Restaurants in Meatpacking District

Dish Spotting: Bubby’s High Line $100 Sundae

Cuisine: Dessert | Featured in Dish Spotting, Summer

Come summer, who isn’t a sucker for ice cream? No, seriously. But a $100 dollar ice cream sundae? Bubby’s High Line just unveiled a new, over-the-top creation with homemade ice cream you’ll want to know the scoop on (get it, scoop?)…

Bubby’s High Line

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Liddabit Sweets

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Toro

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Q & A with Toro’s Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette

Cuisine: Spanish | Featured in Chef Q&A, Restaurant

Boston has a lot more to offer New York than just Baked Beans, Clam Chowder and Cream Pies. In fact, our city has just become home to one of the South End’s best restaurants, Toro, a Barcelona-inspired tapas joint owned by chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette. Housed in the old Nabisco Factory building in the Meatpacking District, overlooking the Hudson River, the 100-seat eatery is outfitted with floor-to-ceiling windows, an arched entryway flanked by an ivy-colored wall, and a pair of lofty, wooden shelves sporting hanging Iberico Hams. And like its Boston predecessor, Toro serves a mix of traditional and modern Spanish dishes, made with greenmarket-inspired ingredients…

What’s New On the High Line 2013

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of

Known as the “park in the sky,” The High Line also happens to boast some serious eats to be had while taking in a just as serious view this summer. With a roster of food vendors offering everything from legitimate Texas-style barbecue to Mexican Paletas, gourmet Pretzels, Tacos, we could go on and on…

Fat Witch

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

The Darby – The Fun Date

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of

When all else fails, keep things lighthearted and simple. A good time doesn’t have to mean fussy tasting menus and knockout views. Sometimes, the best dates are just straight up fun… with great food, of course. What’s more fun than a live musical performance with music you can sing along to every night of the week? The Darby’s got their own, house band and most evenings end up on the dance floor, singing along with the band. That’s just the beginning. Then, there’s the raw bar, studded with oysters, and the menu, created by the talented Alex Guarnaschelli. If oysters aren’t your (or her) thing, share the Crispy Zucchini Blossoms with Heirloom Tomato Vinaigrette, or the Grilled Octopus with bacon and pickled jalapeños. But the real pièce de résistance is the 2.5 pound Maine Lobster cooked with dry vermouth,...

Abe & Arthur’s – Reviewed

Cuisine: American | Featured in Reviews

  **Two Stars Address: 409 West 14th St., btwn. Ninth & Tenth Aves. Phone: (646)289-3930 Occasion: Group Dinner: Night out Hours: Dinner, mon-Wed, 6p.m.-11:30 p.m., Thu-Sat, 6p.m.-1:30a.m., Sun, 6p.m.-11p.m. Don’t Miss Dish: Tuna tacos; Strip steak, Apple cobbler Average Price: Appetizers, $ Entrees, $ Dessert, $12. Reservations: Highly Recommended. Capsule: Carnivores in Clubland. Maybe I’m getting old, but I like a little separate between church and state at dinner.  I don’t care less about who’s sitting at the next table than what they’re eating for dinner.  I was definitely in the minority on the nights I dined at Abe & Arthurs, a new restaurant that opened over a month ago in the old Lotus space. The Meatpacking District is much better known for its nightlife than its dining scene, but there are a number of wonderful exceptions, like Scarpetta,...

The Standard Grill

Cuisine: American | Featured in Reviews

The Standard Grill: High life on the High Line – at a reasonable price Cuisine: American Vibe: Bustling High Line haunt Occasion: Night on the town, date, group dinner Don’t Miss: Octopus with sweet potato & chilies, lamb chops, rainbow trout with currant and pine nut relish, shaved lime-mint ice Price: Appetizers, $9; entrees, $18; dessert, $7 Reservations: Recommended Phone: 645-4646 Location: 846 Washington St., at 13th St. Hip usually comes at a cost. When a restaurant’s hip, you can’t get a reservation or you can’t afford one. If you somehow manage to get a table, it’s too noisy to hear yourself eat or too early to eat. The Standard Grill’s different. It’s undeniably fashionable and entirely affordable. The dining room’s filled with celebrities and everybodies. The restaurant opened in the Meatpacking District, right underneath Andre Balazs’ Standard Hotel...

