New York City
 

Ill be in NYC I think the second weekend of January. Never been. My wife has, and doesnt stop talking about how great it is. Ill only be there about 3-4 days so I need some tips on must-see places, and great pizza and Italian food! I put up a thread in the Herfs section in case anyone wants to get together. :banger

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Honestly, I feel like you must see club macanudo.

Having visited it myself for the first time ever a week and half ago... I can tell you... Try the Cuban ribeye. Unfreakinbelievable.

Other than that I couldn't tell you. I had a piece of pizza at 2:30 in the morning at a place near times square called la famiglia... Decent pizza... Had pictures of famous people who had eaten there on the walls.

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Walk over the Brooklyn bridge and end up at Grimaldi's pizza in Brooklyn

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I wouldn't know what to suggest doing in the winter as I've only been in the summer. I went for like a week for my 22nd Bday and went to tapings of the Montel Williams and Rush Limbaugh TV shows. We saw the other big sites like the Statue, Central Park, twin towers, Empire State Building, and stood outside the David Letterman show to see him come out and hail down a cab for his taping.

Don't know cigar-wise, but if you're up for fine dining, I highly recommend Sparks Steakhouse. I think it's ranked among the best in the country and it was outstanding when I went about 10 years ago.

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Moses and Duane, thanks for the recommendations! I just read about Lombardi's pizza. Any opinions?

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Where are you staying in NYC? Got a buddy from another board in NYC that heads to a lounge a couple of times a week. I can ask him for his opinion. Hell, maybe he could be there and show you his magic tricks while you're there.

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Not sure yet. Nothing to crazy. We have looked at the Hilton in Times Square.

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Erick,
When you can, call me.
Grew up in NJ, worked many years in NY.

Quick favorites:
Jewish Deli's: Katz (When Harry Met Sally Sex scene location) or Carnegie Deli

Italian: Lamella's or Pellegrino's

Pastries: Ferrara's

Pizza: Grimaldi's

Sight Seeing: The whole freaking city.
Statue of Liberty, South Street Seaport, Empire State Building, Rockerfeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Macy's for Christmas time, Broadway plays, Central Park.
Clubs up the wazzoo everywhere.

The city that never sleeps is a fact to live by.
So many, many more things.

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I'd recommend using priceline.com and name your price. You lose the exact name/location, but you can select your amenity level and a pretty exact location for where you wanna be. Find the absolute lowest price you can find anywhere else and then start bidding at 50% of those rates. I've stayed in MANY hotels like a Hilton, Marriott, etc, etc. really cheap that way.

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Carlos ill call you up tomorrow. Duane I am on Priceline now.

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Also, this was the feedback from a BOTL on another board who lives a little north of NYC about shops/lounges.

There are many nice lounges in the city. Davidoff in Columbus Circle and on Madison as well. Then there in Barclay Rex's where Skipper goes. There is also a huge JR Cigars and Nat Sherman.

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See what the regular priceline rate is and then do the name your own price...literally start around 50% of those prices yet. The hotels they list at a particular star level will give you a good idea what hotels you'll be looking at for a particular part of NYC and star level you want to bid at.

I think the ONLY time I've not used priceline for traveling in the last 10+ years was when I had to have a place that I was guaranteed to allow dogs. Other than that, as long as I'm staying within a certain radius of where I want to be and generally a 3+ star hotel, I'm good to go.

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I found the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square. Its $172 a night and 3 stars. I did the Priceline price deal at $90 and was accepted, but who knows what hotel thats for. Kind of tough to give CC info!

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:tpd:

Very cool- just be aware that you'll need to order a whole pie- they don't do slices.

:tpd: THE place!

Quite! When in doubt, just wander around Manhattan some more. There's cool stuff to see/do everywhere. You can't go wrong.

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Tough to give out CC info? I'm lost, cuz in order to name your own price, you have to provide your cc info when making your offer.

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I meant tough to give it out without knowing what hotel I am getting. :(

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Well, you have a pretty good idea of what hotels they're choosing from in a particular area and star level. If knowing the exact name of the hotel you're getting at is worth an extra $50-100/night, more power to ya.

I've probably used priceline for no fewer than 50 different hotels over the years and I can say I was disappointed with just one. Nice name brand chain that is usually in the 3.5-4 star category, which was much higher than I felt they should have been rated for this particular location. I think it was part of another chain purchased and they were a long way from renovating it up to their standards elsewhere.

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Maybe I will take a risk and save the money! $380 for 3 nights in 3 star NYC Times Square hotel seems like a great deal.

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Just think-the money you save will help you buy a lot of smokes and pay for dinner at Sparks. :D

Honestly, I've even stayed in some 2 star Holiday Inns that were more than adequate IMO to bring price down if I wanted to be at a certain price point.

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+150. I live a few blocks from there.

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If you are looking for cigars, hit De La Concha on 6th Ave between 56th and 57th St. Better service than any other shop I've been to in the city. Barclay Rex is ok but they don't let you bring in your own cigars, only allowed to smoke what you buy there. I'd skip J&R, I've bought from them a few times and everything I've gotten from them has been far too dry. Davidoff on Madison has basically the same selection as De La Concha, aside from a larger selection of Davidoff cigars, but since they are both owned by Davidoff, DLC has quite a bit as well.

As far as lounges, we generally go to Merchants East on 1st Ave/62nd St for herfs. It's a nice room, more casual then the other clubs, they don't charge a cutting fee, and their food is pretty good. Carnagie Club on 56th is fairly nice, as long as you are dressed for it - no sneakers, collared shirt. They charge a $10 cutting fee if you bring your own. I've not been in Club Macanudo, but they have a similar dress code, not sure about a cutting fee.

