The Upper West Side's 107 West is noted for its good food, good music and good people. Pop by for brunch over the weekend at this metropolitan seafood oasis or go with friends to enjoy the live jazz every Saturday night. Sample the Southern Fried Chicken or treat yourself to the Macadamia Apple Crisp, but if you do nothing else, make sure you enjoy the seafood dishes like the Jambalaya and the Atlantic Salmon at 107 West. This swanky restaurant prides its self on having the freshest and most deliciously prepared seafood dishes in the New York and they can't wait until you come by to tell them they are right. From half price bottled wine on Thursdays to the bar that is open late, 107 West welcomes you in for a delicious yet affordable drink to compliment your meal or good conversation with friends.

Dish price range: $10.50-$18

A.O.C. opened in early 2003 and is an authentic French Bistro serving classic French food. The chef & owner was the chef at Les Deux Gamins for 5 years. His partner is the owner of a wholesale seafood company which services the restaurant. Thus, amazingly fresh and delicious seafood is offered daily. There is a beautiful outdoor garden and patio in the back which is opened during the warmer weather.

Dish price range: $15-$26

Open, airy and cheerful in the daytime changing to a more chic, sophisticated room in the evenings. A popular outdoor terrace seats thirty and is surrounded by sea grass and garden flowers. Aquagrill has an active bar scene centered around the country's most diverse oyster raw bar. Diners can expect to find some unusual wine selections and great values on the award-winning wine list. Aquagrill's wine list has been awarded both the Grand Award and the Silver Award Winner for Best Short Wine List by Restaurant Hospitality's Annual Wine List Competition. Along with the extensive array of fresh oysters from around the world, Aquagrill offers a selection of fresh Imperial Iranian and American caviar. Dinner menu specialties are Crab Cake Napoleon, Exotic Seafood Plateau, Bouillabaisse and Falafel Crusted Salmon. In addition to the Chef's creative preparations, all fish and seafood is also served a la carte with a choice of preparations and side dish offerings so the diner can select exactly what they are in the mood for. Aquagrill also serves brunch, which has been voted the number one brunch in ZAGAT for the past six years.

Dish price range: $23-$27

A warm, unpretentious Italian restaurant, the specialties here are wholesome, uncomplicated dishes at reasonable prices and as with many "family style" Italian restaurants enormous portions. Arte Café is located in a landmark brownstone in the upper west side, features a large outdoor garden with a water fountain. Just steps away from Central Park, Chef Camillo Bassani, presents pan-Italian cuisine with homemade pastas, fresh meats, fish, pizza from a brick-oven and sumptuous desserts. Private rooms are available for all events and budgets.

Dish price range: $10-$22

Monday through Friday:

Breakfast 7:00 am - 10:30 am
Lunch 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Dinner 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Saturday amd Sunday:

Breakfast 7:00 am - 10:30 am
Brunch 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
Saturday Dinner 6:00 pm -10:00 pm
Sunday Dinner 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

As Manhattan's favorite celebration destination, restaurant Asiate elevates guests' dining experiences to new heights with gracious service, inventive cuisine, an award-winning wine collection and stylish design that is only surpassed by the stunning floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. Chef de Cuisine Brandon Kida artistically crafts his contemporary cuisine with international influences from his travels and his Asian-American background. The changing seasons showcased in Asiate's Central Park views are also reflected in Chef Kida's seasonal menu featuring dishes made with fresh, local ingredients brought together in a balance and harmony inherent in every aspect of Mandarin Oriental. Renown designer Tony Chi used Asiate's 35th floor Central Park views as his inspiration for the restaurant's design. The interior is crowned by a glittering tree-branch sculpture hanging from the ceiling that symbolize the trees of Central Park in winter and a dramatic wall of wine that houses over 1,300 bottles of the restaurant's collection.

Lunch dish price range: $16-$28
Lunch prix fixe: $24.08
Dinner prix fixe: $85

Click here to view the Dinner menu

BarBao teams the owners of the restaurant Rain whose space has been redesigned in a classier vein with the chef Michael Bao Huynh, who ran the kitchens at Bao 111, in the East Village, and Mai House, in TriBeCa. The food at BarBao reflects Mr. Huynh's gift for refracting Asian conceits and ingredients through a contemporary prism. The duck hash, combining cubes of rice cake with shredded duck confit and a poached egg, has one foot in the Far East and the other in fatty, gut-busting Momofuku Manhattan. The cuttlefish defers cunningly to many New York diners' Mediterranean sensibilities by coming up with a version of salsa verde that adds Vietnamese mint, Thai basil and yuzu to anchovy. (New York Times)

Dish price range: $8-$24

Located in the heart of Times Square in the W Hotel, Blue Fin's menu features sophisticated sushi and seafood by Executive Chef Eric Woods and a design reflecting the modern sleek lines of a luxury ocean liner. The acclaimed wine and signature cocktail list is a great meet-for-drinks hot spot for both locals and tourists alike, while the dining room lures serious diners to sample creative takes on the seafood theme.

