New York in November

[Skier31]

I will be in NY in November for 4 nights. I am staying in Manhattan.

I have bought tickets to Once but other than that, I have not made any plans.

Suggestions? Tourist traps to avoid? Local secrets? Not to miss restaurants?

Thanks for any suggestions.

I would like to see Statue of Liberty and 9/11 Museum and do plan to buy tickets in advance.

Thanks!

Nancy

 

[Jenny]

I like the Cloisters.

Was planning to do the Vertical Tour of the Cathedral of St John The Divine, but then 9/11 happened, and is was supposed to go the next weekend. So that's still on the list.

Also did a tour of the Tenement Museum, which was interesting. And The Merchant's house, which is the only house preserved intact from the 19th century. Who kind of stumbled on that one while walking around and decided to go in.

And found all the Faberge eggs in the Forbes museum, but they're not there anymore, so I wouldn't bother with it.

Not sure when the holiday shows start, but a friend of mine likes the Rockettes at Christmas.

 

[abc]

New York means different things to different people. So it's hard to say what to see because the list will be awfully long. And one person's interesting site maybe another's tourist trap...

So if you're going to near Battery Park on the day you go to 9/11 museum and Statue of Liberty, you can also get to South Street Seaport pretty easily. If you want to see some Broadway show, there's a ticket office at South Street Seaport that sells tickets at 1/2 price! And unlike the ticket office at Time Square, this one usually has no lines...November is getting a bit chilly, otherwise I would say walk around the park there.

A lot of people say Time Square is tourist trap. But I'll tell you, the energy you get just from standing there is incredible!

My favorite that's a bit quirky is to bike around Central Park! You can rent a bike at vendors near the park. Or you can just swipe your credit card and grab a CitiBike, which is the Bike Share program in New York. $10 gives you all day use of bikes all over the city.

Restaurants: again, too many to list. You need to narrow it down a bit with cusine and budget.

 

[Skier31]

Thanks everyone. Great suggestions.

ABC: As far as restaurants, I would interested to hear any favorites of yours. I'm going with my parents and boyfriend so one splurge dinner and some casual, interesting suggestions would be great. Not interested in chains.

 

[SkiBam]

I'll second the Cloisters. I also loved the Frick. On my to-see list next time I'm in NYC is the Tenement Museum, which someone mentioned. If the weather's decent, walk the Highline.

 

[Albertan ski girl]

I second the Cloisters, the Frick and the Tenement museum! I also love the Neue Galerie.

For restaurants - I've been to these recently and love them:
Graffiti (in East Village, Indian fusion, make a reservation, small place, amazing food);

Dirt Candy (vegan/vegetarian, really focuses on making vegetables the star ingredients, great wine list, also in East Village);

Momofuku Ssam bar (on 2nd ave, creative menu, great food, need reservations);

Acme NYC (bit pricey, def need reservation way in advance, love their chef's menu);

Jack's Wife Freda (on the Lower East Side, amazing for breakfast and brunch)

Red Rooster (in Harlem, one of my favourite favourite restaurants in manhattan - I've been going since it opened, worth every penny, and making reservations in advance);

Also, can anyone visit new york without a good deli - Zabar's, Nussbaum and Wu, Katz's Deli?

 

[Christy]

I'd highly recommend the Ellis Island museum. The audio tour is great. One of my favorite things to do is walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to the new Brooklyn Bridge Park--the park is so cool and there are great views of the city. If you go on Sunday when Smorgasburg is happening on pier 5 all the better. https://www.brooklynflea.com/markets/smorgasburg-dumbo/
I third the Tenement Museum idea. I love the Museum of the City of New York and go nearly every time, but you'd want to read about current exhibits and see if they interest you. The view from the rooftop deck at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is practically worth admission. If you like architecture, the AIA boat tour that goes around the island is fantastic. You can do a regular Circle Line cruise too but I like the AIA architectural tours. In terms of tourist traps to avoid, I'd spend as little time as possible in Times Square.

As for food I'd think about what you love but can't easily get where you live or travel, and go for that. For me that means lobster, so we always go to Pearl Oyster Bar (this is just a great place for East Coast seafood) as well as Luke's Lobster and we track down the Red Hook Lobster Truck. They all do different style of lobster rolls and I love them all. And it also means Jewish "appetizing" store so I love to go to Russ and Daughters for a lox sandwich with all the trimmings. Whatever you love, NYC's gonna have it. For a nice meal that isn't a real blowout or somewhere too hard to reserve, check out Jean George's Nougatine. If you want something higher end, Le Bernadin is delicious and not too terribly hard to get a reservation as long as you look at their policy and call as soon as they permit. Le B is celebrity and bigshot heavy which is kinda fun; we sat next to Judy Densch last time.

 

[Skier31]

Great ideas everyone! Thank you.

