Hi,
I am visiting NY in October and I was wondering how should I dress. Also, where can I find the best shopping deals and good restaurants, particularly Chinese food. I was reading some of the comments and some suggested Canal Street. Is this advised, or will I be able to see vendors around my hotel in Times Square. Staying at the W hotel. I would also like to visit Brooklyn and other surrounding cities. Any suggestions about this would be appreciated as well.

Go to Chinatown for Chinese! There are plenty of great places down there. Inespensive, too. Actually, Canal Street runs partly through Chinatown. So you can do both in a day. It is pretty easy to wonder around Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, and Canal Steet in one day. They are all next to eachother.

You will most likely see vendors all around the city, (especially in Times Square) but your best bet for a wide variety of knock-offs is Canal Street.

a chinese friend of mine, whose parents come from China and run a chinese restaurant elsewhere, says these are the best chinese restaurants in NYC:

Joe's Shanghai
> 9 Pell St. between Bowery and Mott St. (233-8888).
> (Famous for the Shanghai's dumplings with meat, called "xiao long bao")
>
> Vegetarian Paradise
> 33 - 35 Mott St. (@ Pell St.), 406-6988
> (This is very good, huge dishes and delicious)
>
> House of Vegetarian (cheaper than Vegetarian Paradise)
> 68 Mott St. (btw. Bayard St. and Canal St.), 226-6572
>
> Vegetarian Dim Sum House
> 24 Pell St. between Canal and Bayard Sts. (226 -6572)
>
> Vietnam
> 11-13 Doyers St. between Bowery and Pell St. (693-0725)
> (Haven't been there yet, but sounds good. Filled vietnamese crepes..)
>

and if you want to go to Brooklyn, try Brooklyn Heights, a beautiful neighborhood right across the brooklyn bridge. Take the N or R train to the first stop in brooklyn, Court St. Follow Montague St about five minutes walking towards the water and you'll be at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. It's one of the best views in the city. On the way...get the best bagels I've ever had at the Montague St Bagel Shop, will be on your left between Henry and Hicks St. Take a nice walk around that neighborhood, and maybe walk over the bridge on the way back!

Check out www.bigapplegreeter.org and get a free tour with a local...I am a greeter and it is a great way to get oriented to the city. You can request Brooklyn or any other area that you want, or just say "greeters choice" and have an adventure.

Yes, Chinatown Food is good and inexpensive, and lots of fun for shopping.

October weather is very changeable, so just be able to layer and you will be fine...if you have a pair of gloves and a scarf, bring in just in case, but it is usually a great time of year to visit the city.

there's a link to big apple greeter on the home page here!

Any suggestions on where to get great pizza? And I have heard alot about eggcream sodas. Any suggestions on good places to get these. Directions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

For pizza, the eternal war is between people who like Lombardi's on Spring Street in SoHo, Grimaldi's in Brooklyn Heights, and a few others like John's in Greenwich Village, DiFara's in Midwood or Totonno's in Coney Island. All those are top notch NY pizza places. Truly great NY pizza is made in a wood or coal-fired oven, has a thin crust and uses hand-cut or -grated cheese. Avoid the by-the-slice places like Ray's, which use a very doughy crust and cheap industrial cheese.

For egg creams, you need to go to an old fashioned deli or soda fountain like the Second Avenue Deli in the East Village, Katz's on the Lower East Side, Artie's on the Upper West Side, or that place at 84th and Lexington whose name I always forget.

By the way, Brooklyn is not another city. It is part of New York City, along with Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan. Other cities nearby (Yonkers, Jersey City, etc.) are generally quite dull.

Does Gem Spa still make egg creams? Does it even still exist? They used to make the best egg cream in the city.

Found a delightful article when I googled Gem Spa. It was written in 2002, so can't answer your question Oracle. Here is part of it.

The counterman, Srinivas Gudapati, said that on a weekend night he sells about 70 egg creams in 16-ounce wax cups at $2 a pop. The recipe is an open secret, but the trick is "all in the way you stir it," Patel said. He learned to make egg creams from the previous owner, who learned from the owner before him. The syrup, once made in the basement by the store's original owners, is now supplied by Fox.

What has changed about Gem Spa over the years is its clientele. Where teen-age runaways dodged the 9th Precinct's hippie squad in the 1960s and the New York Dolls posed for an album cover in the 1970s, young professionals now pick up Time Out and W.

With chain stores like Ann Taylor and Kmart nearby, will this neighborhood newsstand eventually feel the need to polish its image?

"Could be," Patel said, staring at the cracked red floor tiles. "The day will come.

Thanks, Rita. It's probably still there. I used to live on St. Mark's, and Gem Spa was a great place to stop on the way home from a late night for a quick egg cream. I know they make them at the delis, but I've never thought it was an appealing beverage to have with pastrami.

The article was quite good. Here is the link: www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-04-17/452.asp - 13k