New Yorkers: Help me with my trip to the city--Hotels etc.

[tdarko]

The first week in July my gf is flying up from Texas for 7 days to stay with me in Connecticut. I have a day off and we are going to NYC for a day, I have reservations at Nobu Restaurant and would like our hotel to be somewhat close, just so that after we travel around all day and get cleaned up to go eat we can know that it will be a nice easy walk/ride to the restaurant.

Price isn't too much of a concern, it isn't as if we are staying for a month...only one night and we would like to stay somewhere pretty nice. We know our way around the city pretty well but we aren't from the city, there is a big difference. We don't know the best hotels for the best price etc. Here are two hotels that we thought about so far:

Hotel 57

70 Park Ave Hotel

Any thoughts on these places, does it even matter? There are a ton of places to stay, any recommendations or thoughts?

My second question is about lunch. We aren't going to NYC to do the tourist thing, been there done that, we go to the city to get good food and hang out away from Connecticut, which sucks. So I am looking for a nice place to eat around Central Park area, doesn't matter what kind of food, doesn't need to be expensive or nice...I like hole in the wall places that are small as well. Just need some direction on some good food for lunch.

Any feedback would be nice, thanks.

~td