My Zagat

There was an article in The New York Times this week about new restaurants opening this Fall. I don't have enough time or money to visit them all. There are so many restaurants in our Upper East Side neighborhood that we rarely go to to other areas of the city.

We have our favorites. Often, when friends stay in our apartment without us, they ask for recommendations. These are my choices, listed in no particular order.

We rarely go out for breakfast but The Green Kitchen on 1st and 77th is a typical diner. Like many diners around here, you can get an inexpensive meal or spend more on waffles, paninis and lobster. The setting is typical diner though, so we tend to not want to spend extra on food in a boring atmosphere. As far as I can tell, there's nothing green about this place, but perhaps the kitchen is painted green. Service is efficient.

For lunch, Johnny Foxes on 2nd Avenue between 80th and 81st serves great burgers and other bar-type food. It's inexpensive, and has a great happy hour which I've never been to. Service is spotty at lunch.

We have so many dinner choices here. My favorite Italian restaurant is Caffe Buon Gusto on 77th between 2nd and 3rd. The pasta is excellent, and they have half-priced bottled wine on Monday-Wednesday. The atmosphere is nice and the service is great.

Beyoglu (no website I can find), a Turkish restaurant on 81st and 3rd, is a great place to go for felafel, but it's also a fine choice for dinner. The menu choices are well-priced and feature lamb and other meats in yummy sauces. My vegetarian niece found options, too. There's a lot of beautiful tiling and dark wood. Service is very good.

The Atlantic Grill on 3rd between 76th and 77th specializes in fish. One of the best restaurants in my neighborhood, it's also one of the most expensive. We recently went during restaurant week and it was a good value at $35 prix fixe. They have a terrific sushi bar. Seafood bisques and fish entrees are superb. The service strains under the volume of diners. It's also quite noisy. For a really nice meal, this is the place to go.

What we lack, believe it or not, is a good Chinese restaurant. There used to be a good one nearby but it went out of business. We're surviving.

Take-out is a whole other story, one you'll have to wait for.