Dish price range: $26-$34
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $24.07
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Bread & Olive inherited its narrow, brightly-tiled premises and menu from the previous occupant, Bread From Beirut; quality remains high and flavors fresh in meze like lemony hummus, smoky babaghanouj, stuffed grape leaves, and zesty tabouleh. And there is still bread from Beirut baked on premises most notably, keshik, a puffy flatbread dusted with dried goat cheese, crushed wheat, and sesame seeds, and rolled up, upon request, around yogurt as dense as cream cheese; plus the best chicken shawarma in town. (NY Mag)

Dish price range: $7-$18

Calle Ocho gets its name from the bustling thoroughfare of Miami's Little Havana, where old Cuba and contemporary America converge. Calle Ocho is a world all its own, where you are immersed in bright lights, big flavors, samba music, mojitos, and caipirinhas. An evening here might begin in the lounge, where intimate banquettes, specialty cocktails, and a selection of cool, refreshing ceviches set the mood and whet the appetite. Next stop is the high-ceilinged dining room where the city's finest Nuevo Latino menu features dishes such as Rum Glazed Shrimp, Tuna Tiradito, and Crispy Cuban Pork. Finish the evening with one of our signature desserts, freshly ground South American coffee, or an aged tequila. Americans have fallen in love with Latin food, music, and culture. Calle Ocho has them all under one roof, offering a singularly authentic and charming escape to it's own Little Havana on Columbus Avenue.

Dish price range: $21-$29

With the air of a secret find on an out-of-the-way Paris street, this terrific little Village bistro's French-American fare comes via a sweet staff; it can be a squeeze, but it's romantic for dining a deux; P.S. try the cooking classes or don a blindfold for one of their 'Dark Dining' events (Zagats).

Dish price range: $17-$24
Columbia Prix-Fixe: $30

The restaurant is open for lunch, brunch, dinner and late night with menus featuring new interpretations of traditional Italian dishes. Try the Arancini, Egg Yolk Raviolo, Fried Green Tomato Caprese or Forest Mushroom Pappardelle, a few of Campo's most popular items, but be sure to leave room for the chef's signature Thin Crust Grilled Pizzas - a staple at almost every meal. Locally-sourced and all-natural ingredients are used whenever possible, and healthy alternatives such as whole wheat pasta are always available. In addition to the warm atmosphere and comforting cuisine, Campo is also a great place to enjoy a cocktail. The talented and friendly bartenders are at your service with afternoon and late night happy hours and an artfully-crafted menu offering both classic drinks and signature concoctions, including the aptly named Barnard and Julliard Daiquiri - the restaurant's homage to the neighborhood.

Dish price range: $10-$18
Columbia Prix-Fixe: $18.90

Sat - Sun:
11am - 4pm brunch
5pm - 12am dinner

Centro Vinoteca's menu is a compilation of trendy Italian dining styles-small plates, or "piccolini"; an eclectic selection of wines from the "enoteca" wine bar; and rustic pastas. The chef in charge is Anne Burrell, a former sous chef at Felidia and a protégée of the great maestro himself, Mario Batali. As is the fashion these days, the little piccolini dishes patter down on the table in endless waves. The antipasti are heftier and more carefully executed (try the good, rusticated pizza with layers of spicy sausage, stracchino cheese, and arugula). But the real reason for visiting Centro Vinoteca is the pastas. Like Batali, Burrell has a knack for taking big, potentially overwhelming flavors and imbuing them with sweetness and light. Her ravioli (one filled with a single gently poached egg, the other with broccoli rabe and Swiss chard) are models of that temperamental genre, and so are the gnocchi, which are crisped around the edges, sunk in a richly chunky lamb Bolognese, and dusted with frizzled onions. (NY Mag)

Dish price range: $14-$39
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $19.95
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Click here to view the lunch and dinner menus

Compass Restaurant features the freshest seafood on the Upper West Side prepared in a contemporary style, complemented by an award winning wine list and the best Lobster prices outside of Maine. Reserve a private room for your graduation party and you will receive a complimentary celebration cake and a half hour cocktail reception. Email dominique@compassrestaurant.com for room and menu information.