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I will definately be checking out Merchants East! Thanks.

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Stage Deli is good too.

Another good pizza place after going to Grimaldi's is Difara Pizzeria which is also in Brooklyn

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But if you want to eat the very, very, very, very best (get the emphasis?) Sicilian style pizza anywhere, go deeper into Brooklyn, to Bensonhurst to L&B Spumoni Gardens.

One will never eat any Sicilian ever again other than that one.

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I don't know if I can make it down to southern Brooklyn, but I'll definately check out Grimaldi's!

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Be prepared to stand in line.

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I'd go as soon as it opens, usually the line is 30-90 minutes.

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Even if you don't like shopping, you have to go inside, and walk around all the levels of FAO Schwarz! It will blow your mind!!! You owe it to your wife to take her in and thru Bloomingdales, and/or Macy's! Both are single stores that have more square footage than many malls! A warning: Unless it has changed, the higher the level at Bloomingdales, the higher price the items. So, keep your wife on the lower levels!!

When I was there, it was a month or less before Christmas, so everything was rocking!

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You want a good deal in nice clothes find your way to Century21 Department Store. It's like a TJMaxx but nicer brands.

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Don't know that we'll be doing much shopping, we will go broke! :r More sightseeing to try and see all the main places. I've got Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Brooklyn, Yankee Stadium, Chinatown, Little Italy, and Empire State Building on the list so far.

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That place is a must and it next to Ground Zero, so you can see two things.

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Skip it, seriously. :2 Once you've been a couple times and have more time then take the time to go out there. On your first trip (and with only 3-4 days) don't take up the better part of a whole day just to see this, too much other stuff to do and see. Again just my :2 I have been to NYC almost a dozen times, we try to go once a year, and each time we discover new things. If you do go, pick me up a fake Rolex in Battery Park, seriously. :r

The only pizza place not already mentioned (Moses really covered two great ones) is Patsy's in Harlem (the original Patsy's), I think the quality has gone down in recent years, but it's still great coal oven pizza. It's kind of out of the way though, unless you're up that way for some reason.

How about Rockefeller Center? Museums (The Met, MoMA, Guggenheim, Natural History)? Wall St.? Chelsea Market (food galore)? Central Park? Etc, tons of other stuff to do!

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Seriously. Even if you don't shop. Go to FAO Schwarz! Easy walking distance from Central Park (at least the side I stayed on - The Plaza Hotel)

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Seriously? Does it have to be from Battery Park? The ones on 5th Avenue near my job are just as fake....how much do you want to spend?

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I thought Chinatown was "the place" for decent looking fake watches and purses?

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That's Where We Stayed In November!:tu Great Hotel & Close To Plays, Food, ETC. I've Only Been To NYC Once So I Would Definitely Recommend Seeing Your Play Of Choice!:tu We Saw Million Dollar Quartet(:tu) & Couldn't Get Tickets To Jersey Boys. Have Fun!:tu

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Canal St.

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That's what I saw on the map. Thanks.

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No, just being nostalgic, I miss NYC this time of year. :sad

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My cousin was the manager of Sparks when Paul Castellano was killed outside. Guess who got to clean up? Sparks has some wonderful wine deals. Sure, they are expensive wines, but many are cost less than going to the liquor store. They have been investing and cellaring for a long at Sparks.

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Get on the private jet....you got a friend in NYC....;)

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Lombardi's is good but my personal favorite in Manhattan is John's on Bleeker in the village. Katz deli is a good choice if you want real corned beef or pastrami.
My recommendations for things to do are:

Get half price tickets for a broadway show at the twofer booth in times square. The rest of times square is just overpriced shopping and millions of tourists so skip it unless you go for the tickets.

Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, or Natural History museum. Met, Gugenheim, and Nat Hist are all on Central Park. In fact it's a nice walk straight across the park from Met to Nat Hist.

Little Italy in manhattan has nice places to eat including La Bella Ferrara which is my favorite bakery. There's another (some say better) little italy on Arthur Ave in the Bronx but it's tougher for a visitor to get to.

Ground Zero. And it's a short walk west from ground zero to southstreet seaport. I used to love the area when the fulton fish market was there but they've moved it to hunt's point. But they do have an exhibition there called bodies which my wife and I went to. Unforgettable. There's also a beautiful view of the brooklyn bridge from there.

Check out the calendar at lincoln center for classical and jazz if you like that.

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If you want a memorable dinner go to Babbo's http://www.babbonyc.com/. It's hard to make reservations for but is worth it. Very pricey, but they have a tasting menu along with wine and they make it a wonderful experience. So if you want to make it a special weekend this is great way to top it off.

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I must admit that I love the aesthetics of the cosmetics floor of Macy's. It's decorated for Christmas right now, so it doesn't quite have the usual magic, but they've found the perfect balance between ancient Egyptian spa and advanced science laboratory/clean-room. It's a trip and you have to see it, even if you have zero interest in cosmetics, like me.

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Plus, you can pair it with a nice stop at The Shake Shack (yes, even in December).

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If you go to Arthur Ave, which I highly recommend! Do not go on Sunday; everything is closed.

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I am taking notes! Thanks for all the recommendations. LOTS to do in so little time!

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Bodies is a cool exhibit, but many people object to the means in which the subjects are used for the exhibit. There's just a little something about Chinese people being used as part of an exhibit without their consent. :2

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Remember the Statue of Liberty is in JERSEY!:banger

So is the home of some of the best pizza in the world! And not to mention we don't have a 75% Tabacco Tax:r

Have fun Brother. If I can make it up one nite we'll meet up in the city.