<p>Go to Virgil’s on 44th Street. It’s pretty fun, casual, not expensive AND is on the west side of Fifth Avenue.</p>
<p>We ate at Trattoria Trecolori last Friday night and were extremely happy with the food quality. If you like a spicier dish, try the Chicken Picante. It was brimming with flavor and it had a nice kick to it. Their basic marinara sauce is also very nice and not the run of the mill variety.</p>
<p>Carmine’s on W 44th St. YUM! We ate dinner there and then saw The Lion King at the Minskoff Theater several years ago. Carmine’s is a family-style Italian restaurant and is right there at the theater district. The food was delicious!</p>
<p>Jshain…glad you liked it!</p>
<p>We ended up eating at Joe Allens. The food was good, but I could have done with smaller portions. We had a very good weekend, but the drunk St Paddy’s day cellibrants spilled over everywhere; they were hard to avoid, and it was really crowded on Saturday. Evita was very good also, but not aqs good as I remembered from the 80’s (but time tends to make everything better). Thanks again for all of the recommnedations.</p>
<p>We got out of town and headed to Charleston shortly after the St. Paddy’s Day parade started. The costumes were quite interesting on many of the NYC party-hearties weren’t they? I’m still laughing at the comparisons of Charleston to New Orleans. Charleston is totally tame in comparison. Maybe those that compare the two are referring to the interesting architecture and good food in both.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendations as well… from everyone!</p>