Prix-fixe three course dinner menu: $35
Dish price range: $22-$45

Come to Covo and discover that a good dining experience comes from the best ingredients - not the most gimmicky assortment of them. The restaurant stands in a beautiful 120 year old building (a former Manhattanville train station), with a capacity to host small and big parties (up to 100 people) on the first floor, 70 people on the second floor, and 60 people in the sidewalk cafe for an al fresco lunch or dinner. With housemade pastas, breads, and sauces, Covo serves the most satisfying meals of genuine, tasty and hearty italian food.

Dish price range: $5.50 - $19.95

Chef Gallante selects ingredients from around the globe at their peak, constructing his seasonal menus not only to reflect his vision but that of the wine team as well.

"The wine portfolio contains an astonishing 150, 000 bottles, which is why Cru has become the latest gathering spot for the city's ever-growing population of wine geeks. But if you're wise, you'll save some of your money to spend on the food. Shea Gallante is a refined, painstaking chef who builds flavors on the plate with a kind of painterly precision. His crudi are models of that overworked genre; he cooks sturgeon (with black-truffle sauce), duck (with braised onions and Swiss chard), and pike quenelles with equal facility. If you're looking for just the right something to go with your bottle of Coche-Dury Grand Crû, try the lobster, flavored with barely perceptible nuggets of pork belly." (NY Mag)

Dish price range: $14-36

The Cupping Room, established in 1977, was originally a wholesale coffee distributor which brewed various coffees and teas. Perspective customers tasted these different blends in a process known as "cupping" hence the name Cupping Room. The cupping room is housed in a landmark building which is over one hundred years old. The tin ceiling, pot belly stove and exposed brick walls are part of the original décor. Through the years, the Cupping Room expanded from a local café to a full service restaurant, which is family owned and operated serving breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year.

Dish price range: $9.95-$23.95

Tucked into a townhouse on a quiet, leafy street just steps from the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park and Lincoln Center, Dovetail offers an intimate dining experience showcasing chef/owner John Fraser's passion for local ingredients and classical European training. Shortly after Dovetail's fall 2007 opening, the restaurant earned three star reviews from the New York Times and New York magazine, and was recently included on both publications' top ten new restaurant lists for 2008. Dovetail is open for dinner nightly, lunch service Wednesday through Friday, and brunch on the weekends. On Sunday evenings, a $38 two-course Sunday Suppa is served.

Dish price range: $28-$36

Chefs Durga Prasad and Alexander Paul Xalxo deliver a superior selection of unusual and generously portioned offerings. In addition to entrée mainstays like vindaloo and tikka masala, they prepare a wonderfully fiery fish masala, featuring an intriguing sauce seasoned with fresh curry leaves, ginger, coconut and kokum (a sour medicinal fruit native to western India). Among the many esoteric vegetarian offerings is a complex chickpea dish made with ginger, green chilies, pomegranate seeds and dried mango.

Dish price range: $5-$25

Elizabeth is a neighborhood restaurant and gathering spot for locals and artists, serving as a breeding ground for new ideas. Open for lunch, brunch, and dinner, Elizabeth is set in a casual yet sophisticated atmosphere which culminates in an outdoor planted garden. It's menu offers a modern interpretation of New American Cuisine, and has an adventurous, sometimes silly spirit that's winning in its way, says Frank Bruni of the New York Times.

Dish price range: $9-$27

Firehouse is a low key neighborhood bar and restaurant with casual food. It serves a relaxed crowd American bar standards: burgers, burritos, chili, and wings.

Dish price range: $3-$14

Gusto's gutsy, authentic regional Italian dishes always respect the seasons. The wine list features the best of Italy's viniculture, while the specialty and classic cocktails showcase fresh ingredients and house-made infusions.

Dish price range: $16-$32
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $19.95
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Click to view the Lunch and Dinner menus

Il Buco is a renowned Mediterranean restaurant with the look and feel of a European country home as natural and rustically elegant as the food - an under the radar gathering spot for designers, actors, writers, and food lovers who are inspired by great food amongst friends in comfortable surroundings.

Dish price range for lunch: $12-$25

Upper Westsiders are all aglow about the "fascinating spicing" at this "top-shelf" Indian, where the "fresh" dishes are "cooked to your palate"; the "charming" staff and "modest prices" more than compensate for its "small" space; P.S. the $12.95 lunch prix fixe is "unbeatable." (Zagat)

 Dish price range: $5-21

Join Isabella's for a Mediterranean-inspired menu on the Upper West Side which is a destination synonymous with celebrities, neighborhood families, and friends. The restaurant has been hailed as an "Upper West Side institution" by neighborhood regulars and serious diners alike, and celebrates its 20th birthday this year! The outdoor café is extremely popular and great for people watching, especially for Sunday brunch.

