Things You'll Need:
- Internet access to make reservations online
- A good Manhattan street map
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Step 1
Head to Amy Ruth’s Home-Style Southern Cuisine, especially if you’re homesick for this down-home style of food. Amy Ruth’s, named for the owner’s grandmother, was opened in 1998 and has been popular ever since. At Amy Ruth’s, you can order the “Rev. Al Sharpton,” fried or smothered chicken and waffles, the “Stan Hoffman & Lu Willard,” BBQ spare ribs, or other soul food stapes like fried chicken, collard greens, ham hocks, and more. Amy Ruth’s is at W. 116th St., at Lenox Avenue (see Resources below).
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Step 2
Try Scandinavian food at one of New York’s best restaurants, Aquavit, at 65 East 55th Street. Aquavit offers lunch, dinner and a Sunday smorgasbord brunch that has received rave reviews. But you’ll pay. A prix fixe dinner is $84 per person, with roasted rack of lamb, seared duck breast, sautéed skate wing, rare tuna and scallops, and more. But lunch in the café is much less expensive and includes a chef’s Smorgasbord, “an assortment of Swedish bites,” for $20. Make dinner reservations well in advance (see Resources below). Jackets are suggested in the dining room. You can reserve online at opentable.com or by calling (212) 307-7311.
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Step 3
When was the last time your bartender wore a kilt? If it’s been a while, try dinner or at least a scotch at St. Andrew’s, a classic Scottish restaurant at 120 W. 44th St. St. Andrew’s is a mid-priced steak and seafood house that also serves lots of authentic Scottish food. You can get a prix fixe pre-theater dinner here for $29.95, which includes appetizer, entrée and dessert. But if you’re bonnie brave, try the authentic, homemade haggis--a legendary Scottish blood sausage. And yes, the bartenders wear kilts (see Resources below).
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Step 4
Try Turkish food at Zeytin, 519 Columbus Ave., where they serve saksuka (sautéed eggplant, red pepper and tomato mixture served in a bed of phyllo), hummus, manti (lamb dumplings), falafel, and other foods known mostly to the Turkish tongue. Actress Joan Allen and her husband hosted a recent Bat Mitzvah party for their daughter here. Make reservations and view menus online at the Zeytin website (see Resources below).
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Step 5
Discover the sensory delights of Moroccan food at Tagine Dining Gallery, where you can dine, watch belly dancers, and smoke a hookah pipe. This is a restaurant/lounge that’s often crowded because of the entertainment it provides, but you’ll have to try the grilled Merguez sausage, or the Bastilla pheasant pie, and the many types of couscous on the extensive menu. Tagine also has events galore, including Moroccan dance classes, usually on Monday nights. Tagine is at 537 Ninth Ave., at 40th St. (see Resources below).
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Step 6
Enjoy the warmth of an Irish pub and Celtic cuisine with a twist at Tír na nÓg Irish Bar & Grill in the heart of midtown at 5 Penn Plaza, 8th Avenue at 33rd Street. The interior is charming, with furniture and architectural pieces salvaged from churches and castles in Ireland. Just a few of their dinner entrees include grilled strip steak topped with Bushmill’s Whisky sauce, grilled Berkshire pork chop, Irish Oak smoked salmon layered between warm blinis, or rack of lamb herb crusted and served with goat cheese potato gratin (see Resources below).
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Step 7
Go Afghan by dining at Khyber Pass Restaurant, at 34 St. Mark’s Place, near Second Avenue. This East Village eatery takes its name from an ancient Afghan trade route, and offers up a wide selection of Afghani foods, including Asheh Keshida, a noodle dish in a tangy yogurt sauce, and Mantoo, steamed dumplings filled with minced beef, and kebabs. A pre-fixe dinner for two is $45 – a steal in Manhattan.
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Step 8
Try Belgian food at Resto, chosen by New York Magazine as the best of its kind in the city. Located at 111 E. 29th St., near Park Avenue South, Resto cuisine includes its “Grand Plates,” a selection of entrees like the burger gruyere, a snowy grouper in a white grape buerre blanc, or the beef cheek carbonnade. Resto offers 70 types of Belgian beer and 100 European wines (see Resources below).
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Step 9
Head to Restaurant Row for Russian food – caviar, borscht and more. The three-story Firebird Russian Restaurant is decorated with antiques, samovars, crystal, paintings and photos of Russian nobles. You can order up some caviar, herring, chicken Kiev, veal chops, sturgeon--even a butter-poached Maine lobster. Firebird offers a 3-course pix-fixe menu every evening, including before the theater, for a reasonable $49.99. Firebird is located at 365 W. 46th St., near Ninth Avenue (see Resources below).
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Step 10
Find a taste of home at Bayan Café, a Filipino restaurant located at 212 E. 45th St., at Third Avenue. Bayan Café is a tiny, but cheerful place that attracts a steady crowd ordering its chicken adobo, or its sariwa rolls, crepe-wrapped shrimp and veggies. The noodle dishes are extensive and delicious, and it pays to try the pork entrees--pork belly, pork knuckles, roasted pig, and more. Try the Filipino root beer, Sarsi (see Resources below).
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Step 11
Go vegan, even if just to try the food at 'sNice, a mostly vegan restaurant located in the West Village at 45 8th Ave. This restaurant is decently priced and offers delicious sandwiches and salads in a low-key atmosphere, complete with a chalk blackboard menu. You’ll find a tempeh Reuben, fontina panini, a sesame “chicken” wrap, and hot chocolate made with soy milk and vegan marshmallows. Free wireless access is provided at ‘sNice (see Resources below).
