Midtown, that thick belt of gleaming high-rises and sprawling storefronts and avenues typically defined as between 34th and 59th Streets, has long held fast to its reputation among New Yorkers as mostly work and very little play. If you live in the city, Midtown can feel like a requirement often, and seldom a choice—a place where the train stations, office buildings, and big-name stores are, yes, nostalgic but primarily functional for their centrality. For the last few decades, as the hipness of downtown and eventually Brooklyn continued to attract the bulk of exciting openings, cocktail destinations, and restaurant reservations, the pedestrian-filled plazas and sidewalk seats of cafes of Midtown were mostly filled with businesspeople by day and tourists by night. But as cool chefs, outer-borough shopping brands, and contemporary artists continue to shake up the status quo, the area is at last under creative innovation while still maintaining its timelessness.
Thanks to new pedestrianized spaces, bigger bike lanes, and narrower car lanes installed by the city to help slow traffic, the streets feel gleaming of late, inviting more lingering and creating head-clearing (rather than -cluttering) spaces. With some of the same beloved and classic signs and buildings still staring back at you—The Plaza Hotel, the lights of the Empire State Building, or Radio City’s neon lettering—these favorite spots of ours, classic and new, have real visitor and local appeal.
Hotels
The Whitby
Amidst the hotel giants of midtown Manhattan, which haven’t changed much in ages, the Whitby stands out for its detail-oriented, artful, and more whimsical style—a well-executed melange of colors and patterns, envisioned by Kit Kemp, the British designer/owner responsible for numerous well-known hotels in London and downtown’s Crosby Street Hotel. The name of the game here is to book a suite, each of which has an individualized look and many of which have private terraces and gardens beyond what you’d imagine of Midtown, with British amenities. In the spirit of its UK roots, the hotel offers high tea, with scones and clotted cream served on a Kemp’s own pattern of Wedgewood china. 18 West 56th St
The Peninsula New York
This hotel and the extraordinary crystal chandelier that fills its foyer have been Fifth Avenue icons for more than 30 years. Blocks from Rockefeller Center, Broadway, Central Park, and Bergdorf’s, it’s a location in the center of everything. While its rooms are spacious and decadent, and its spa (which reopens this fall) and 23rd floor rooftop bar are highlights, lean into its service, including new 24-hour concierge assistance—now via a new app—and enjoy the chauffeured Mini Coopers on call to take suite-dwelling guests anywhere needed around town. 700 Fifth Avenue
Restaurants
Le Bernardin
The most esteemed seafood restaurant in New York City is only a block away from Broadway. While French chef Eric Ripert has run the show here for nearly 30 years, and resident fish butcher Justo Thomas has been in the kitchen for almost 20, the two are constantly reinventing. Sit in the main dining room for the full-on tasting menu, a parade of ingredients from the sea (osetra caviar with geoduck chawanmushi, langoustines with sea urchin sauce americaine) or find a seat in the more laidback lounge for pre-show Champagne and scallop ceviche. 155 West 51st St.
The Grill
The former Grill Room of the Four Seasons Hotel which opened in 1959 and saw its heyday between then and the early ‘70s, the Midcentury inspired restaurant The Grill is the more ambitious chophouse redux by Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone of Major Food Group (Carbone, Santina). The floor-to-ceiling window views of the Manhattan skyline are the same, but the menu is supposedly more inventive, playful, and powerful than ever. Truffles, caviar, crab Louis and tableside flambé, whole honey mustard ducklings, 40-ounce porterhouses, and spit-roasted prime rib served via trolley service in tuxedos are all typical sightings. As everything the group does is over the top, the prices are no exception. 99 East 52nd St.
Los Tacos No. 1
When you don’t have three hours for dinner before the theater, this street taco spot near Times Square is a highly respectable choice. A trio of friends from Tijuana and Southern California started the first location using family recipes. Almost ten years later they are still widely considered, yes, the number one tacos in New York. Al pastor adobada meat and grilled carne asada are some options you might find steaming hot and strewn across authentic corn or housemade flour tortillas, with mouth-stinging salsas for spooning on top. Watching the red aproned and white hat wearing cooks at work is theater in and of itself. 229 West 43rd St.
Hutong
Hailing from Hong Kong (with an outpost in London), this self-described northern Chinese restaurant actually has prominent influences from Sichuan, Beijing, and Shanghai too. The space is a belovedly ostentatious, Art Deco, only-in-Midtown behemoth, clad in shiny wall panels, mirrored surfaces, and massive chandeliers, but the dim sum is subtle, delicate, and precise in the best of ways. Half or whole roast Peking duck is carved tableside with caramel-colored skin and warm steamed pancakes. And whole dried, fiery red peppers gracing wok sauteed dishes are a must-try—not for the weak—a perfect match for one of the bottles of vintage champagne on the wine list. 731 Lexington Ave.