Dish price range: $16.50-$28
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $24.07
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Guests are always impressed by the scope and creativity of the menu selections. Their surprise turns to amazement, however, when they discover that every one of the spectacular dishes is prepared not by top New York chefs, but by French Culinary Institute students. In a city where excellence is a price of entry, even the savviest diners have trouble believing that students could perform at such a high level. Dishes are contemporary French, and spiced with an array of ethnic influences that make each one especially memorable. Bon-appetit!

Price range:
$28, three-course Prix Fixe lunch menu
$42, four and five-course Prix Fixe dinner menu

Part of B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, a throwback to the fabled days of New York nightclubs, Lucille's features specialties bursting with flavor, including blackened catfish, barbecued ribs, gumbo, steaks, grilled salmon, and red snapper with lobster sauce. Reservations are recommended.

Price range: $8-$42

Students from nearby Columbia University, uptown church ladies, savvy New Yorkers, and VIP's (like former President Clinton) all feel at home in this inexpensive, soul-food restaurant. Owner, Caterer and former Wilhemina model, Norma Jean Darden, serves comfort food based on family recipes from Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine, the best-selling cookbook she wrote with her sister, Carole. The bright and cozy dining room with its red and white checkerboard tile floor and ruffled strawberry curtains is modeled after their mother, Miss Mamie Jean Sampson Darden's, Alabama kitchen.

Dish price range: $12.95-$17.95

Veteran chef Andy D'Amico strikes a popular chord with a multitude of Riviera-inspired hors d'oeuvre like pissaladiere and panisses, and continues the bold, garlic-imbued theme with soupe au pistou, fennel-cured mackerel, and roast cod with ratatouille nicoise and anchoiade. In true Upper West and French Riviera fashion, warm-weather sidewalk seating abounds.

Dish price range: $16.75-$25.75
Prix-Fixe: $35

Unless you grew up Italian with a grandma who dedicated Sundays to stirring gravy and stuffing relatives, Nonna's feast might seem excessive. The relentless red-sauce attack starts with steamy mozzarella-stuffed arancini and moves on to a crisp Caesar salad served family-style, succulent eggplant involtini. But don't surrender yet. The best is yet to come: a fluffy, fragrant amaretto-spiked zeppole and honey to dip it in. (NY Mag)

Dish price range: $14-$22

Conveniently located across from the Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side, Ocean Grill's elegant 160-seat dining room is reminiscent of a luxury liner, with graceful details found both in the dining room and on the menu of fresh seafood offerings, daily Raw Bar selections and a creative sushi menu ensuring smooth sailing for guests.

Dish price range: $20-$30
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $24.07
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Since its opening in 2001 to great acclaim, Ouest Restaurant has largely been considered a beacon for fine dining on New York City's Upper West Side. It is listed as one of New York's top restaurants by New York Magazine and Zagats. Chef and owner Tom Valenti, hailed as by Ed Levine as the "Flavor King of New York", continues to offer a delicious new twist on Nouveau American cuisine.

Columbia Prix-Fixe: $50
Dish price range: $26-$40

Michael Lomonaco, formerly of ‘21' and Windows on the World, has been delivering the epitome of great American flavors and ingredients since opening Porter House New York in the fall of 2006. Joining the prestigious Restaurant Collection in the Time Warner Center, Porter House New York is Lomonaco's take on a traditional steakhouse: big succulent meats in tandem with a premium seafood program. Since its opening, Porter House New York has been named one of the "Best Restaurants of 2007" by John Mariani of Esquire Magazine. The 2008 Zagat Survey praises the restaurant for "meats perfectly prepared, sides that live up to the main event and attentive service without airs" and the 2008 Michelin Guide New York City sites the restaurant's "menu for raising the stakes for meat lovers taking the concept of a classic steakhouse and honing it with a modern edge."

Dish price range: $28-$46

Owners Douglas, Ross and Howard understand that the classic hamburger has evolved into more than just a satisfying diner food item. Rare's ultimate objective is to enhance the hamburger eating experience by showcasing the 8 ounce juicy delight within an upscale restaurant environment. Rare offers an unprecedented variety of burgers that can satisfy anyone's cravings, ranging from the very popular stuffed Roquefort to the Ahi Tuna Burger with a pickled ginger salad and wontons. The diversified menu accommodates all people including those non-meat eaters.

