you can get to midtown from anywhere. that's what it's there for. so pick a better neighborhood based on your interests / moneys / etc

Midtown isn't a bad place to live right out of school if you are working crazy hours. I lived with roommates at 44th and 2nd and given I was spending more time at work than home I preferred the short morning walk and having to cab downtown to go out.

After two years I moved down to Greenwich Village on 13th and love it. In a great one bedroom and perfectly located between Union Square and the West Village. That being said, my current place was way out of my price range when I first moved here.

IMO, if you are going to live in Murray Hill and you work a lot you might as well live in Midtown. If you go further downtown it is a different story but I am not a fan personally.

"Best Japanese" an incredibly broad category. For sushi, perhaps Masa, but it's outrageously expensive and reviews suggest that the experience is different for insiders, and for people who the house doesn't know. Ushiwakamaru on W. Houston has an excellent reputation and a new place, Neta, near Washington Square, comes from Masa alums and has a great buzz so far. I haven't been to Sushi Yasuda since Yasuda himself left, but I've heard it is operating at the same level.

Sakagura ("sake club") is a great izakaya in midtown. I haven't been to Yakitori Totto or Totto Ramen, but both are supposed to be terrific. Ippudo Ramen is always good but the wait can be endless. Kajitsu is one of the few places outside Japan to serve shojin cuisine, a vegan forefunner of kaiseki. I've had very good kaiseki at Sugiyama and have been told that Kyo Ya is also excellent for that.

Midtown east is so easy to get to from almost anywhere in the city that if it were me, I'd just pick whichever neighborhood I felt most comfortable in.

What should I do to see if I feel comfortable in a neighborhood? I heard UES is more residential and Murray Hill is where a lot of recent college grads live (I think someone called it "frat"y which I wouldn't care for but I guess it would be nice to be surrounded by people my own age).

I'm thinking about just going to each neighborhood and walking around but that doesn't seem to purposeful.

going to Suteishi tomorrow. reviews seem favorable.

Bit of a weird request but does anyone have recommendations for elite pancakes in NYC? Everyone raves about Clinton st baking company (still never been), anyone have any other suggestions?

mullen,

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2011/...breakfast.html

I've been to Plein Sud and loved it. Don't think I've been anywhere else on that list. I also liked the pancakes at Bubby's a lot, but I know a lot of people consider that an overhyped tourist trap now. Actually, I've had really good pancakes at tons of places in Manhattan and Brooklyn. New York does brunch really well.

Shopsin's mac 'n' cheese pancakes and postmodern pancakes (cooked pancakes are chopped up and put into the batter) are justifiably famous.

The lemon ricotta pancakes at Good during brunch are phenomenal.

Awesome. Didn't know this. That place is about 100 feet from my apartment.

Ended up going to Clinton Street Baking Co and man was it incredible. Got banana walnut pancakes, lady friend got blueberry and also got a side of sugar cured bacon which was ridiculously good. Saw 2 separate dudes in there alone just getting the pancakes and taking pictures from all angles before eating which I thought was pretty funny.

For plain old no frills pancakes, best I've found is Untitled at the Whitney.

Great area. My GF used to live on Bank Street about 100 yards away as well. Good is probably my favorite easy go-to brunch spot. Always solid, big portions and never too long of a wait. Have a few other places I like better but are harder to get into, more expensive, etc.

so did the police shoot like 6 or 7 other people this morning in NY at the empire building?