordinary guy. He manages to open better and better places not only in D.C. but now also in NYC.

 Txikito 
9th Ave @ 25th. More Alex Raij, Basque this time. Good food. Still, I prefer El Quinto Pino. 

Scarpetta
On W 14th, is very good, very Italian, and very expensive. 

CO. 
Very good pizza by famous baker Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery (see below). It’s all about the crust.

Sullivan Street Bakery
Jim Lahey's stellar bakery. He was orginally on Sullivan Street in Soho, but moved to this larger space after a divorce. Famous for his recipe for No-Knead bread.

EAST VILLAGE/NOHO 

Abraço 
7th St and 1st Ave The cutest, littlest, hole-in-the-wall café with no seating, by my friend Jamie McIntyre (from Oliveto, in Oakland). Is it not the best coffee in NYC?  

il Buco and il Buco Alimentari e Vineria
Two good sister places I consulted for, the first on Bond Street, the Alimentari on Great Jones. The salumeria is the only one in NY making its own salumi. Delicious food in booth restaurants. Bond Street is a quiet gem. 

Ho Foods Noodle Shop 
East Village 
At a place that makes one dish, it has to be perfect. No website.

Il Posto Acanto
A wonderful little place adored by many locals, run by a vibrant Roman-born woman, Bea Tosti di Valminuta, and her husband, Julio. It’s been around for decades, quietly serving some of the best Italian food in the city. Nothing fancy, but splendidly delicious.

Lafayette 
Great terrace, great bakery, good food. The almond croissant is spectacular. On a sunny morning it's tops. 

Maiden Lane
I like this place a lot, really a bar with food whose preparation is clever, simple, imaginative and delicious. What a clever way to deal with not having a kitchen! Tins of seafood from Portugal, Spain, and France, with a few other simple preparations, in a basic but friendly East Village spot looking onto Tompkins Square Park. On its website, it looks like more than it is, but it's a quite pleasant, enjoyable, small restaurant. Mos def have the Trout Rillettes, which it really isn't, but is exceptionally good!

Patacon Pisao
A Lower East Side Argentinian place that sports a deeply delicious sandwich of pork, steak, avocado, and a fried egg. Now that’s worth a special trip.

Prune
1st St between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Always good, hard to get into now because of her book's success, and its stellar food. The sweetbreads with capers are delicious, as is any fish dish, for that matter. Sit on the open window on a warm, dreamy, summer night. 

Narcissa
Good food, good service, on the expensive side, but worth a visit. The patio is a great place to have a cocktail and people watch. 

SOHO/NOLITA/LES/
TRIBECA/FiDi

Bâtard
Marcus Glocker is not flawless, but he’s close. His food is revisionary French, in the best sense of the term. On the former Tribeca site of Corton (downtown). With Drew Nieporent as a partner, you can bet the wine list is superb.

Café Altro Paradiso
The second place by Ignacio Mattos and Thomas Carter. 6th Ave @ Spring. Perhaps better than Estela.   

Café Gitane
Cute, ultra cool, very French café with a good avocado toast on healthy bread and a proper Croque Monsieur. Great place to sit on the pavement and have a glass of wine. 

Ed's Lobster Bar
My favourite lobster roll in NY. Great raw bar overall. Lafayette Street.

Estela
Ignacio Mattos has cooked in Argentina with Francis Mallmann, in California at Chez Panisse, and, for many years now, in New York. He’s had some ups and downs over his years in NY, but Estela is a stunningly good up that erases any rough spots, one of my favorite and one of the best restaurants NYC. Delicious wines at good prices. His new hot place over on 6th Ave is Café Paradiso, and he and his partner, Thomas Carter, are in the new Met Breuer on the UES.

Frenchette
The new place by Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, who have been co-chefs since before it was a thing, and who put many of Keith McNally's restaurants(Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, Pastis, Cherche-Midi) on the map. Go and enjoy simple, direct, unfussy, well-cooked, delicious food accompanied by an engaging wine list. These folks know how to do it. 

King Restaurant
A wonderful spot serving exceptional, simple food drawn from what some, occasionally with malice, call “market cooking.” I happen to think it’s the best way to cook, and to eat. King has an easy, unaffected, elegance about it that shows through in its delicious cookery.

LES 

Joey Batts Café
Since my time in London, where this sublime pastry abounds, how long it be before someone started making Pastel de Nata seriously in the U.S. – the answer may have arrived. Nowadays, this is my only choice for morning café. 

