Foodies in Manhattan - Which Zone to Stay In?

[mommysavers]

My husband and I are going to be in NYC 4/16-4/19. We are looking for good restaurants and bars. Non-chain stuff, local flavor is great. We are thinking the SoHo area would be good but we're leery about getting something too far away from everything. Dh hasn't been to Manhattan too much, so he is leaning towards midtown/Times Square. Can you help guide us as to where to stay to get this experience?

[chillytraveler2]

My husband and I are going to be in NYC 4/16-4/19. We are looking for good restaurants and bars. Non-chain stuff, local flavor is great. We are thinking the SoHo area would be good but we're leery about getting something too far away from everything. Dh hasn't been to Manhattan too much, so he is leaning towards midtown/Times Square. Can you help guide us as to where to stay to get this experience?

Hi-

Great food is all over NYC. I would recommend choosing a hotel zone that allows you to access as many train lines as possible. These are my usual choices in order of preference:

1.Midtown East (specifically the Grand Hyatt)

2. Central Park South

3. Empire State Building

4. Midtown West

Would not recommend Times Square unless you enjoy being overun by huge crowds and tons of late night noise?

As far as food, you might want to take a look at Chowhound.com, New York Magazine website and Time Out NY Magazine. You can't go wrong with recommendations from these sites. NYC is filled to brim with non-chain restaurants, so you should really do a little homework to ensure that you have great meals while you're there.

[underdunk]

East Village, Greenwich and Union Square would be where I'd go for a foodie trip. I don't know how the hotels are there but it's not much trouble to get there from a fancy Midtown hotel.