Gonzo in downtown brooklyn has pretty decent ramen as well. The wait at chuko has gotten out of hand so I don't really go anymore.

4/15/2014 4:28:39 PM

The wait can get bad, but they will call you when your table is almost ready so you can go to Woodwork or Soda Bar or something to wait. I'll have to try Gonzo.

I've gone to Smorgasburg at Brooklyn Bridge Park the last two Sundays. The one that they have there this year on Sundays is huge. It's awesome.

4/15/2014 7:14:24 PM

Put Ganso on my to do list, thanks

My buddy went to the Williamsburg flea a couple weeks ago and said the crowds are much improved from last year...so I should finally be able to get a ramen burger without too much trouble...they've also added a mini smorgasbord to the little flea market right by my apt on 7th ave, so that's cool

my friend also said the best thing he had at the Williamsburg flea market was the bruffin

4/16/2014 9:02:17 AM

Also add barboncino to your list.

4/16/2014 11:47:09 AM

Added thanks

For those that frequent this area, one of my favorite finds has been Gueros. One of the only places I've found in NY that makes good breakfast tacos with plenty of options...their queso is great too.

Has anyone been to Morgan's? I've been twice now, first time it was good, not great, but last weekend I had their pulled pork tacos and they were awesome.

4/16/2014 12:33:37 PM

The one time I was there a waitress dumbed a tray in someone. Food was tasty.

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 7:03 PM. Reason : Ere]

4/16/2014 7:02:29 PM

Morgans is really good, but for brisket BrisketTown is the best I've had in the city. There's a guy trying to open an eastern NC style whole hog barbecue joint in Bushwick this summer. He was trained by Ed Mitchell. http://bushwickdaily.com/2014/03/arrogant-swines-bringing-pig-pickin-to-bushwick/

Quote :

"My buddy went to the Williamsburg flea a couple weeks ago and said the crowds are much improved from last year...so I should finally be able to get a ramen burger without too much trouble...they've also added a mini smorgasbord to the little flea market right by my apt on 7th ave, so that's cool"

The ramen burger guy just opened a restaurant in the financial district so you can get one any day of the week now: http://ny.eater.com/archives/2014/04/ramen_co_is_soft_open_quietly_serving_ramen_burgers.php I went a few days ago for lunch and it was pretty good.

4/19/2014 3:07:32 PM

Has anyone visited the Village Vanguard? I've always wanted to go and we are going to NYC for the first time in august (spending a whole week).

7/10/2014 9:49:33 PM

so I plan to at least visit Village Vanguard - not sure yet whether we will actually see a show there or not. But I found another jazz place a friend told me about called Bill's Place in Harlem. Appears to be about a mile walk from where we are staying: only open on Friday/Saturday, BYOB, limited to a pretty small number of people (30ish it appears). Might pull the trigger on some tickets tomorrow.

7/26/2014 10:46:10 PM

Yeah, I've been there before. Good place, especially in winter. Very romantic and open. Best part in downtown Manhattan.

7/26/2014 10:52:17 PM

Gonna be there at the end of this month. Recommendations?

8/9/2014 9:01:34 AM

Takashi is by far the best ramen in the earth

8/9/2014 10:36:29 AM

My wife and I just got back after spending Aug 1 thru Aug 7 there (headed to upstate for the last couple days to see family). Loved every single second we were in the city.

(and we went to Smorgasburg at Brooklyn Bridge Park as mentioned earlier in this thread)

[Edited on August 11, 2014 at 9:26 AM. Reason : ]

8/11/2014 9:25:19 AM

My itinerary of the trip on labor day weekend is planned as following. I'm gonna take my whole family there, wife, daughter, in-laws. We sleep at hotel at Time square.

Draft schedule:

-Arrive at JFK Sunday morning

-Sunday:
midtown, uptown:
time square, central park, 5th avenue, American museum of natural history

-Monday:
downtown and Brooklyn:
liberty statue, wall street,Brooklyn Bridge park, 911 musuem, Greenwich Village,

-Tuesday:
Roosevelt Island Tramway, united nations, Rockefeller center

Head back to JFK Tuesday afternoon

Comments? Suggestions?

8/20/2014 2:53:45 PM

just don't make sudden stops in the middle of busy sidewalks like the rest of you people do.

8/20/2014 2:59:13 PM

Who do that?

8/20/2014 3:05:38 PM

every asian in NYC ever.

8/20/2014 3:18:31 PM

Oh, really? Maybe they are just tired.
I do know some Asians shout out on the street.

8/20/2014 3:23:24 PM

You should make use of the citibikes for your midtown and downtown activities

8/20/2014 4:30:59 PM

Go to brooklyn on sunday so you can stop at Smorgasburg

Make sure you go walk around bedford avenue in williamsburg while you are In new york.

Labor day parade.

8/20/2014 4:33:24 PM

^^I'd like to try but I'm with seniors and toddler. I will rely on subway heavily.
^ Good idea.

[Edited on August 20, 2014 at 4:37 PM. Reason : ;]

8/20/2014 4:34:08 PM

Also keep in mind that for now Uber X is cheaper than a yellow cab

8/20/2014 4:55:06 PM

I will

8/20/2014 5:00:14 PM

Quote :

"just don't make sudden stops in the middle of busy sidewalks"

hahah. So much of this. It was amazing how many people were not aware of their surroundings. Way too many people walking around texting for as busy as the streets are sometimes too.

8/20/2014 5:01:50 PM

People are walking much faster than downtown Raleigh.

But why is it related with Asian?

