Upcoming visit to NYC

The wife and I will be visiting NYC in the next month or so -- finally :-)

I think I pretty much know where I want to eat - Difara, Luger's, Katz's, etc etc - so really what I am looking for here is where to stay.....you can feel free to suggest places to eat, but I'm really pretty rock-solid set on where we'll eat.

so

-coming into the area by car, so it's available for our use, but my understanding is it will be better to use public transportation. 

-staying for 2-3 days, probably a sat-sun-(plus maybe)mon combination

-two of our stops will be Luger's and DiFara, both in Brooklyn, so I am guessing it'd be best to be over in that direction.  If I have this wrong, tell me so, and give me a better alternative, please

-I am looking for a simple inexpensive place.  Nothing fancy.  That said, the higher priority is that it be very clean, and in a safe-looking neighborhood.    Both requirements are for the wife.

-room has to be designated nonsmoking and no pets - wife has asthma and past occupants smoking or with pets will cause a problem

-Free parking for our car at said hotel if at all possible.

-accessible to public transportation.  Wife does not like busses, would prefer rail of some kind if at all possible.  Taxi is OK but I am guessing that will get real expensive real quick

-if we have to stay further out from the city to get these things, thats an acceptable exchange

-yeah, my wife is picky.  Love means I bend to accomodate her :-).  It's her trip too :-)

I'll monitor this thread closely, so any help you can offer will be read and appreciated

TJ

If you have a car, you might be better off staying in New Jersey preferably close to an area with train access. The Iselin-Metropark
New Jersey transit stop has several hotels nearby- I can't imagine they would charge for parking- but I really can't tell you which specific hotel to go to.

THe free parking thing is pretty much ba deal breaker for anything in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

An option to ponder is a hotel near Newark Airport. Most have shuttles to the airport where you can catch airtrain to NJ transit train into Penn Station. Hotels will be cheaper and train trip is easy. Hotel will not be near anything, but cheaper.

If you are staying on weekend you could drive in and find a cheap garage...like the one on Essex street and park all day for $20 and take subway from there.

Within the last few years, a lot of brand new hotels have sprung up in Queens and Brooklyn, reasonably near to public transportation. Many have free parking. Most are close to subway lines. The rack rates are about $200 per night, but $100- $130 are the "street price", before taxes. I have not had to place anyone in a hotel in years. I usually get them put up at a relative's place, so can't give any recommendations from first hand experience. Search for areas such as Brooklyn and Long Island City.

While you will be able to drive to places with parking and without nearby public transportation, the best thing a visitor can do is buy a Unlimited MetroCard for subway and local bus transportation at subway station vending machines and select retailers:
http://www.mta.info/metrocard/mcgtreng.htm#unlimited

Courtyard by Marriott  Jersey City Newport
 
This is an excellent hotel choice with great transport to NYC via PATH rail service------------check out whole JC Newport area------------------Westin----Hyatt------------etc.. Safe,quiet and convenient to NYC----all of these are also set in stone conditions of the spouse------------give the area an on-line looksee.
 
Russ

Welcome to the big apple. DiFara is great for a couple of their slices, but its far away from Lugers. And Lugers quite frankly is not the same. The old world feel is there but the steaks/sides seem to be off.  Alternatively, the number one pizza at the moment is Keste on Bleeker Street, its actually accross the street from maybe the most famous pizza in nyc, Johns. I would also recommend Wolfgangs for steak. Wolfgagng was a waiter at Lugers for 40 years. They are actually doing a better job or atleast equivelant to when Lugers was at the top of their game. Keste and Wolfgangs are also in reasonable distance from one another. Keste is West Village and Wolfgang is in Tribeca (another location is in midtown but go to Tribeca). You can stay at the Soho Grand Hotel and be close to both places.

Joes on 6th Ave/Bleeker is best slice other than DiFara

I always found the upper Bronx to have the best pizza - but that goes back to the 1960s.

porkbeaks

There is such a beast as Manhattan chili??????

Hi TJ,
First hubby and I are born and raised native New Yorkers who are now living in the Midwest, so we have open minds all'round...
The last time we visited out east, with the kiddos in tow, we stayed at the Sheraton in Weehawken, NJ.
IT was a great deal!
You are steps away from the ferry that takes you to Manhattan,
and there was a free breakfast.
We also had a room with an amazing view of Manhattan.
That being said-you will still be cabbing it for Luger's but really it's just over the bridge...
As long as you remember to pack your sense of humor you will have a great time.

Last March my colleg age daughter and I also had an amazing meal at Bar Americain, so I'd recco that as well as the other places on your list.

My advice for a short, 2 or 3 day trip to NYC is to get a room in the city, rather than spending 2 to 3 hours a day commuting to and from the city. Park the car and take the train and a cab or two.
Look on travel websites for deals. Some of my favorites are travelzoo and kayak.
http://www.kayak.com/dealssearch_d_NewYork
http://hotels.travelzoo.com/new-york-hotels/

Have fun!

TonyGuns


Joes on 6th Ave/Bleeker is best slice other than DiFara

I just had a slice last weekend as my wife tried to decide where we were going to eat dinner. It is still good!

OK many posts that derailed the thread were removed.  If you folks can't behave and not do these dumb personal attack posts we can easily cancel your posting priviliges. Keep your comments polite and contribute to the question without the smart-ass answers or your probation will be revoked.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the hotels in New Jersey that are closer into the city  ie Newark, Jersey City and Weehawken, do charge for parking. You may want to check with these hotels first prior to booking.

russ2304


Courtyard by Marriott  Jersey City Newport
 
This is an excellent hotel choice with great transport to NYC via PATH rail service------------check out whole JC Newport area------------------Westin----Hyatt------------etc.. Safe,quiet and convenient to NYC----all of these are also set in stone conditions of the spouse------------give the area an on-line looksee.
 