Dish price range: $16-$26

Ruby Foo's Times Square has its own buzz on Broadway in a Shanghai-style banquet setting with signature Pan-Asian cuisine. Inside this 300-seat, multi-decked "Palace", bold colors, broad decorative strokes, mah-jongg tiled walls and colorful open lobby bar are the visual essence of the Ruby Foo's design. A gold-leafed Buddha keeps a watchful eye over guests while they peruse Executive Chef Shawn Edelman's vast menu, a collection of delicious dishes from every part of the Asian continent including a fresh sushi bar and family style selections ideal for sharing.

Dish price range: $19-$29
Columbia Prix-Fixe Lunch: $24.07
Columbia Prix-Fixe Dinner: $35

Sezz Medi provides an array of tantalizing dishes featuring the finest seafood, meats and vegetable available. Chef Angelo Sessa and his team take great care in the preparation of each item. Featured dishes include mouth-watering warm shrimp appetizer, crisp endive and pecorino salad, wood fired brick oven pizza's and a sinful Sezz Chocolate cake.

Dish price range: $10-$27

This fetching tapas spot on the Upper West Side is the real deal: it serves 31 Spanish small plates and 50 Spanish wines, no international fusion experiments here. Featuring the best authentic Iberian cuisine in New York, their range of salads, fish, chicken, sausages, vegetarian and steak tapas will satisfy all tastes. Try the mocha flan or house dessert for some of the best desserts in the city.

Dish price range: $7-$23

Only at SushiSamba will you find a unique blend of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine, music and design. SushiSamba is born of the energy and spirit of these three distinct cultures; a tri-cultural coalition that took root in the early 20th century. Hearty moquecas and colorful seviches found a place at the table along side simple miso soup and tender sashimi. SushiSamba serves these traditional dishes, plus more inventive fare, including Sashimi Seviche, Sushi Salada, and our South American Beef Maki Roll. Equal parts imagination and history, the SushiSamba experience is truly unique. SushiSamba has created a unique prix-fixe menu for Columbia's Commencement Carnival! The menu includes aperitivo, main plate, and dessert.  

Columbia Prix-Fixe: $35
Dish price range: $7-$32

Click here to view the Columbia Prix-Fixe menu

Executive Chef Jason Potanovich truly wears his trade on his sleeve each day as he toils in the kitchen at Terrace in The Sky. Jason's views on cooking are simple. He believes that having the finest ingredients available at the given times of the year, coupled with good technique ensure a high quality dining experience. Terrace in the Sky's menus change several times yearly. Jason's signature dishes include Diver Sea Scallops, Tartar of Blue-Fin Tuna and Veal Tenderloin along with countless other culinary delights. The Terrace boasts an exceptional wine list and Jason works closely with Sommelier Christopher Bernic to ensure his menus are paired with the perfect wines to compliment your meal. Menu considerations are also taken for Vegetarians and guests with special dietary needs.

Within walking distance of Columbia's campus. Fantastic view of the campus and New York Metropolitan area!

Dish price range: $19-$42

Trattoria Dopo Teatro, an enchanting Italian restaurant nestled in the heart of New York's Theater District, is the perfect place to enjoy delicious Italian cuisine. Dine in the restaurant's interior garden, featuring a stone waterfall, wine cellar and grappa library. In addition to a four-course pre-theater menu, Trattoria Dopo Teatro serves lunch and dinner daily. Private rooms are available for hosting corporate events, festive parties and elegant weddings, and graduation parties. For a dining experience that is truly magnifico, visit Trattoria Dopo Teatro.

Dish price range: $12-$32

Union Square Cafe, Danny Meyer's first restaurant, opened in 1985. Serving Carmen Quagliata's American cuisine with an Italian soul, Union Square Cafe pairs imaginative food and wine with caring hospitality, comfortable surroundings and outstanding value. The restaurant has been ranked #1 or #2 Most Popular Restaurant in the Zagat Survey for the past 12 years.

Dish price range: $23-$34

At Utsav you can savor a contemporary dining experience that does not compromise the traditional flavors that embody the festiveness of authentic Indian cuisine. Within an atmosphere of relaxed elegance, diners experience a blend of sophisticated flavors from the piquant offerings of the Konkan coastline to the temperate flavors of Kashmir. From the delicately spiced seafood of Bengal to the richly flavored curries of Punjab. Their cuisine reflects the flavors of the Mughal empire, the British Raj and beyond to which Indian cuisine has evolved today.

Dish price range: $14-$27