| Author | Message | ||
     amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1167 Registered: 8-2001  |
My friend's husband has asked me to help arrange a small birthday dinner at a NY restaurant for his wife and a few of her friends, for 6-10 people total. They live in France (she's American, he's French), so it's pretty much up to me to pick the place. Any suggestions? Some guidelines: - we have to be able to get reservations (for a Weds or Thurs night) - no French food (it would never live up to his standards) - no slap-on-the-feedbag humongus(sp?) portions (that freaks them out) - budget up to $50/person HELP!!!!!! | ||
| eliz Supporter Username: Eliz Post Number: 1705 Registered: 5-2001 |
Does the $50 include drinks? Tamarind - Indian in Flatiron area, nice decor delish food. August - very pretty, good continental food Bolo - great tapas, fun atmosphere Tabla - India with a french accent Blue Water Grill - very New Yorky, fun, crowded restaurant with good seafood Spice Market - fun, pan asian, great decor and good neighborhood for walking around. Rosa Mexicano - great Mexican food, nice ambience. | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1168 Registered: 8-2001 |
Great suggestions, eliz, thanks! Unfortunately though, the $50 does include drinks, so I'm not sure the places you suggested would work for our budget. Am I wrong? | ||
| Hank Zona Supporter Username: Hankzona Post Number: 6121 Registered: 3-2002  |
how much do your friends drink? I would have suggested Asia de Cuba, but not with your pricetag. Hows about a diner like Veselka? You'll keep within your budget...and its not French. | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1169 Registered: 8-2001 |
No idea how much they drink, but if we could find a place with most entrees under $20 -- or even better a BYOB if there is such a thing in NYC -- we should be pretty safe. Asia de Cuba is definitely too expensive, alas. I love Veselka, but it's a little too downscale. I was kind of hoping to find someplace in between . . . | ||
| Elaine Harris Citizen Username: Elaineharris Post Number: 227 Registered: 12-2004 |
My French friends love to eat outdoors. I would definitely recommend Palma's at 18 Cornelia Street, NYC (Greenwich Village) for the outdoor garden, and the Tuscan style food. They will definitely love it. There is also outdoor dining at Crispo's on 14th Street, in the back of the restaurant. You need reservations for Palma's, especially for the garden. | ||
| eliz Supporter Username: Eliz Post Number: 1706 Registered: 5-2001 |
Kitchen 22 - it is American (Charlie Palmer no less) and a prix fixe dinner of $25. Otto - Batali's glorified pizza joint with great wines by the glass | ||
| Joe Citizen Username: Gonets Post Number: 1334 Registered: 2-2004 |
There's a great Ethiopian place in Soho... oh that's right. Never mind. | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1170 Registered: 8-2001 |
Great suggestions guys, keep 'em coming! One more complication: they couldn't get a sitter for their 7 month old, so he's coming with us to dinner. Oof! He'll probably sleep through most of the evening, but obviously we'll need a place that won't hate us for bringing a baby, and that isn't too noisy (see sleep, above). Is Palma the right name, Elaine? I can't find a listing in Zagat's . . . | ||
| LilLB Citizen Username: Lillb Post Number: 2281 Registered: 10-2002  |
How about Cabana on Third Ave? It's a cuban restaurant on Third Ave in midtown. Looks like they also have a location on Pier 17 as well. http://cabanarestaurant.com/page/nq9n/Home_Page.html | ||
| Project 37 Citizen Username: Project37 Post Number: 287 Registered: 3-2006  |
Echo the vote for Otto (although it might be a bit loud). Cafe Mogador on St. Marks. Tasty Moroccan: http://www.cafemogador.com/ | ||
| Elaine Harris Citizen Username: Elaineharris Post Number: 229 Registered: 12-2004 |
Palma 28 Cornelia Street (I had wrong address above) New York, NY 10014 212-691-2223 (a few doors in off Bleecker Street near Murray's famous cheese shop) | ||
| doulamomma Citizen Username: Doulamomma Post Number: 1741 Registered: 3-2002 |
My husband had a birthday party for me at OG Restaurant on E 6th (pan Asian)...really yummy (& wonderful desserts too) - one of our favorite little places. I think they put together a prix fixe for him - not sure that it included wine but he said they were a pleasure to work with in planning & I'm sure would be able to tell you price w/wine (don't think they have a full bar, but I'm not sure). Check out the menu: http://www.ogrestaurant.com/ | ||
| Dego Diva Citizen Username: Fmingione Post Number: 823 Registered: 12-2003 |