Kesté
Financial District
Worth a trip to see – and taste! – the exceptional and unusual Focaccia di Recco at a restaurant that has continued to improve over the years.

La Sirene
On Broome @ Varick, it’s a highly recommended French café that I haven’t tried but am dying to go to.

Le Coucou
Is the newest, superb spot in Manhattan, and everyone wants to go. Daniel Rose of the renowned Spring, in Paris, opened in partnership with the indefatigable Steven Starr to create this sublime Manhattan restaurant that serves Daniel’s personalized, classic French food, on Lafayette Street, on the edge of Chinatown. Don’t miss it.

Maman
A new French café said to be very good. On Centre Street in lower Soho, and one in Meatpacking, but don't know that one. I think it's inside another store, so? 

Peasant 
Could now be called rustic Italian restaurant. Everything cooked over wood. One of my favorites. 

Pepe Rosso To Go
Great take out, with two tables, on Sullivan Street just off Houston. 

Rebelle
A newish place on Bowery that is very French without the typical French tropes. It boasts a 1600 bottle wine list – I can’t count that high – but the food selection is smaller, and very well done. The American chef, Daniel Eddy, cooked at Spring, one of Paris’s hot new wave bistros, located in the 1st Arrondissement. So it’s that, but it’s worth a determined try, if not a special trip.

Russ and Daughters Café
Every bit as good as the original deli on Houston, where they tell you the proper order placement to ensure the best possible bagel (don't order the bagel first!). Could the latkes be a little crisper? Yes, but everything else is so good and it's so well run and so upbeat, you let them slide. On a sunny Sunday morning, it's a dream.

Uncle Boons
Spring and Elizabeth. Very fun modern Thai spot, very good food, very busy, go early or you’ll never get in.

RAMEN

Ippudo
With its loud, vocal announcement of new arrivals to the room, it’s showy compared to Hide-Chan. Ippudo’s part of a global Japanese ramen restaurant chain, but it’s very good and very busy with long waits if you don’t time it right. I like to sneak into the 4th Ave (near 9th Street) location
at about 3:00-3:15 pm, just before lunch closes. I prefer it to Midtown.

Hide-Chan
There are two locations. I prefer the one on E. 52nd and 1st.
Simple menu, delicious ramen. I like the spicy garlic bowl.

Totto Ramen
It’s very good, but a little bit too cool and hip, rather than calming, for my taste. I prefer the W. 52nd Street location

CHINESE places

Hot Kitchen
2nd Ave. at 6th. Not as "authentic" as it might be if it were located in Queens – it's on the edge of NYU – but they serve very tasty spicy Chinese food.

Legend Bar & Restaurant
88 7th Ave
New York, NY 10011
Superb Sichuan food.

Spicy Village (He Nan Noodle House)
A tiny place on the Lower East side serving delicious hand-pulled noodles, and many other things. Order the deservingly legendary Spicy Big Tray Chicken. 

Shan Dong Fried Noodle
106 Mosco St
New York, NY 10013
Cash only. No Website. The name describes the menu. The dumplings are superb. Cash only.

456 Shanghai Cuisine
69 Mott St
New York, NY 10013
Cash only. No website. Excellent soup dumplings. 

Jazz clubs  

DOWNTOWN
Smalls
183 W 10th near 7th Avenue (Greenwich Village)
Excellent jazz. Early and late sets every night.

Mezzrow
163 W 10THnear 7thAvenue (Greenwich Avenue) – basement (owned by Smalls) 
Top notch piano duos and trios in a lovely, intimate lounge setting.

55 Bar
55 Christopher Street near 7thAvenue (Greenwich Village) 
A small, old school neighborhood club with excellent top local players. Sundays tend to feature guitarists.

Village Vanguard
178 7THAvenue near Greenwich Avenue (Greenwich Village) 
Superb, historic club featuring top drawer musicians and bands. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra who play every Monday night, is made up of top NYC musicians, and is a lot of fun. Excellent music

Jazz Gallery
1160 Broadway, 5thfloor (near 27thStreet) 
A cerebral, studious club with exceptional, delving music and musicians.

HARLEM
Minton’s
206 W 118th near St.Nicholas (Harlem) 
An historic uptown jazz club featuring top musicians.

Bill’s Place
148 W 133rd near Lenox (Harlem)
Bill Saxton leads the Harlem Allstars on Friday nights.