Russ

Cheap sales tax (3.5%) in the UEZ zone as well with Newport Mall right there. A 2 minute Light rail trip to Hoboken for a great Sunday brunch or cocktail hour.
 
  http://www.amandasrestaurant.com/
 
 

For some reason I could not edit my post again     It is a Howard Johnsons Motel.                                            

If you do decide to stay in New Jersey, remember that you don't have to feed parking meters on Sunday. If you are up and out early enough on Sunday morning, we've found there's plenty of parking in quite a few downtown neighborhoods for brunch in Tribeca or SoHo or the LES. (Chinatown being the exception, avoid driving in Chinatown on a Sunday). It's easier to park in SoHo than in Hoboken on a Sunday morning especially. And there aren't any restaurants in Hoboken or JC that are better than you can find in NYC.
As for Newport Mall. . . .well coming from Ohio. . .unh, you don't need me to say anything, really.

I had some unfounded reservations at staying at the Soho location of this chain hotel last spring but was pleasantly surprised with the hotel's staff, decor, location, convenience and rather upscale albeit diminuative presence. I'm not necessarily a big Hampton Inn fan but Quikbook specifically recommended this location when I was looking at a place to stay in lower Manahattan and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better value than the $ 125 Quikbook price we paid. 
 
It clearly was a former European-style hotel and has a surprising boutique feel for a Hampton Inn. In addition, it's located literally a block away from the Holland Tunnel, offers plenty of free overnight/weekend street parking and or paid lot parking and is completely walkable to Greenwich Village, Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Brooklyn Bridge -- and all the epicurean destinations those locales offer. (In fact we did this weekend walking / noshing tour last May.)
 
I couldn't recommend more.
 
 

<message edited by i95 on Fri, 10/23/09 7:36 PM>

nixienox


If you do decide to stay in New Jersey, remember that you don't have to feed parking meters on Sunday. If you are up and out early enough on Sunday morning, we've found there's plenty of parking in quite a few downtown neighborhoods for brunch in Tribeca or SoHo or the LES. (Chinatown being the exception, avoid driving in Chinatown on a Sunday). It's easier to park in SoHo than in Hoboken on a Sunday morning especially. And there aren't any restaurants in Hoboken or JC that are better than you can find in NYC.
As for Newport Mall. . . .well coming from Ohio. . .unh, you don't need me to say anything, really.

The Flamingo Restaurant is in the neighborhood!!! Now that is still some trip.

i95, I watched them build that Hampton Inn from the ground up around 2007-8. A few of that new crop of hotels I wrote about earlier were also built in Manhattan. The rack rate for that Hampton Inn is $349, but travel site scuttlebutt indicates they are still selling for about $129 if the town is not sold out. Call the front desk and see if they will give you that rate if you can't find it online.

David_NYC


i95, I watched them build that Hampton Inn from the ground up around 2007-8.

Wow. Due to it being so very different than the track, suburban-built Hampton Inns, I only presumed that it was a renovation. Cool. Again, at $ 125-129, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better YET CLEAN / CONVENIENT / and SEMI-UPSCALE hotel bargain in NYC.

Addendum to my post above about those new hotels in Brooklyn and Queens: most took out a franchise, so will have familiar names. However, check out online reviews. I just spent some time laughing out loud at the reviews on Tripadvisor about Brooklyn hotels. Many, many reviews were written by people giving a hometown location of Brooklyn, NY. It was obvious they were staying there for horizontal activity. The reviews were not as favorable as I thought they would be.

Horizontal activity!
 
Those kooky people practicing the levitation for  magic shows in Brooklyn!
 
Jersey City hotels-motels-holiday inns say what...used to be all about Tonnelle Ave. and at the rate of $17 at the Spinning Wheel or Starlite maybe a three hour block of time. For a nap or something.
 
 

TJ, PP and I stay at a Holiday Inn in North Bergen. 2 years ago they had free parking and a lot of it.

The trip commences this coming weekend

My stops - nothing new to any veteran Roadfooder, just a list of places I have always wanted to go, with plenty more I had to eliminate due to limited time

Patsy's in Harlem
DiFara
Katz's
Yonah Schimmels (right near katz's)
Peter Luger's
White Manna Hackensack
Rutt's Hut
Ess-a-Bagel
Papaya King
and Random street noshing - hopefully some 5 for 1$ dumplings

and then, not in NYC but to finish out the trip

Pepe's New Haven
G&M Restaurant Baltimore MD
Faidleys Baltimore MD

and on the way home

Country Kitchen in WV for Pepperoni rolls

I found decent accomodations with free parking for under 60/night in Jersey City, which looks to be reasonably close to Manhattan.  I looked at everyone's recommendations, and indeed, free parking was very hard to find

This was helpful in finding my second pizza stop (in addition to DiFaras): http://slice.seriouseats....-what-would-it-be.html

Try the Hotel Belnord. It's not luxurious, but there's free on street parking and it's just around the corner from Barney Greengrass and the Popover Cafe on Amsterdam.

TJ looks like a great list of places to eat. Let us know how you like the hotel in Jersey City. I am planning a NYC trip for 2010. I have often wondered about the hotels outside the city near public transportation. Have fun!

This also was helpful
http://slice.seriouseats....en-ct-connecticut.html