Just spent seven days in New York for work. I'm sorry I couldn't arrange some sort of impromptu "sit down" among the neighborhood bb'ers, but this was all business, I was a stranger in an unfamiliar land, and I had a laundry list of industry people that I needed to meet while I was there.

I was in town to install, staff, and dismantle our company's trade show exhibit at the Javits Center. I'm currently working for a company that develops and manufactures dental products (adhesives and composites), I'm managing their trade show program, and we were in town for the Greater New York Dental Meeting. We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel at 34th and 8th, across from the Garden, and I'm grateful for the warm weather you arranged so we could walk comfortably to and from the Javits Center each day!

One highlight was dinner last Monday night at Carmine's at 91st and Broadway. We took our entire staff -- 14 people -- and consumed nine bottles of wine. The food was tasty, and the portion sizes were unbelievable! Six entrees and two vegetable sides was more than enough for 14 people and we still took food back to the hotel for a Tuesday night party in one of the suites. Highly recommended!

Fortunately, I got done with our dismantle early Thursday afternoon, made a hasty exit to La Guardia and walked on an earlier flight back to Chicago just beating the snowstorm by about two hours.

I've been doing this for a couple of years, I've been to McCormick Place several times and I've personally exhibited at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, but this was my first on-site to Javits Center. Somehow I have this image of Tom Hagen in Hollywood telling Woltz, "Now, you're gonna have some union problems..."

tony b.

What's the best Italian restaurant in NY?

Carmine's is well known for its portion size. Many waiters or waitresses will caution first-timers about ordering too much.

When TIS and Saladbar first came to NYC some years ago a bunch of us took them there (see below), although we went to the one in Times Square (same owners).

Good thing you got out of town when you did (beating the snowstorm back home).

The Carmine's right off of Times Square has got to be my favorite resturant in the world. I've only been around this time of year, near Christmas, when they have all the decorations up, but I'm sure that's probably the best time to go.

It's unfortunate that you didn't have the time to meet one of or several of us from the area. Maybe next time.

That Carmines location is fantastic. While the food at the 47th st. location is good, for some strange reason the food at the 91st. street location seems much better. A great atmosphere too, especially in the summertime. Did you smell of garlic when you left?

Several years ago some co-workers and I went up there for dinner. The place was mobbed. I went to the bar to have a cigarette (this was before the total ban on smoking in restaurants). It was a mad house. Now I'm sitting at the bar watching all these people trying to get a table and in walks this couple. He asks for a table and the hostess says something like " There's a 2 hour wait." So he looks at her and asks " Do you know who I am?" She looks up at him and then back down to her seating chart without even blinking an eye and replies " As I said, there's a 2 hour wait."

It was Tom Cruise. And the hostess could have cared less. I loved it. She basically told him, in not so many words, "I don't give a shit who you are, you have a 2 hour wait just like everyone else here!"

Needless to say, he walked out.


So you got that impression of the Javits Center, huh? Well you weren't that far off. And believe me, you do NOT want any union problems in that place!



Don Cardi

DC - I agree. For some reason, the one on 91st is better. Different chefs, I guess.

For my money, though, some of the best Italian food I've had in the city is at Becco on 46th, Lidia Bastianich's restaurant. We've eaten there several times, and the food's always delicious. They serve a pasta dinner for $22, 3 different pastas, and they're unlimited. They also have an entire wine list of bottles for $25, pretty reasonable in Manhattan.

That's a very hard question to answer Olivant. There is an abundance of Italian restaurants throughout all of New York City which is made up of 5 boroughs. And each borough has at least two or three, maybe even four, that are the tops. If you are talking about Manhatten, then I would have to recommend
"Il Giglio" on Warreen Street. No question that it is one of the best in Manhatten, and it is definitely my favorite Italian restaurant in all of Manhatten.



Don Cardi

What about a real neighborhood type place?

Are you planning on coming to NYC?



Don Cardi

Olive Garden has that, and it's cheaper.


(waiting to block projectiles from hitting me )

Nah...just be real careful starting your car!

Signor V.

The amazing thing about Carmine's is that quality and quantity do mix. I was astonished by how good the food was, given how big the portions were.
How was the hotel, YTB? I've been in the lobby and it looked plenty dog-eared.

Who kept you waiting there??

The security guard. TB was trying to get into the hotel with a shopping bag full of cans of peas.

You SO did NOT say Olive Garden!!! That's a horrible, horrible place!! And I find their commercials (well, their older ones anyway) so insulting to Italians, bringing Cousin Nunzio there when he visits from Italy, and the cheap uncle who agrees to pay for the meal because it's so reasonable. It's as insulting as those old Ragu commercial with the brother running around in his wife beater, dipping bread into the big pot of sauce.

...actually it was a Ritz cracker with chopped liver...

You mean the Olive Garden isn't genuine Italian?? I really thought that when I was there, I was family.

I heard that he was also drinking out of a hose behind the hotel, in the olive garden.



Don Cardi

I've been promising myself a trip to NY for years. If I ever do make it, I want to eat at neighborhood type restaurants like I enjoyed growing up in Pgh.

Turnbull, if the lobby was "dog-eared" when you were there, then the rooms were the remainder of a much older dog today.

Kudos though to the Tick-Tock Diner attached to the hotel. Good food and good service at a reasonable price.

I didn't choose this hotel...my predecessor did and he definitely endeared himself to the staff. They stayed at the Marriott Marquis last year, so this was BIG step down. Although it's only a ten minute walk to Javits (vs. 45 minutes on the convention shuttle to the hotels in the Times Square area), the rooms were tiny and badly in need of updating. I would only consider housing my staff in that hotel next year if I were certain they could all get the equivalent of a suite for roughly the same rate...or someone in upper management puts a corporate gun to my head...or the staff gives an overwhelming thumbs-up because of its close proximity to Javits.

They also drank heavily at the little bar at 35th and 9th (or 10th).

Carmine's was out of this world. There are two neighborhood social clubs here in Chicago where they serve like that during their monthly dinners. It's unreal when you try to tell someone not to fill-up on the pasta or risotto because it's not the main course. We're so used to "a la cart" dining, it's a real treat to see a person's reaction to the country-style portions at a restaurant the caliber of Carmine's.

Again, my apologies for not arranging something with the neighborhood bb'ers. This was my first on-site at Javits and you really do have to have your ass wired tight if you expect to keep your budget in check when you're supervising local labor for the installation and dismantle of your exhibit.

tony b.

Olivant, if and when you decide to make a trip to New York, I will be more than happy to make some reccomendations for some neighborhood style Italian restaurants.

In fact, I would enjoy having dinner with you one evening at one of those restaurants.


Don Cardi

Our former marketing director was a genteel lady from Virginia whose husband had been transferred to NY. We were doing a trade show at Javits, and she was terrified of going into NYC alone. I told her not to worry about it, you just slipped the guy a fiver and told him "Yo, Pally, take care of me." She went into a total panic and wanted to know how she would recognize Pally when she saw him. She made me go with her.