 

[abc]

ABC: As far as restaurants, I would interested to hear any favorites of yours. I'm going with my parents and boyfriend so one splurge dinner and some casual, interesting suggestions would be great. Not interested in chains.

I will first reiterate what Christy wrote:

As for food I'd think about what you love but can't easily get where you live or travel, and go for that.

On that vein, I'll focus mostly in ethnic food. (I've been to Snowmass, the food there were very high quality so I will skip the "standard" fare)

"My Favorite" are by necessity be around neighborhood where I live and worked:

Indian:
- saravan abhavan (81 Lexington & 26th st) South Indian specialty rarely found anywhere else. My Indian co-worker said it's as authentic as it comes. Get the melt-in-your-mouth "Paper Dosa"!

- Vetan (409 3rd Ave @ 29th st) Vegetarian buffet dinner. This is not your typical Indian buffet. They only do dinner, no lunches. So you get the idea.

Chinese:
Wu Liang Ye (36 W. 48th st between 5th and 6th Ave) Authentic Sichuan. Again, according to my friend from Sichuan, it's "as good as you get in Sichuan". The appetizers are better than even the main dishes! (if you have a big party, order several individual appetizers. If only 2-3 people, just get the combination plate)

Thai:
Wondee Siam (9th Ave 53 & 54th st) There're two of them, right across from each other across the Ave. That's how good they are! (the softshell crab is to die for!)

Pongsri (165 W 23rd St & 7th Ave) There're actually two of them also, but I only tried the one at 23rd St.

Japanese:
Sushi Damo (W 56st between 8th & 9th Ave) Not cheap, very good food. Some creative dishes (I usually sample the different specialty rolls)

Korean (with Japanese/Chinese mix)
Ichiumi (6 E 32nd St between Fifth & Madison Ave) It's a seafood buffet with sushi, Korean & Chinese seafood dishes. Quite fresh and huge variety.

I also second Chrsty's suggestion of Nougatine at Trump (Frech). It's casual and not too impossible to get reservation. It's not exactly inexpensive but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Considering the excellent quality of the food, it's a "bargain" by New York standard.

Tourist trap or not, the Rock on top of Rockerfeller center has fantastic view and can't be beat for special occasion.

 

[Skier31]

Thank you, ABC. That gives me some great ideas.

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

I second the suggestion of going to Ellis Island.
If the weather is nice then walking over the Brooklyn Bridge would be nice too. You could also walk over the Williamsburg Bridge into Willimasburg Brooklyn, but if you're only doing one bridge, then the Brooklyn Bridge is more attractive in general.
There is also a tour of Rockefeller Center (you buy those tickets at the same place you buy tickets to Top of the Rock if you end up doing that). The tour takes you inside some of the buildings and outside and talks about all the different art and architecture.
Another more obscure museum that I enjoyed is the New York Transit Museum. It's located in Brooklyn Heights in a de-commsssioned subway station.
For casual food/grazing I always enjoy a trip to the Chelsea Market. It's indoors which may be nice in November and the building has some interesting features as well.
It can also be fun to walk down Bleecker St in the West Village area as there are numerous shops, cafes and restaurants to pop in and out of.

 

[Skier31]

Thank you!

 

[abc]

November can be kind of chilly for long walks. So unless the weather is exceptionally warm, plan to walks that get you inside frequently.

It can also be fun to walk down Bleecker St in the West Village area as there are numerous shops, cafes and restaurants to pop in and out of.

Quite! I think the best part of visiting New York is really just walking down the street! At least that's what left me the strongest impression when I visited New York for the first time 20 years ago (still felt like it just happened yesterday).

 

[Skier31]

Wonderful suggestions by everyone. I like to walk around new places. It will be a nice pre ski season trip.

 

[abc]

I like to walk around new places. It will be a nice pre ski season trip.

That's pretty much ALL I do in cities.

Walk around the street, eat, walk in a musuem, eat some more, walk around the street some more, eat again, sleep. Repeat the next day.

(Let's see, Vienna, Istanbul, Shanghai, Venice, Bombay ...)

Just remember to bring REALLY, REALLY comfortable walking shoes.

 

[MI-skier]

DH and I went last summer and had some great local bites by doing a food tour through GV and Little Italy/groupon. We also rented the citi bikes and bike rode across the Brooklyn Bridge. Loved Danji's for Korean in Hell's Kitchen. Also loved the salted caramel shakes at Schnippers (it was BTS!!! and I had both that day ). Loved Wicked!!! Top of the Rock was breathtaking at night. Enjoyed biking Central Park as well. We also followed some of the food trucks on their apps throughout the city. I find most "famous" restaurants to be way over-rated. The tours of the Statue sell out way in advance. The ferry back/forth to Staten Island is free and you go right by the statue.

Have a great time.