Can I borrow your phone book?

January 17, 2005 2:34 PM

I’m coming over to New York from England next month for a few days and wondered if you could recommend any restaurants/bars for me and me chums to visit? We’re staying on the Upper West Side. Any help would be much appreciated!
posted by orange clock (42 comments total)

New York, New York, it's a hell of a town!
posted by joelf at 2:39 PM on January 17, 2005

Interesting roundup of a all too common question. I guess this is why there are hundreds of guidebooks devoted to the topic of NYC.
posted by mathowie at 2:40 PM on January 17, 2005

This post really confused me until I realized that it was built around the first link. Apparently, "I'm coming to New York City, please help!" is a routinely asked non-specialist question, and the AskMe links are meant to demonstrate that, yup, questions about NY are common.

At least... I think that's what this is supposed to be....

Am I right?
posted by painquale at 2:41 PM on January 17, 2005

We're a diverse bunch, but we all want to eat in NY apparently...
posted by joelf at 2:41 PM on January 17, 2005

neat post BTW. I really enjoy the MetaMETA
posted by joelf at 2:42 PM on January 17, 2005

you just blew my mind
posted by docpops at 2:45 PM on January 17, 2005

Hehe ya got me, I thought I was on ask.metafilter.com for a second.
posted by furtive at 2:49 PM on January 17, 2005

We get that same question about a dozen times a week on Chowhound's Toronto board - only, you know, about Toronto. The same but more, obviously, for the New York board and LA and SF and all the other boards. It drives a large number of Chowhound regulars insane, I think.

I mean, they want great Indian for under $15 within 10 blocks of the SkyDome, I've got recommendations, but if all they can give me is 'give me recommendations' then I've got nothing. Which one of the thousands of great Toronto places, from holes in the wall where they can a $4 skewer of halal meat in a pita to white linen service sit down restaurants where the tasting menu will run them $500 for two would they like?
posted by jacquilynne at 2:50 PM on January 17, 2005

The TMN article is fantastic, but you need fewer than half a dozen links to answer this universal question:

Chowhound (Manhattan and Outer Boroughs message boards)

Menupages

Zagat

(just sayin')
posted by enrevanche at 2:51 PM on January 17, 2005

It's one thing to do some research beforehand and then ask for opinions (i.e. what's the reputation of this place vs. that place), but to just ask for recommendations without much guidance is plain laziness.
posted by gen at 3:03 PM on January 17, 2005

We're a diverse bunch

Not really. We seem to be, for the most part, younger, white, liberal, tech savyy, of course, with many exceptions. But diversity award deserving we are not.
posted by justgary at 3:04 PM on January 17, 2005

http://home.att.net/~avci/TURKUAZ.htm
posted by arisbe at 3:37 PM on January 17, 2005

well, since nobody's posted one yet -- try Frank's - 85 Tenth Ave at 15th Street. one of the nicest restaurants i've ever been in. very cool. if you run into Murat (one of the waiters) tell him Peter and Matthew McCabe say hello :)
posted by teletype1 at 3:37 PM on January 17, 2005

I'm going over to London in a couple of weeks, and there's this restaurant I ate at last time I was there which I positively fell in love with. I think the sign outside was bluish. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
posted by Edible Energy at 4:03 PM on January 17, 2005

Of course it is not our friends from the UK who are asking (save 1 or 2) these questions but members from the US (and NYC!).
posted by mlis at 4:07 PM on January 17, 2005

Talk about finding the right link at the right time! ...

A former neighbor of mine is having folks from his home country visiting in the U.S. for a couple of hours. He has asked me to host a dinner for them in New York City. He has a few other stipulations in finding a good restaurant.

1. In NYC, perferably the lower section of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
2. A Nepalese restaurant
3. Interior decor is preferably that of a yurt.
4. Nepalese wall hangings are 'in'; Nipplese wall hangings are 'out'
5. We ought to have many taxis cruising the area because several of our group are yak drivers. It will make them feel more at home.
6. Menu will include hot tea, made Nepalese-style, with water from melted snow.
7. Finally, American Express card: They left home without it. The selected restaurant should accept checks drawn on a Nepalese bank.

Zagat's didn't help me. Can you?
posted by PlanoTX at 4:11 PM on January 17, 2005

Is this "New York" someplace I should have heard about?
posted by Balisong at 4:15 PM on January 17, 2005

For a minute I wondered if this was a misplaced MeTa callout. Nice work.
posted by cali at 4:20 PM on January 17, 2005

I'm going over to London in a couple of weeks, and there's this restaurant I ate at last time I was there which I positively fell in love with. I think the sign outside was bluish. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Edible Energy, you have no idea (unless you do) how often one hears that sort of question while working in a bookstore. I swear, half the questions I was asked while working the Information desk were along the lines of "Hey, my friend told me I should read a book...it's about some guy...no, it's not non-fiction, it's stories. But it's, y'know, real." And I really did have someone ask me "There's this book that everyone is reading, it's bluish, and softcover. Do you know what it is?"

