Actually, the last time I was there late, there was no game, and I had some time to kill before going to the late-night thing I was in Coney Island to go to. I walked all around the neighborhood around Nathan's. I tell you, it was fine.
What about Dojo's? An old East Village favorite for thrifty people. It's currently closed by the BOH now but the west one is still open. I worked as a hostess there many moons ago and got to seat Joey Ramone.
Of all the suggestions, these make the most sense to me so far. (Not that my opinion counts for anything around here, but...)
The hot dog and burger places -- I don't know. A joint's a joint, whether you're in Chicago, LA, Hong Kong, London or New York. Grease on the wall is grease on the wall. What's so quintessentially New York about that?
As for Carmines: it's a mediocre chain restaurant. Is that the best this city can do these days?!?
I think that is a rather dismissive and uniformative post. So please explain to me why my suggestion of Carmines (by the Seaport) does not qualify while your Carmine's does. Thank you very much.
Kiev is long gone.
Rao's is definitely a gem. I finally got in last year. ATmosphere and great food.
Katz's is a quintessential NY gem especially with the demise of the Second Ave Deli
Joey Ramone was a Queens boy. He grew up in Forest Hills, so did I. I used to see this tall, lanky, long-haired, stooped over, stoned out guy walking around the neighborhood. I barely paid an attention to him back then except he stood out in a crowd and you couldn't ignore him. When he talked, his speech was lazy and low. Who would have know back then that he would parlay that into fame.