The John Dory

Cuisine: American | Featured in Reviews

A little like Le Bernardin in blue jeans. Address: 85 10th Ave., near 15th St.Phone: (212) 929-4948 Seven days, 5 p.m.-2 a.m.Cuisine: SeafoodVibe: Kitschy fish shackOccasion: Posh counter dining, date, group dinnerDon’t Miss Dishes: Razor-clam ceviche, chorizo-stuffed squid, oyster pan roast, sautéed cod milt:Average Price: Appetizers, $16; entrées, $28; desserts, $10Reservations: Highly recommendedThe John Dory If you could draft a fantasy restaurant team, who would you pick? It depends on what’s on the menu, of course. Italian? I’d take Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. British pub? I’d take Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield. (Have you eaten the deviled eggs, devils on horseback or Roquefort burger at the Spotted Pig?) These people are first-round draft picks, in my opinion. Together, they could open a restaurant called Dumpster, serve trash, and people would probably line up. So I’m not surprised that...

Scarpetta

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Reviews

The second coming of the Meatpacking District. 355 W. 14th St., at Ninth Ave. (212) 691-0555 Seven days a week, 5:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. CUISINE Southern Italian. VIBE Grown-up Meatpacking. OCCASION Trendy date; group dining. DON’T-MISS DISH Spaghetti with tomato & basil; scallop crudo; roasted capretto. PRICE Appetizers, $12-$17; entrees, $22-$37; dessert, $11. RESERVATIONS Highly recommended. In the past three weeks, I’ve eaten at Scarpetta three times. And every time, I ate too much. I ate polenta and panna cotta. I ate borlotti bean soup and imported burrata, braised short ribs and boneless veal shank. I ate scallops seared and as crudo. I ate cod and capretto. I ate ravioli, raviolini, tagliatelle, spaghetti, stromboli and lots of mascarpone butter. Wait, there’s more. I ate “pie” and “cheesecake.” Not to mention yellowtail, octopus, tuna and fritto misto. And all the homemade...

Merkato 55

Cuisine: African | Featured in Reviews

A splashy and unlikely outpost for African cooking. 55 Gansevoort St., between Greenwich & Washington Sts. (212) 255-8555 Dinner, Mon.-Sun., 5:30 p.m.-midnight CUISINE Pan-African VIBE African chic brasserie OCCASION Trendy group dining; casual date. DON’T-MISS DISH Lamb tartar; octopus with cured beef; jerk pork belly. PRICE Small bites, $4-13; appetizers, $10-17; entrees, $18-30; desserts, $4-10. RESERVATIONS Recommended Opening a Pan-African restaurant in the Meatpacking District doesn’t exactly sound like a sure thing. After all, this is a part of Manhattan where the scene outshines food as a nocturnal crowd ricochets from one nightclub to the next. But chef Marcus Samuelsson has never been afraid to take chances. At Aquavit, he earned praise for a thoroughly innovative approach to Scandinavian fare. With his newest endeavor, Merkato 55, he strives to recast African cooking in an equally modern and prominent light....

Los Dados

Cuisine: Mexican | Featured in Reviews

73 Gansevoort St., near Washington St. (646) 810-7290 Hours: Dinner, Sun.-Thurs., 5:30-11 p.m., Fri. & Sat., 5:30-midnight CUISINE  Regional Mexican VIBE  Dimly lit, cavernous space OCCASION  Festive group dinner, night out DON’T-MISS DISH  Grilled shrimp & Yucatan pork achiote tamal. PRICE  Appetizers, $7-$17; entrees, $13-$19; desserts, $7-$10. RESERVATIONS  Recommended. Baskets of tortilla chips and kitschy Mexican shrines might be the last thing you would expect from the Meatpacking District, especially from David Rabin and Will Regan, the pair responsible for such exclusive clubs as Double Seven and Lotus. Here, no clipboard-wielding hostess or velvet rope stands between you and the entrance of Los Dados, the district’s first Mexican eatery. Parties and clusters of strangers congregate over Margaritas along a communal table in a dimly lit dining room. Regan and Rabin have enlisted chef Sue Torres to execute “Mexican home...

Revel’s Garden

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Al Fresco Dining, Best Of, Reviews

I’ll admit: The Meatpacking District has most recently evoked unfortunate memories of emasculated steaks at STK, inebriated hordes swarming Tenjune and many a wintry night battling for a taxi.  Revel has revived my hope for sanctuary in the midst of the madness.  Once known only as the “Bar With No Name”, this spot has recently gotten an actual name, a menu and a phone number to boot. Call me old-fashioned, but personally I’m partial to the reservation system and food.  A girl’s gotta eat.  Owner Paolo Secondo (Barolo & I Tre Merli) has implemented an international menu with delicate Mediterranean undertones.  With a backyard garden that seats 80 and dishes, the likes of spaghetti with lobster and bay scallops with chestnut honey & bacon, the Meatpacking District suddenly doesn’t seem so daunting.  That is, until you try to hail...