What was even scarier was how often I actually recognized what they were asking about, because it was one of the seven or so books that people were reading at the time.
posted by Fontbone at 4:46 PM on January 17, 2005

i do that, Fontbone--sorry (but it always works--you guys always know)
posted by amberglow at 4:48 PM on January 17, 2005

I spoke to Murat, but when I mentioned Peter McCabe, he gave me an icy stare and muttered something in Farsi that, according to my limited knowledge of that tongue, is a mild oath concerning a my family and various species of snails.
posted by esquire at 4:56 PM on January 17, 2005

ack! you beat me to posting TMN!! I was gonna post things from there soon, but im a newb and just a little shy.
posted by lemonfridge at 5:03 PM on January 17, 2005

newyorkology might not be the biggest blog about just this type of question, but it's quite good
posted by tsarfan at 5:30 PM on January 17, 2005

...white, liberal, tech savyy...
I know it's just a typo, justgary, but can I add savyy to my oxymoron collection?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:48 PM on January 17, 2005

Since it doesn't really snow in England, don't eat the yellow snow...Also, always remember to drink the soda from a straw, if you must drink from a can...
posted by Rastafari at 5:51 PM on January 17, 2005

continuing Rastafari's theme: Many subway stations don't have crossovers to the other side, if you find yourself going the wrong direction. Wait til you get to a bigger station to change (if the train doors open onto a larger, open platform, you can change directions.)
posted by amberglow at 6:22 PM on January 17, 2005

Welcome to our city, now fuck off.
posted by fungible at 6:56 PM on January 17, 2005

I hear there's an Olive Garden in Times Square. Go there, and get the fuck out of my face if you can't figure out where to eat in New York.
posted by Caviar at 7:11 PM on January 17, 2005

if you make it down to lower Manhattan and it's time for lunch, Katz's Deli for the pastrami on rye
posted by quizzy at 7:15 PM on January 17, 2005

Brooklyn is not New York! You might as well be living in New Jersey. It was relevant and interesting in the early part of the 20th century but has become what Oakland is to San Francisco. It's considered overseas and not yet civilized.

When I have visitors from out of town, I start the day off with a delicious breakfast at Starbucks, then an afternoon outing at the Disney Store followed by dinner at the Olive Garden and a nightcap at Hooters. Then, it's onto the cab back to JFK.

BTW, any Croissant recommendations? I'm Balthazarred-out.
posted by aliendolphin at 7:21 PM on January 17, 2005

Despite this and the better guidebooks, the tourists will still all eat at the giant Red Lobster in Times Square.
posted by Dukebloo at 9:14 PM on January 17, 2005

Brookyn is better than New York--so please stop by.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:35 PM on January 17, 2005

Don't eat anything. Use the money to buy another iPod from the Apple Store and sell it when you come back. Then use the profit to go to Le Gavroche.
posted by riviera at 9:56 PM on January 17, 2005

I may be out of touch, but I don't believe I've ever actually heard the word "chums" used (outside of the Hardy Boys book series).
posted by spock at 10:36 PM on January 17, 2005

What great timing - I am indeed coming over to New York from England next month for a few days. I look forward to instantly forgetting all of this advice the moment that I land.

Newyorkology looks particularly good, tsarfan. Cheers!
posted by fitzpas at 4:17 AM on January 18, 2005

I'm going over to London in a couple of weeks, and there's this restaurant I ate at last time I was there which I positively fell in love with. I think the sign outside was bluish. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I was once eating in a restaurant in New York when the waiter (who was American) asked me if I was from England. When I replied that I was he said, and I quote, "No way, do you know Jenny? She's a nurse from Birkenhead?"

Sadly I didn't.
posted by ciderwoman at 6:21 AM on January 18, 2005

Kottke filter. (snarking just to stay in character w/ the thread, m'kay?)
posted by theora55 at 7:32 AM on January 18, 2005

what amber doesnt know about new york isn't worth knowing .......especially where to go to be serenaded by drag queens ..
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:30 AM on January 18, 2005

As a New Yorker, I have deep suspicions that this is entirely fictional.
posted by Ayn Marx at 2:04 PM on January 18, 2005

I know it's just a typo, justgary, but can I add savyy to my oxymoron collection?

Know
posted by justgary at 6:29 PM on January 18, 2005

You must go to Citrus, on Amsterdam and 76th. Excellent restaurant. And the bars up on Amsterdam between 78th and 82 are wonderful as well. Jakes Dilemma, Bourbon St, etc. There's also a wonderful down home cookin' restaurant called Good Enough To Eat.
posted by itsacountry at 8:17 AM on January 19, 2005

Why is "England" an Indie Rock question, do they even have that there ? : p

Also, does this not seem like a good reason for a FAQ, or at least a neat list of previous travel and accounting questions, and hey! isn't this more MeTa than blue?
posted by milovoo at 10:15 AM on January 19, 2005