8/20/2014 5:09:27 PM

OK. 2nd version of schedule is here. A lot of places are CUT.

Sunday:

time square
lunch
central park
dinner
hotel

Monday:
liberty statue
lunch
911 musuem
wall street
little italy
state empire
dinner
Roosevelt Island Tramway


Tuesday:
brooklyn bridge park
lunch
jfk

8/22/2014 5:12:22 PM

MOMA is pretty dope

I"m Krallum and I approved this message.

8/22/2014 11:50:08 PM

I've been there before.

8/23/2014 9:09:15 AM

Brooklyn bridge park needs to be done on sunday when smorgasburg is going on.

8/23/2014 4:44:14 PM

Good idea!

8/23/2014 5:18:04 PM

Only three days to go before leaving, excited!
3rd version of itinerary, probably the final one!


Sunday:
RDU-JFK

the 5th ave
time square


lunch

central park

dinner

back to hotel




Monday:

liberty statue

lunch

911 museum
wall street
Brooklyn bridge

dinner at Chinatown

empire state building
back to hotel




Tuesday:

public library
Penn station
Bryant park
Roosevelt Island Tramway
MMOA

lunch

JFK-RDU

[Edited on August 28, 2014 at 10:22 AM. Reason : airport]

8/28/2014 10:11:55 AM

Why are you going to penn station?

8/30/2014 8:11:57 PM

Quote :

"it is the busiest passenger transportation facility in the United States[6][7] and in North America"

8/30/2014 8:14:42 PM

Great. Another clueless tourist. Just what nyc needs. Keep them going to times square and penn station so we dont have to wait in long lines elsewhere.

8/30/2014 9:54:59 PM

lol. Wrong station (I assume what you really wanted to see was Grand Central) or you think it's 1950.

Penn Station is one of the most embarrassing major transit hubs in the industrialized world.

Penn Station pre-1963:



Penn Station today:

8/30/2014 11:05:29 PM

I spent most of the time at Time Square today.
The mix of culture is amazing.
Also Bryant Park and 5th Ave. Library, station

8/31/2014 8:18:37 PM

I'm taking my wife, daughter, in-laws together. So I don't have much freedom to go anywhere I wish. I want to show those Chinese the real heart of America. I'm not a random tourist for sure as I've lived in great New York area for a year.

To be honest, I feel like I'm Forrest Gump visiting DC. I am inevitablly considered as a Southerner now.

9/1/2014 8:27:20 AM

I'm back home now.
3 days with lots of memories. Statue of liberty is a fucking emotional place. I want to go there again!

9/2/2014 10:11:38 PM

Reminder for future visitors:
Their subway lines had problems during the weekend. That causes a lot of troubles to me. Very inconvenience situation.
Before you go next time, check their subway to make sure it's working properly!

9/3/2014 10:08:32 AM

Sorry to hear that. They post service change flyers all over the place but I can see how that's difficult for someone not familiar with the subway.

If you wanted to show your family "real America" why the heck did you stay in a hotel near/in Times Square?

9/4/2014 8:53:24 AM

Then where should I go?

I'm not familiar with subway in NYC but I took subway in Beijing for 25 yrs. Never have problems like this.

9/4/2014 10:32:08 AM

That's because the Beijing subway is closed between midnight and 5 a.m., which is when they do all of their maintenance and construction.

It's also because the Beijing subway is 45 years old and the NYC subway is 110 years old.

9/4/2014 7:23:27 PM

Nyc subway is definitely the most confusing complex and non user friendly metro I have seen in the world but at the same time its one of the best because it can get you almost anuwhere anytime if you figure out how to use it

The good news is its all in google maps and they sort everything out perfectly for you even with detours and temporary service changes incorporated into the google system.

9/4/2014 9:00:24 PM

You know what? When I got out of the JFK airport and headed towards Manhattan, the E line stopped working!
All people needed to get to the other side and took another line. Then after several stops, I led the whole family get down the train and transferred to another line. But finally I was able to arrive Time Square. Thank God.

And on the second day, which is the labor day, we planned to see statue of liberty. So we took R line from time square. Then R stopped working too! Someone guided me to transfer to another line and got down at battery park. I was late for the cruise already, but then found out the boarding was every 20 mins.

The 3rd day, I left hotel 4 hrs before the flight time. Just in case some lines didn't work again.

9/4/2014 9:25:15 PM

^^ That's exactly what I was thinking. I expect the subway is like a transferring machine. When I jump into it, it can bring me to wherever I want to go in this city. So the unexpected situation really sucks!

[Edited on September 4, 2014 at 10:08 PM. Reason : ;]

9/4/2014 10:08:42 PM

The r hasnt been downtown since sandy I think. The tunnel is being fixed. Things like that mean you have to use google maps to have a chance. Also knowing when to take an express train or not is important. Some local trains stop early and then you are stranded. Google knows all of this and gets you the fastest possible routes fromthe time you search as different times often means different lines doing sifferent things. Espescially on nights and weekend nights.

It is annoying considering any other city is foolproof but everyone has a s artphone with google maps these days.

9/4/2014 11:04:30 PM

The R still goes downtown. It terminates at Whitehall Street. The Weekender is clutch: http://web.mta.info/weekender.html

9/4/2014 11:49:14 PM

I think the lines going uptown work generally better than lines going downtown.
The 42nd Street stop is the central hub I guess.

9/5/2014 10:07:23 AM

I know Beijing try to copy New York entirely. But I think Beijing is more like Atlanta though.

9/5/2014 10:24:21 AM

So what you're trying to say is that nobody uses it?

9/5/2014 1:09:35 PM