We saw an early afternoon theater show, and right after, we decided to check out Argentine food. Baires Grill was appealing because it is a Miami chain, and this is their only non-Miami location. We are planning on visiting Miami in the near future, so I was curious to see how this food differs than other Argentine restaurants we’ve been to. We walked in around 4 PM on a Saturday without reservations, and they seated us immediately without issues.
Today was another Broadway showing that we had to attend. Our theater district restaurant pool is thinning a bit, so this one was somewhat difficult to locate. It reminds me of a Midtown staple type of restaurant that is very friendly to the theater crowd, and it’s not hard to get in. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening around 5 PM without any issues.
Becco was on our list for a while. This restaurant in the Theater District was always full around theater times, so of course, that’s naturally alluring. It was first opened in 1993 by Lidia Bastianich and her son, Joe, who you might recognize from the U.S. version of the MasterChef series. The Yelp ratings of the food seem surprisingly low compared to the Google counterpart, so that increase our curiosity. We were able to easily make a reservation the earlier in the day for 5:15 PM on a Friday night.
We went into the city to watch a broadway show, and I had to look for a restaurant in the area without worrying about reservations. I stumbled onto this Hell’s Kitchen Italian restaurant that seemed to have pretty decent menu items. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Friday evening pretty easily, and there wasn’t much foot traffic at all. We were seated next to the window and had a very casual, quick dinner.
The View was New York City’s iconic revolving restaurant, bar, and lounge, and recently reopened after a 5-year hiatus. It’s located in the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, and it was recently taken over by the Union Square Hospitality Group (known for places like Gramercy Tavern, Manhatta, and The Modern. Reservations were fairly easy to get, and since I was craving for prime rib, I snagged one just to see how it was like. Previously when this was opened, it was a buffet with not-so-great rated food.
Gui caught my attention because it offered a baked Alaska and prime rib. What I did not realize was that this restaurant had some folks with a track record of good Korean foods. Chef Sung Chul Shim comes from Kochi and Mari. Pastry chef, Sarah Smith, comes from many fine kitchens including Le Bernardin and Le Rock. The reservation was very easy to reserve for a 5:15 PM dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is located on the second floor, but you check in on the first floor.
We had won another theater tickets for this Sunday, so we looked for a place nearby. My partner desired Peruvian food again, specifically lomo saltado. The best lomo saltado place we’ve ever had was actually Mario’s in Los Angeles, and we’ve been struggling to find a comparable place, especially in New York City. We walked in on a late Sunday afternoon without issues, and we were seated promptly. Looking over the menu, they had your typical Peruvian options.
We had a show this evening, and this “crab house” just recently opened in Manhattan. This originated from a Flushing stall, and their specialty is crab roe over rice or noodle. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening without reservations. The social media circuit really raved about this dish by showing off the roe, so we decided to try it. I figured there was no need to make reservations since Manhattan Midtown Chinese restaurants are usually pretty easy to get into.
Danji is Chef Hooni Kim’s first restaurant that opened 15 years ago. It earned a Michelin Star back in 2012 and closed in April 2023 due to a fire. We’ve been to the Chef’s other Michelin Star restaurant, Meju, which was phenomenal for what it was. We decided to check out this to see how it was, so I made a reservation pretty easily a week prior for 5:30 PM for a Friday.
SaiTong Thai was a relatively new Thai restaurant that opened near the Theater District. One of its allures is that it appears to be an upscale Thai restaurant. The menu when I glanced at it seemed pretty decent although the prices were on the higher side. Since we had a theater date, we decided to check this restaurant out. We easily made a reservation for a Saturday at 5:30 PM.