Restaurants in New York City

Date Night – Pylos

Cuisine: Greek | Featured in Best Of, Restaurant

It ain’t easy to wine and dine in this fine city without burning a hole in your wallet, but there are a few romantic gems that don’t break the bank.  In fact, we prefer the intimate setting and the thousands of white urns dangling from the ceiling at this East Village Greek.  The wine selection at Pylos is excellent and affordable, and the food is even better – try homestyle Greek delicacies, like Grilled Baby Lamb Chops with mini-stuffed eggplants, Scallops in an Ouzo Tomato Sauce, and of course, pita and a trio of classic dipping sauces perfect for sharing.  Don’t worry… two people with garlic breath cancel each other...

After Work Drinks – Blind Tiger Ale House

Cuisine: American, Bar | Featured in Best Of, Restaurant

Here at Restaurant Girl, we consider knowing how to select the perfect place for dinner an essential skill. Of course, picking the ultimate spot in a city so full of choices isn’t always easy – so whether you’re looking to get down and dirty with a plate of barbecue, need a romantic (but not too romantic!) place to take a first date, or just want to decompress after work with a good, stiff drink, we’ve got five ideal options for you.

Holiday Breakfast The Russian Tea Room

Cuisine: Russian | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

It’s probably hard to find a New Yorker that hasn’t at least dreamt about taking over a booth in the corner of The Russian Tea Room. Those fantasies only grow during the holiday season, when The Russian Tea Room seems pulled almost directly out of a Christmas card, with its plush red banquets, green walls, and golden samovars glittering in each corner.

Drink Spotting: Horseman’s Grogg at The Smith

Cuisine: American | Featured in Drink Spotting

Between the “Muddlers,” “Long Pours,” and “Fancy Cocktails,” The Smith has quite a selection for their thirsty diners. They’ve got some great classics like their Old Fashioned, a “Midtown” Manhattan, and a Bloody Mary (complete with vodka and a secret recipe), but it doesn’t end there.

Pasticceria Rocco

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Don’t let your preconceived notions of fruitcake prevent you from trying Rocco’s delectable Panettone, an oversized, cylindrical sweet bread studded with candied orange, citron, lemon zest and raisins.  You needn’t worry about finishing it off in one sitting – the hearty bread makes a great vehicle for day-after-Christmas pudding, or sinfully rich French toast.  Just one warning, you’ll probably find it hard to leave Rocco’s without filling a pastry box with a variety of other holiday specialties, like Biscotti, Regina and Quaresimali cookies, sticky-sweet Marzipan candies, and...

Hot Bread Kitchen

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

What’s not to love about Hot Bread Kitchen?  They sell baked goods to finance programs supporting low-income individuals, and everything they make happens to be fantastic.  It doesn’t hurt that the guy manning the ovens is former Per Se baker Ben Hershberger, who’s debuting a rum-soaked, fruit-stuffed, almond-filled Stollen this season.  That means we’ll probably end up eating our weight in cake, but it’s a bit of holiday overindulgence we can really feel good...

François Payard Bakery

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Café Sabarsky

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Herring, soft pretzels and sausages may not immediately scream Christmas to us, but there’s no denying that Austrians know a thing or two when it comes to making scrumptious holiday pastries.  Thankfully, there’s no need to hop on a plane for a taste of Linzertorte, currently served at Café Sabarsky, an authentic Viennese café inside the Neue Galerie.  A traditional Christmas confection, the lattice-topped tart is filled with raspberry jam and hazelnuts, and sprinkled with sliced pistachios, almonds, and powdered...

Columbus Circle Holiday Market

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

If you’re more of an uptown shopper, there are plenty of high-end purveyors to choose from at this festive, open-air bazaar.  We had our eye on a $250 hand-knit wrap-around sweater, but maybe we were just lightheaded from hunger.  Better warm up with a bowl of tortilla soup from Cascabel Taqueria before you impulse buy.  It’s loaded with chunks of tender chicken and tortilla chips and sprinkled with queso fresco and Mexican...

Union Square Holiday Market

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

If you regularly frequent Union Square for its fabulous farmers market (as you definitely should), you’ll especially appreciate its granddaddy of a holiday bazaar, now in its 19th year.  A 100-strong list of vendors peddle unique products (we’ve got our eye on antique NYC maps from Pageant Print shop), until December 24th.  If you’ve waited until Christmas Eve to finish your shopping you might have bigger problems to worry about, but there’s no reason to let hunger get in the way of you participating in the last minute rush.  We particularly recommend the Arancina al Nero di Seppia from Arancini Bros.  Besides being a perfect, handheld mini-meal, these crispy, creamy risotto balls are flavored with squid ink and filled with tomatoes and spicy shrimp, perfect if you have to skip the Feast of the Seven Fishes in order to...