The Inn LW12

Cuisine: British | Featured in Best Of

Address: 7 Ninth Ave., at Little W. 12th St. Phone: 212.206.0300 Cuisine: Canadian-British gastropub Vibe: Ski lodge meets hunting inn Scene: Buzzing. Hours: Seven days a week, Dinner, 5:30 pm-12 am; Lunch, 11:30 am – 3 pm; Late night, 12 am – 3 am. Price: Appetizers, $9-$15.  Entrees, $18-$36. Reservations: Same day reservations. Highly Recommend: Poutine (cheese fries with gravy) Official Website   The Inn LW12th (short for Little West 12th) is technically trendy.  First, it’s in the Meatpacking District.  Second, it rides the gastropub wave.  Third, it fronts the sign of the former occupant (Rio Mar), very fashionable and even more confusing than having no signage at all.  And yet surprisingly, this Canadian-British gastropub feels like a charming escape from the harrowing hipster zone that envelopes it.  This charming three-story townhouse is part ski lodge, part hunting inn. ...

STK

Cuisine: Steakhouse | Featured in Reviews

26 Little West 12th Street (btwn. 9th & 10th Aves.) (646)624-2444 website TYPE: Modern steakhouse VIBE: Meatpacking madness OCCASION: Trendy dining DON’T MISS DISH: Sweet corn pudding DON’T BOTHER DISH: Shrimp rice krispy’s DRINK SPECIALTY: 230-bottle wine list PRICE: $70 & up HOURS: Open seven days a week, 5:30 PM – 2 AM. RESERVATIONS: Reservations recommended, especially on weekends.  RESTAURANT GIRL RATES (1-10):  5 (average with standout sides) FINAL WORD: The closest thing to Las Vegas without leaving Manhattan, the food seems besides the point at this see and be “scene” steak spot. After visiting Porter House New York and STK, two of New York’s newest steakhouses, I’ve come to the conclusion that some things are meant to be feasted upon in all its gritty glory, the sacred cow being at the top of my list.  Given its location,...

Honey

Cuisine: European, Latin, Spanish | Featured in Reviews

243 West 14th Street (betwn. 7th & 8th Aves.) (212)620-0077 TYPE: Global cuisine VIBE: Moody Meatpacking (sans the velvet rope) OCCASION:  Dining in packs or “seal the deal” late-night with a cocktail and dessert DON’T MISS DISH: Honey’s ceviche trio DON’T BOTHER DISH: Paella tapas & apple cobbler PRICE: $40 (with a cocktail) HOURS: Monday through Wednesday, 5 PM-2 AM; Thursday-Saturday 5 PM-4 AM; Sunday 5 PM-12 AM. RESTAURANT GIRL RATES: 6 (above average) SEATING: 90 seats & private room in the back (holds 40) FINAL WORD: Eat with a fast crowd – commitment phobic diners can load up on appetizers before taking their place in line at Marquee or Bungalow 8. Honey isn’t a dining destination per se, but it’s certainly an appealing Meatpacking alternative to the bouncer and velvet rope-plagued, mob scenes of late.  Happily lacking the...

Gin Lane

Cuisine: American | Featured in Beer Bars, Best Of, Reviews

355 West 14th Street at Ninth Ave. (212)691-0555 www.ginlanenyc.com Savory NY video   TYPE: Continental/Raw bar VIBE: 30’s supper club OCCASION: Let them lure you to linger over dinner or stumble in for a late-night bite GO WITH: A date or a posse of prepsters DON’T MISS DISH: The French fry tasting DON’T BOTHER DISH: Heirloom tomato salad PRICE: $40 & up HOURS: Dinner & drinks, Monday-Saturday, 5 PM-4 AM, the main dining room stops food service at 12 AM.  The bar menu’s served until 2 AM.  Closed on Sundays.  Look for lunch hours in the upcoming weeks. RESERVATIONS: Recommended, especially on Thursdays & weekends. INSIDE SCOOP: Snag the chairs next to the fireplace in the back. RESTAURANT GIRL RATES (1-10): 6 FINAL WORD: Speak easy, drink heavily. CHEAT SHEET: DRINK: Strawberry Nirvana NIBBLE ON: The french fry flight...

Buddakan

Cuisine: Asian Fusion | Featured in Reviews

When word spread about Buddakan, a practical legend in his hometown of Philadelphia, I threw on my hot off the Barneys’ sales rack miniskirt and scurried down to his Meatpacking pied-a-terre.  In my wildest dreams, I never imagined he actually owned the entire block.  Rumor has it this mega-restaurateur, Stephen Starr, had magically transformed a 16,000 square foot lumber company into  a dazzling two-floor dining mecca where the Asian fusion sizzles and all of Buddakan’s a stage.  A theatrical maze of candlelit corridors and room for every mood, his sleek palace was a feast for the eyes and mouth. I don’t know if it was the spectacular forty-step staircase, wooden chandeliers, or massive communal table fit for royalty and of course, a princess like me, but I was ready to move in with him.    Hell, I would’ve happily...