Better NY city restaurants

SKsolutions

My better half, and I are heading to NY at the crack of noon tomorrow. We'll be staying in Mid town Wed, and most of Thursday. I'm having a piece of jewelry made and I'd like to present it at dinner in a nice place that isn't a typical tourist/engagement spot. At the top of my list is Charlie Plamers' Aureole.
Has anyone been there, or have other/better suggestions? Price should be under 300$ for 2 excluding wine or drinks.

MKZ

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/11359727/new_york_ny/beacon_restaurant.html

http://www.tonysnyc.com/

http://www.worldyacht.com/

shawn474

Good Italian Restaraunt = Carmine's. Family style Italian and good for the money. It's not as good as you can get in Little Italy (too many places to name), but good nonetheless.

AsSiMiLaTeD

There's a JW Steakhouse at the marriot there that's also very good, may be worth checking out.

SKsolutions

Thanks for all the recommendations, I appreciate it. I'm sure we'll get to at least one of them. Neither of us will be wearing our Red Sox hats until dessert is served, and the check is on the table.

schwarcw

My preference is to go to the Palm Steakhouse in mid town, see link here

Peter Luger's in Brooklyn (bring cash) look here

And my new favorite that Esavinon took to to dinner in the Bronx, "Roberto's". Un believable Italian Cusine. Wonderful food and atmosphere look here

Lot's of good places in NY. Enjoy!

Serendipity

schwarcw wrote: »

Peter Luger's in Brooklyn (bring cash) look here

Not worth the hype, IMO.

SKS - maybe we can meet up sometime?

ESavinon

schwarcw wrote: »

My preference is to go to the Palm Steakhouse in mid town, see link here

Peter Luger's in Brooklyn (bring cash) look here

And my new favorite that Esavinon took to to dinner in the Bronx, "Roberto's". Un believable Italian Cusine. Wonderful food and atmosphere look here

Lot's of good places in NY. Enjoy!

Those are great choices. Peter luger's is the best steak house in nyc but you need to have a reservation made weeks in advance.

66chevyIISS

Not sure this is a place I would go for an engagement, but if you like great Brazllian BBQ then I highly recommend it. Go there starving!

http://www.churrascariaplataforma.com/

SKsolutions

Wow, great suggestions. I'll give a call tomorrow to see if I can get on the list for Luger. There is a Palm near me that I've yet to go to. The yacht thing looks very cool too. Thanks polks.

66chevyIISS

so are you engaged now or what?

AsSiMiLaTeD

How'd the trip go?

BaggedLancer

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

How'd the trip go?

I'm guessing he scored......a good dinner that is.

SKsolutions

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

How'd the trip go?

It went very well. It was an engagement, despite what the first post said. It was to keep her off the scent just in case some of her coworkers planted the idea (which I later learned, they did), and she happened do some snooping.

I wanted it to be a total surprise, and went to great lengths to keep it that way. As a back-story, she is in her early 20's, and I've been divorced since the mid 90's. I've maintained a fairly hard line concerning the issue, and this helped in overcoming some of the 'hints' that may otherwise have been picked up on.

While the theater and accoutrement of an engagement weren't all that important to me, I knew that she, despite her best protestations and like every woman, had some expectations. So, knowing that I had a good woman who would be happy with a plain gold band, I tried to do things right.

The ring: This was the 'guy' part, and similar to looking at gear, it became somewhat of an obsession. To get some feedback without divulging the reason, I told her I was going to have a diamond pendant made as a belated gift. She wouldn't give me any info on what she wanted in a 'pendant', so I had to physically put a laptop in front of her and show her different stones, cuts and settings. If she had any idea, she would have **** kittens right there. "I'll be happy with anything that you get me, . ." was the standard response, and I came close to spilling the beans. I didn't want to buy such an expensive and important item, and have her not like it. At one point, I was entering something into a search engine, and 'tiffanys novo setting' came up in the auto-fill, which she noted. I thought the gig was up, but rolled with it and went to the tiffanys site like I was looking at pendants ideas. The novo setting is an engagement ring by the way.

With a vague confirmation about the cut, I looked to find the best stone I could find in my range, and would then have something made. I found a stone on 47th St in NY, and told her that her 'pendant' was being made and would be ready in 2 weeks. She suggested that we go and pick it up in person. . (perfect!). I pretended to reluctantly agree, although I was going to work that in anyway. I will say at this point, just like audio gear, my initial parameters and budget for the ring went out the window pretty quickly.

The stone I wanted became 'unavailable', and I now had a date and no ring. It took a bit, but I found something better locally with only three days left for the setting to be made. No one could guarantee that the ring would be ready, so I put off booking the hotel. I did however make reservations at Charley Palmer's Aureole, which is a converted brownstone near Madison and Fifth, just south of the Park. They have a tasting menu, the architecture is lavish, and the service is very professional.

The morning of, the ring is ready to be picked up, thank God. I told Penny that I had a client that I couldn't push off, and that we'd leave for NY after I met him that morning. After more than 200 hrs researching everything I could about diamonds, . . and doing a quick sketch of the setting for the dealer, I was extremely relieved when I saw the finished product. I had only seen the stone unmounted, and next to two others. Although, all I could think of during the drive there was: "It's not going to fit, it's not going to fit. . . **** I'm doing 90, . . it's not going to fit".

Wow, this is getting too long, so I'll skip to it. I proposed over dinner. I put the box on the table, and she didn't know what it was when she opened it. There was NO response. None. Now I was nervous. When I started to stand up, realization set in, and she essentially fell apart. Freaked is a word that comes to mind. Anyway, I couldn't tell you what I said, and she cried through it anyway, but there was a good 25 second speech on bended knee, followed by her saying yes.

We sat next to two other couples that were engaged there (although it's not known for it), and had champagne and good conversation to complement our 8+ course meal. It really was perfect.

We did the Met and a few things while there, but mostly enjoyed the city and each other. After our fancy dinner, we went and grabbed Philly cheese steak and pizza at 2am! Love it!

The city looked cleaner and safer than I remember.
I'll check out some of these recommendations next time I'm there, I'm hungry looking at them again.

appadv wrote: »

SKS - maybe we can meet up sometime?

Sounds cool for the next time I'm in your area, or you are in mine!

Fireman32

Congrats man!