Grand Central Holiday Fair

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Grand Central’s elegant Holiday Fair features 76 micro-boutiques, and while none of them specialize in food, the terminal itself has seriously stepped up its game in the last few years.  Finish off a day of shopping with a ready-to-go sandwich from Murray’s Cheese, pick up a fancy french pastry from Financier, or, if you still have a bit of cash to burn, settle in for champagne and crustaceans at the Grand Central Oyster...

Brooklyn Night Bazaar

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

If you’re Brooklyn-based, you’ll adore the new Night Bazaar in Williamsburg, modeled after the lively night markets popular throughout Asia.  Although an endless supply of quirky arts and crafts deserves more than a second look, this market boasts some of the best eats the borough has to offer, including barbecue from Fort Reno, steamed bun sandwiches from Baohaus, and even an Ethiopian spread from the vegetarian, gluten-free pop-up, Bunna...

The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park

Cuisine: | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park are in their 11th season, and we can’t think of a better way to spend the day than by doing lots and lots of Christmas shopping and going for a spin on their ice rink afterwards.  Oh wait, yes we can.  Build up your strength before strapping on your skates by ordering a plate of Louisiana-style goodness from Daisy’s Grits – we especially love the succulent shrimp and green onions served over silky white...

Q & A with La Villette’s Chef Christophe Bonnegrace

Cuisine: French | Featured in Chef Q&A

At age 14, Provence-born chef Christophe Bonnegrace was convinced his cooking career was over before it had started.  His first job, as an apprentice, lasted approximately one week, and ended with the head chef thrusting his hands in the fryer.  “I got scared, escaped the kitchen and pedaled home as fast as I could to get away from this guy!” Bonnegrace remembers.  Luckily his wounds (both literal and figurative) from that grisly first experience eventually healed, setting off a career that’s taken him from celebrity-frequented restaurants and resorts in Beverley Hills (Aristoff Caviar and Fine Food), Maui (The Royal Lahaina) and Las Vegas (Little Buddha), all the way to the far reaches of Africa, where he learned to cook crickets over pit fires with primitive tribes from Cairo and Nairobi. Although his passport may indicate otherwise, at the end...

The John Dory Oyster Bar

Cuisine: Seafood | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Can Brits really handle the Feast of the Seven Fishes?  Absolutely, if you’re talking about April Bloomfield and The John Dory Oyster Bar, her hip seafood mecca in the elegant Ace Hotel.  Chef de cuisine Josh Even plans to go global with traditional feast ingredients, offering up a creamy Salt Cod Brandade, Chorizo-Stuffed Squid with Smoked Tomato, and (this is an oyster bar after all) Hog Island Sweetwater Oysters topped with Sea Urchin...

i Trulli

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

This rustic, Apulian restaurant will spread their shellfish celebration over not just one, but ten days this year, offering a four-course feast menu from December 17th to the 24th.  You might just want to schedule a repeat visit to try all of the under-the-sea options, as there are four different antipasti, primi, and secondi to choose from.  Why not order the Fritto Misto, Tonnarelli with Octopus Ragu, and Monkfish Osso Bucco one day, and the Wood-oven Roasted Oysters, Fregola with Clams and Saffron, and Swordfish with Bottarga and Breadcrumbs the...

Oceana

Cuisine: Seafood | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Where better to celebrate the glory of shellfish than at the glittering midtown hotspot, Oceana?  Chef Ben Pollinger’s five-course feast promises to be a seriously high-end affair, featuring Hiramasa Tartare with persimmon and sicilian pistachio, Octopus, Cuttlefish and Calamari Salad with cranberry beans and preserved lemon, and Roast Maine Lobster and Caviar, served with black trumpet mushrooms and caviar...

Hearth

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Marco Canora’s four-course holiday menu at Hearth reads like a greatest hits list of Feast of the Seven Fishes favorites.  Clams Oreganata with 
Roasted Red Pepper, Lemon Zest, and Parsley?  Check. 
 Shrimp and Mussel Cacciucco, the classic fish stew from Tuscany?  Check.  A simple fried fish (in this case, flounder), with a spritz of lemon and aioli?  Check.  The all-important air-dried salt cod called baccala, reimagined here as a pungent topper for crusty crostini?  You better believe...

Lupa Osteria Romana

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

It’s no surprise that noted Italian-American restaurateurs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich pull out all the stops at Lupa for their annual Christmas Eve feast.  There are, in fact, more than seven fishes presented over a span of seven courses, including Amberjack (served crudo-style with giardiniera), Lobster (folded into a risotto), Arctic Char (accented with winter truffle), and even Eel (topped with crispy...

Saul

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of, Holiday Eats

Chef Saul Bolton will host the feast for the eighth year running at his Michelin-starred Brooklyn restaurant, Saul, as well as at (appropriately), his newly opened Italian-American spot, Red Gravy.  But don’t go looking for tomato sauce and deep-fat frying at either place.  Instead, guests can expect refined fare like Salt Cod Soup, Main Diver Scallop with White Beans, Squid Ink Spaghetti with Sea Urchin, and for dessert, a velvety Chocolate Budino (shellfish thankfully not...