Oh lord, please DO NOT go to Otto!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the place, but for a birthday dinner??? With a baby?? No way! You wouldn't even be able to hear each other over the din, and even if you CAN get a reservation, you'll probably still wait at least 30 minutes. I think I have the perfect place for you: Delicia Brazil Restaurant 322 W 11th St New York, NY 10014 (212) 242-2002 I used to live around the corner and ate there often. Street parking is usually easy to find, but if not, there’s a parking garage two doors down. Don't let the "Brazil" throw you off - it's not one of those "feedbag" all-you-can-eat Brazilian places. Delcia is like going to dinner at your Brazilian friend's house! It's in the middle of a mostly residential block in the West Village, but not far off from Hudson St. It's tucked away in a lower level storefront, where you have to walk down about 3 steps, but they do also have some outdoor seating. The owner, with some help, does most of the cooking, and everything is made to order. Because of that, though, be prepared to wait a bit for the food, but it's well worth it, especially if you have a pitcher of their caipirinhas in the meantime!! Maybe you can pre-order some appetizers?? The food is homestyle Brazilian – several types of stews, seafood in a cream sauce served in a butternut squash, some grilled meats, etc., and most entrees automatically come with a few traditional sides. Neither I nor anyone I have ever brought there ever disliked their food! Portions are generous enough to share and the price is easily within your budget. As for the ambiance, don’t expect a lot, but décor is clean and tasteful. It’s a small place, and because of that you can feel like you have half of the place to yourself. You’re welcome to put decorations up on the walls and bring your own cake – they even have maracas and tambourines for you to play while singing happy birthday! And the owner will probably come out and sing with you and have a glass of wine. He is the sweetest person ( I believe his names in some variation of Giovan?), and he'll make you're friend's birthday feel like he’s hosting his own family celebration. If you’re not into Brazilian, I can tell you about another home-style place in the area called Da Andrea – it’s Italian, run by a young couple from Capri, and their brother. Some of the best Italian in the city, in my book! Let me know if that interests you. This is making me nostalgic for my old neighborhood… and hungry! | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave  Post Number: 10559 Registered: 4-1997  |
You never know what you'll eat at one of Mario's places. http://tinyurl.com/e7oeo | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1171 Registered: 8-2001 |
Wow, so many sugestions! Thanks!!! I can say with confidence that any Batali restaurant is out, this dinner is the week after next and I know you need much more lead time for his places. I think I'll also rule out Cabana, I personally love Cuban food but I'm not so jazzed about midtown or the seaport as a location. That said, any specifics on the child-friendliness level for the following: Kitchen 22 Palma OG Delcia Da Andrea Dego, your suggestions sound AWESOME, right now I think they're my frontrunners! Can't find any Zagats listing for Delicia though . . . | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 9085 Registered: 5-2001  |
Don't know about any of the above, but when my dad wanted me to make a reservation at a "moderate" restaurant last Fall, I ended up with Otto and Tribeca Grill on my short list. I was, surprisingly able to get reservations at both within two weeks for a Friday night. A Batalli or DeNiro restaurant is fun for visitors, etc. The punchline, of course, is that they ended up coming to Maplewood to spend the night, so we went to Antonella's. Dego's suggestions sound better, I admit. It's just hard to do "nice with alcohol" in that price range. | ||
| Project 37 Citizen Username: Project37 Post Number: 290 Registered: 3-2006 |
We went to Da Andrea ages ago (walked in on a whim after we couldn't get into Mexicana Mama) and really enjoyed our meal. I'm not really sure on the level of kid-friendliness though (it seemed like a moderately-priced special occasion sort of place). It *was* a while ago, though. Perhaps best to call and check (http://www.biassanot.com/). | ||
| Dego Diva Citizen Username: Fmingione Post Number: 824 Registered: 12-2003 |
Children are not an issue at Delicia at all. Like I said, it's family-run, and it's a small place, so kids can roam around and play with all the instruments lying around, yet they'll still be within your arms reach. I doubt you'll find Delcia in Zagat's - it's just such a tiny out of the way place that I doubt it would get reviewed. But here's the Menu Pages link for it: http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=478 As I mentioned, and as you'll read in some of the reviews on this link, you need to NOT be in a rush if you go there. The food will take a while to make so be patient, and again, if you make a reservation and they allow you to pre-order some appetizers off of the menu in the link, that would be a good thing. Da Andrea is a bit more polished then Delicia. It's a bigger restaurant and service is much speedier. The cooks are two brothers, and they make most of the pastas fresh. The lamb shank is to die for, the desserts are homemade, and the wine list is good. Prices are within your budget, and although kids may not be able to roam around like they could at Delicia, it's not a problem to bring them by any means. One of their wives runs the front of the house, and she is SO sweet - her name is Titsianna. Be sure to ask her to reserve you a table in the back corner so you have a bit of privacy, although the front is nice too when they have the glass doors thrown wide open in pleasant weather. I do remember them going home to Capri to visit in August, so I'm not sure if she will be there, but if so, and you decide to go, PL me so I can give you some "extra info". | ||
