Restaurants: Around the World in Ten Minutes or Less
"Location, location, location," according to New York real estate agents, is the single most important thing about your address in Manhattan. NYU School of Law is, simply put, the best location in the City. You can literally be anywhere in the borrough in 20 minutes and just about anywhere you'd want to be in the surrounding borroughs in under an hour. But the beautiful part is that you can feel as if you are in other cities or countries throughout the world just by walking for five or ten minutes:
Destination: Florence, Italy
Travel time: Three minutes
Babbo
(110 Waverly Place between MacDougal Street and Sixth Avenue)
If you can't make it to Cibreo in Florence, but you are in the mood for a similar culinary experience, try your hardest to get a reservation at the best Italian restaurant in the City. Chef Mario Batali is larger than life and is the epitome of a passionate foodie. The restaurant (which used to house another era's world class restaurant, The Coach House) has been crowded since the doors opened and the reason is simple: it is just amazingly great food, it has a terrific wine list, the atmosphere is incredibly chic, and the servers are pros. If you want to taste Batali's genius on a slightly less exclusive scale, try Lupa (170 Thompson Street), or Otto (One Fifth Avenue, at East Eighth Street), his much less expensive, instantly popular take on an Italian pizzeria (the cheese course is amazing).
Destination: Bombay, India
Travel time: Ten minutes
Royal Indian Cuisine
(93 First Avenue at Sixth Street)
When you walk down Sixth Street past one Indian restaurant after another, you'll understand why pundits have long said that these establishments were all serviced by one common kitchen. And it's true that the cheap, mediocre food, not to mention the ambience achieved by hilariously overdone strings of jittering Christmas tree lights and poorly recorded sitar music, is common throughout most of these restaurants. Royal, for some reason, is a notch above the others. It's still incredibly cheap, and there are definitely those strings of lights. But they are a little more refined and the food is a cut above the norm. Plus, they have more room than most of the others and a covered garden in the back so they seldom rush you like they do in so many of the others. In fact, they treat you like a star--a Bollywood star.
Destination: Roanoke, Virginia (Ken Kidd's hometown)
Travel Time: One minute
Mama's Food Shop
(200 East Third Street, between Avenues A and B)
I grew up on fried chicken, mashed potatoes, overcooked green beans, and meat loaf, so this place really does taste like mama's food. If you need a heaping helping of southern hospitality, this is the place for you. The portions are huge (just like mama's), the prices are reasonable, and if you can't pick up your tired bones to head around the corner, mama will even deliver.
Some favorites from Professor Norman Dorsen:
Three different sorts of restaurants are Volare on 147 West Fourth Street (friendliest place I know), and Knickerbocker on University and Ninth Street (down to earth, basic American fare). Like Ken Kleinrock, I like Marie's Crisis on Grove Street between Bleecker and 7th Ave, or I should say did like it in the late 1950s and early 1960s when I frequented the place.
Some favorites from Professor Ronald Dworkin:
The best restaurant, hands down, is Babbo, and the best dish there is ravioli with sweetbreads. It's very expensive, but that doesn't matter as you can't get in anyway (unless you know Tom Nagel, who has pull). Next best are the two Keith McNally Village restaurants: Balthazar in SoHo and Schiller's Liquor Bar in the Lower East Side.
Some Favorites from Professor Stephen Gillers:
Tasti-D-Lite at Sixth Avenue and Tenth Street is the place for a low-calorie, all natural frozen dessert. These have also proliferated in the past few years. There are now several dozen in Manhattan and at least four in the Village. Another is at Waverly Place and University Place.
For a very good intimate meal (because it's a small place) I recommend Le Gigot on 18 Cornelia St. Reservations are required for dinner.
And let's not forget Spring Street Natural Foods Restaurant, on Spring Street and Lafayette, for budget-limited folks.
Balthazaar has good bread, of course, but Sullivan Street Bakery is the uppercrust.
Some favorites from Ken Kleinrock, Assistant Dean for Admissions:
The North Square Restaurant is quiet, lovely..a great place to meet friends and have a tasty beverage. The bartender makes a perfect martini! 103 Waverly Place, just off of Washington Square.
Artepasta on Greenwich, west of Seventh Avenue, has the best prix fixe lunch...very reasonable and excellent Italian food. Pretty dining room.
The Cowgirl Hall of Fame (519 Hudson St is famous for good old southern cooking...terrific margaritas, fried chicken, and potatoes smothered in gravy. Not a place for dieters! Atmosphere is right out of a roadhouse in Ft. Worth, Texas.
The historic White Horse Tavern on 567 Hudson St is great for burgers and beer.
If you like piano bars, there are several on Grove Street. Marie's Crisis has been there since the French Revolution, I think! Not elegant, but a great place to hear Broadway hopefuls sing their hearts out.
Dean Revesz says:
For quick, informal meals I like the NoHo Star at 330 Lafayette St (great hamburgers), Mary's Fish Camp at 64 Charles St (the cod is great), and the Elephant and Castle at 68 Greenwhich Ave (lime and coriander chicken).
From Marguerite Sharkey:
I have a few regular spots. For sushi, I love Marumi on 546 LaGuardia Pl (I highly recommend the spicy sashimi salad) and Kirara on 33 Carmine St (I always go with friends and order the sushi/sashimi platter for two since it is enough to feed four very comfortably). Minetta Tavern on the corner of Minetta and MacDougal is a fun local joint, and like Volare's (I agree with Norman that it is terrific), they will cook what you want the way you want it. As Ken indicated, North Square is a great spot for both the bar and the restaurant - anything on the chef's specials list will be outstanding - the burgers and the guacamole are great, too! Their endive salad is delicious. And for a great deal, the falafel/hummus sandwich at Mamoun's on 119 MacDougal Street can't be beat!
