Full Disclosure

Qualifications?

None. I have no interest in cooking and wouldn’t know an iron chef from an ironing board. However, I’ve dined in over 300 Manhattan restaurants and have figured out what makes a good meal for me.

Personally, I often found reviews too divergent to be helpful. It’s hard to know what to think when a single restaurant evokes comments like:

Best/worst place on the planet.

The service was totally abysmal/phenomenal.

Wild horses couldn’t keep me away/that’s probably what they were serving.

After a mind blowing array of contradictions, I traded reading for research (menus, pictures) then leapt in fork first. As a result, I’ve had more memorable meals than I can count (and not in a shudder inducing, flashback way).

I am happy to share where I went, what it was like and why it resonated for me. My wish is that you try a few recommendations and have the evening you were hoping for. It might be that we prize the same criteria for what makes a place good (in which case there’s an excellent chance you will enjoy several others off the list).

As you scan the suggestions, you will see a pattern. More often than not, I tend to choose places below 14th Street. Gramercy is usually the limit heading north. There’s something about the tone and energy of downtown that keeps me coming back for more. You will find that many of these restaurants are filled with people in their 20s. Still, if you are twice that, but remain there in your head and heart, you will feel at home.

Read up and eat up,

foodie 411