<p>I posted on this topic on Theatre/Drama also. Below are two suggestions from a Philadelphia person who goes to NY a lot. Can anyone here add to them? Thanks.</p>
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<li><p>Our fave theater district place is MONT BLANC, 48th St. between 8th and 9th Sts., a very simple but lovely and old fashioned Swiss French place, not flashy but a popular hangout for theater crew guys and actors. Prices fantastic for beautiful food, full meals with salad, veg, potatoes, homemade bread and entree all included, not ala carte. Maria, the owner is lovely.</p></li>
<li><p>A standard college gathering spot for NYU Tisch students is: DOJO. LOVE their Hijiki burgers, tofu burgers with salad and ginger dressing and brown rice. It is unbelievably cheap. Meat too, burgers and stuff, but just a real funky, bare bones college hangout and very vegetarian friendly. 14 W. 4th St ar Mercer St.</p></li>
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<p>If you're downtown, check out Veselka - a major hipster/neighborhood hangout with the best Ukrainian comfort food in town, good prices, pleasant atmosphere. Try; borscht, pirogi, kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, ANY soup (all homemade and amazing), great breakfasts, great burgers.</p>
<p>I am impressed that parents and kids doing Unifieds find the time and energy to actually plan out where to eat while in New York! As I recall the experience, my D and I just grabbed stuff on the fly and brought it back to our hotel room, or (a few times) just went into whatever restaurant in the Times Square area looked like it had tables and we could afford it. :)</p>
<p>My all-time fave place is Havana Central in Times Sq.1 block from the Crowne Plaza, I could se it from my hotel room there. they have wonderful cuban food, excellent mojitos (if you find yourself in need-haha) and if you ask for the 15 minute menu, they will have it there in 15" great for being in a rush. We were seated even on saturday nights with no reservation quickly, and the service is excellent. Very 40's atmosphere, and wonderful Cuban music and dancing late evening and after hours!@</p>
<p>Two blocks over from Times Square you will find many reasonable restaurants all along 9th Avenue. If you are on a budget, this is a much cheaper option than eating right in Times Square where the prices can be crazy. One of our favorites is Vynl - on 9th between 50th and 51st - a hip neighborhood spot frequented by theatre folk. There are also lots of good ethnic restaurants on 9th - including many Thai places.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for all the suggestions. We live only one and a half hours from NYC, but we don't get up there too often because we are very near Philadelphia which is our main cultural resource. </p>
<p>We are spreading my son's three NYC auditions out over three days and spending two nights in the city (in a $150 a night hotel) in order to make the experience more fun and less stressful. We'd like to eat at decent, interesting places that people recommend (not just grab something maybe greasy and yukky on the fly), but we want keep our expenses down by not going too high end restaurant-wise.</p>
<p>We are lucky we don't have to fly to the Unifieds! My son's non-NYC auditions for acting BFA programs are all on the school campuses.....Purchase, Mason Gross and Montclair State. Maybe he should have applied to 9 or 10 programs like most of the MT students, but he only applied to six.</p>
<p>In addition, we are hoping we might be able to catch a student production at either Tisch or Steinhardt, if we can find any (it might be too early in the semester?). My son's Tisch audition is on Wednesday, and we'll ask.</p>
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we are hoping we might be able to catch a student production at either Tisch or Steinhardt, if we can find any (it might be too early in the semester?). My son's Tisch audition is on Wednesday, and we'll ask.
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<p>I realize it's a little late to be giving this advice but Tisch and Steinhardt shows sell out very quickly most of the time so it's best to reserve tickets as soon as they go on sale. Having said that, some possibilities for you:</p>
<p>p.s. It's not a bad idea to check when you get there to see what might be running at Tisch. There are over 100 productions there a year so you might get lucky during the time you're there.</p>
<p>In that neighborhood I like:
O'Flaherty's on W46th between 8th and 9th
Zen Palate (vegetarian) on 9th ave and W46th st
Arriba Arriba (mexican) on 9th ave and W51st st</p>
<p>Stay away from Times Square - overpriced and tourist packed! le pain quotidien & spice are a few restaurants that in multiple locations thorughout the city - good food an inexpensive!</p>
<p>We love Delta Grill at 700 9th Ave. (Corner of 9th and 48th I believe). Here's their website The</a> Delta Grill Great place my sister, my D and I found on our last trip into the city. Wonderful food, great prices. I'm craving it terribly just writing this.
Enjoy!</p>
<p>Becco is IMO, the best deal in the theater district. For $23 ($18 at lunch), you get a salad or excellent antipasto plate and all you can eat of their 3 daily pastas. Quality is great and ambience slightly upscale:</p>
<p>Our Unifieds weekend was ALL about keeping the kid happy, so we went to her favorite places...all convenient to the auditions: John's Pizza on West 44th between Broadway and 8th Avenue (fabulous pizza and really cheap and not a dive), Brooklyn Diner at 1500 Broadway, near 43rd Street, I think (great food, big portions, a little pricey but not nutty), Bond 45 at 154 West 45th Street (Italian food, 1950s supper club style, great service and really exceptional food). These are not too far off Times Square so they can get crowded but they are not ickky like Roxy's. There's a coffee shop on 44th at 6th Avenue called the Red Flame that's decent for breakfast, too.</p>