People make a lot of fuss over how New York is on the cutting edge of fashion, technology, and new taxicab colors, but at the end of the day, all it wants to be is the 1940s. Not because it isn’t very nice inside (it is!), but because STATE Grill and Bar, like so many other places in New York City, goes out of its way to make you feel like you’ve stepped into the 1940s. I don’t know why they even bothered adding another option.Ĭaity: You wouldn’t know from looking at it that STATE Grill and Bar just opened earlier this month. It joins Men’s Wearhouse and Chipotle on the ground floor.Ĭaity: Damn, I wish we had gotten Chipotle. Rich: From what I understand in my minutes of research, STATE Grill and Bar is the Empire State Building’s first official restaurant. From where we were sitting, the people looked like aunts. Rich: For our purposes, the Empire State Building could have been a rancher: STATE Grill and Bar is on the first floor.Ĭaity: We were treated to iconic views of some scaffolding and a United States post office across the street. That makes me really sad for the Empire State Building.Ĭaity: It’s still the tallest building in the world to me! Wikipedia also revealed this fact: The Empire State Building was the tallest building IN THE WORLD until 1970. Rich: In turn, I wrote in my notes, “Find out what the building is all about.” Later, when I looked on Wikipedia: So I asked, “Rich.What is inside the Empire State Building?” Besides us at that moment, I meant. Always on these outings, I try to imagine exactly what condition drove the other patrons to take their lunch inside a tourist attraction are they visiting tourists? Do they work nearby? I thought maybe these people worked inside the Empire State Building, and then I realized I had always assumed that the Empire State Building was a big empty tower with nothing but stairs all the way up to the roof.Ĭaity: Why’d they make it so tall? So they’d have room for all the stairs, of course. I couldn’t tell if they were just being normal and felt rude compared to the kid gloves I’d been handled with up to that point, or if they were actual dicks.Ĭaity: I thought the crowd in there felt pretty, for lack of a better word, normal. “Is it because I’m wearing sneakers on the plush carpet of this restaurant?” I wondered. Rich: Once I got in there and sat down, I felt like the clientele were sneering at me. There were many but not too many folks in maroon uniforms lining the perimeter just bursting to give you helpful information: “The restaurant is right around the corner!” When you wake, ring for Drake Drake will bring your tray! Ten minutes late.Ĭaity: I agree with you that the Empire State Building might just be New York’s most tourist-friendly tourist attraction. It all made me feel like Annie.Ĭaity: I quoted Annie when I sat down! Three bucks two bags one me. The greeting I received upon entering the actual Empire State Building was a jolly “WELCOME TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!” The hostess at STATE Grill and Bar (not to be confused with the Empire Bar and Grill in both Macedon and Webster, NY) had such kind eyes. The woman who called to confirm our reservation pronounced my last name right with no prompting.
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Rich: Everything leading up to our meal at STATE Grill and Bar at the Empire State Building was so pleasant.