| doulamomma Citizen Username: Doulamomma Post Number: 1743 Registered: 3-2002 |
OG is pretty small - I'm sure a well-behaved baby would not be an issue, but there won't likely be other kids...not sure they would have a highchair... | ||
| jet Citizen Username: Jet Post Number: 1196 Registered: 7-2001 |
Hey Cat, Spice mkt. is a good call food is "good" you could probably do it for $50.00 per . Low seating , Low tables , more about conversation than food. Good looking room. | ||
| CuriosityAndTheCat Citizen Username: Melodelfe Post Number: 5 Registered: 8-2006 |
Mars 2112. It's cool, is this a child's birthday, because you can screw around with the aliens and there's an arcade so the kid's love it | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1185 Registered: 8-2001 |
OK, we're going to Da Andrea -- I am so excited!!! Any tips, Dego Diva? I will pl you! (Curiosity, thanks for the tip but this kid is only 8 months old -- it's his mother's birthday we're celebrating -- so luckily for us the headachey kiddy theme restaurants will wait a few more years!) | ||
| Krista Citizen Username: Shortgrrrl Post Number: 142 Registered: 2-2005 |
Amandacat: How was Da Andrea? We are thinking of taking some out of town guests there this Saturday night...Did it live up to your expectations? K | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1188 Registered: 8-2001 |
It was really lovely, Krista, perfect for our little group. It's not really a destination restaurant, more like a great neighborhood find (a la Antonella's in South Orange), but if that's the kind of place you're looking for I can highly recommend it! The atmosphere was cozy and comfortable, not too fancy but perfectly nice. The service was warm and efficient, and very accomodating (our friends brought their bambino in a big bulky jogging stroller that made me cringe, but they found a space for it without batting an eyelash). Most importantly, the food was wonderful! They offer a nice variety of meat and fish dishes, plus homemade pastas (I had the veal & spinach ravioli in cream sauce with prosciutto & mushrooms, yum!!!). We also got an amazing appetizer that I'd highly recommend, can't remember what it was called but basically it was a platter of hot freshly baked flat rolls (look sort of like little english muffins but without the nooks & crannies) served with a pile of thinly sliced proscuitto and a cup of grated parmesan cheese. You slice the roll, add the meat, sprikle with cheese, and you have yourself one wonderful little hot sandwich of delight! Even better with a nice glass of red wine! One order was perfect for our party of five to share, we also got salads and entrees and we were so stuffed at the end we all shared one tiramisu for dessert. Let's see, what else? It's definitely not a "kiddy" restaurant but they were very family friendly, there were at least 3 other parties with children that I saw, but everyone must have been extraordinarily well behaved or else the acoustics were very favorable as I didn't hear a peep out of any of them the whole night. The bathrooms were down a set of very steep stairs, so I might think twice about bringing anyone with limited mobility there. The location is great, perfect for out of towners. And the prices were beyond reasonable; I don't think I saw any items on the menu over $20, and most were significantly less. Pastas ran about $12, the lamb shank (osso bucco) was $16. I never saw the final bill, but I'd be shocked if it came to much more than $50/head. Many thanks to Dego Diva for turning me on to this place. Am I missing anything? | ||
| Dego Diva Citizen Username: Fmingione Post Number: 844 Registered: 12-2003 |
Oh, great, I'm SO glad you enjoyed it! Like I said, when people ask me where to go eat in Little Italy, I always tell them not to bother and to go to Da Andrea's instead!! I think the little rolls you're talking about are called piadina. I don't remember them being on the menu - were they a special? Krista, go early if you can. Saturday night can get pretty busy, although it is Labor Day weekend and the weather is supposed to be really bad, so maybe you won't have any trouble. | ||
| Krista Citizen Username: Shortgrrrl Post Number: 144 Registered: 2-2005 |
thanks so much! we have a reservation for tonite! looking forward to it...it sounds perfect! k | ||
| amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1190 Registered: 8-2001 |
Krista, how did it go? |
