New York recs, please

My husband and I are headed to NY in July. I am looking for some suggestions for great food. We will be all over the place. Willing to splurge a little, but I really miss the good, cheap eats in Chicago since we moved. Here is a rough idea of our plans.
We will have a day in Brooklyn, probably a Friday.
On the Sunday we will be in town, we are seeing Spamalot at the Schubert at 7PM (225 W 44th), any ideas on eating...where, before and/or after? We are taking his mom, too.
We plan meet some friends on Monday, and we'd like to see Les Paul at the Iridium (1650 Broadway at 51st) How early would you dine to catch his 8PM show? I was thinking 5-ish. Any suggestions where (this would also have to be kosher.)?
I am the more adventuresome eater. He's mainly carniverous. I wouldn't mind eating a little bit here, a little bit there.
Clear as mud?
Thanks for the input.

Caryn

Last week my husband and I ate at Nargila Grill on the Upper East Side. There is another branch on the Upper West Side. It is a glatt kosher meat middle Eastern restaurant. We were part of a large party so everything was served family style. The starters: baba ghanouj, hummus, a large variety of pickled vegetables, falafel, pita, and a lot of other things I can’t remember exactly, were wonderful. The meats: shish kebab, various ground meat kebabs, schwarma, etc. were surprisingly good. There was baklava for dessert but we were all too full to try it.

If you want to try one of those "only in New York" places, consider heading over to the Diamond Dairy of New York on W 47th (near Fifth Avenue) in the Diamond District.

Here's the deal: You walk into this old-school jewerly store, go all the way to the back, take the back staircase up one flight, and there you are--you're in an old-fashioned Kosher dining spot.

Here's a photo I took from a table that we sat at awhile back:

http://www.hiddenboston.com/blogphotopa ... Photo.html

Thanks for the hints.
Any non-kosher spots we could try, too? We would really love some good Chinese, it's one of the things they just don't do well here in central IL.

Caryn

Seconds on the Diamond Dairy recommendation. They have the best blintzes ever. And its a great, unique, only-in-New York experience.

My wife and I are big fans of Indian cuisine and by far our favorite Indian restaurant is Mitali, which is located down in the Village in NYC. We tried a highly touted Chinese place in NYC called Joe's Shanghai, but we were really disappointed. The food wasn't bad, really. It just wasn't anything special. Yet it was quite pricey.