46th Street Is Indeed Restaurant Row -- but there are lots of other options. With both sides 46th Street between 8th and 10th Avenues awash in restaurants it's understandable why it's often referred to as Restaurant Row. There are tons of other possibilities up and down 10th Avenue and on other, somewhat less busy side streets. If you're going to one of the theaters between 47th and 54th Streets, you might want to check out 51st Street which has two charming bistros, Cara Mia and Tout Va Bien, one Italian and one French, right next door to each other, both particularly notable for their modestly priced prix-fixed lunches (available every day). I recently had a very pleasant pre-matinee lunch at Cara Mia, 3 courses for $11.95 (includes dessert -- one choice, a yum-yum gelato) and has a basket of biscottis at the door to give you something to nibble on as you walk towards the theater. -- posted, May 8, 2006.
June 15, 2006 addendum: Ninth Avenue from Forty-Second Street on upwards, on both sides of the Avenue, is another ever expanding and very internationally flavored restaurant row. Some of these restaurants are tiny, and some more upscale than others. For a variation of the Thai cuisine which have become as common as Sezuchwan, you might want to try an Indonesian meal. Bali Nusa Indah at 651 9th Ave -- between 45th & 46th Sreets and thus an easy walk to many theaters-- is a clean, quiet place with pleasant service and reasonably, priced good food. Sampling menus that includes soup or salad and desert can be had for $14.95.

The list of obituaries for restaurants that have been favorite hangouts keeps growing. Most theater goers aren't old enoug. to remember Toffenetti's, once famous for its meat sauce. (I recently saw a post card listed on e-bay titled Toffenetti's Restaurants-- cathedral of all restaurants-- in the heart of Broadway where Glamour sparkles forever) But there's been a rash of closings in the heart of the theater district that are being mourned. The latest closing, Barrymore's on West 45th Street, follows a growing list of disappearing theatrical hangouts that have shuttered forever: One of the big losses in 2005 was Howard Johnson's at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway. The curtain rang down on McHale's at the corner of 46th and Eighth Avenue on January 16th and Mont Blanc, a Swiss restaurant on West 48th Street will serve its last meal on February 25. Still here but also on the endangered 48th Street restaurant list are Frankie and Johnnie's and Puleo's. And there are more. These restaurants, most housed in old buildings, are yet another example of David being defeated by Goliath in the shape of a giant skyscraper.

Of course the other side of this coin is that there are also new restaurants designed to recreate the theater's golden days-- to wit, Bond 45 named for its heart-of-the theater district location and for its long-time former tenant, Bond's clothing store. Everything about this big steak house is designed to bring back memories of the glamorous Ziegfeld Follies that began in the landmark building when it housed the Hammerstein Theater. Credit one of Broadway's stellar designers, John Lee Beatty, for the tile and Deco-ish chandeliers. And cheesecake lovers can rejoice about the famous family restaurant, Junior's, with its world-renowned cheesecakes (created by Eigel Peterson) at 1515 Broadway.