8. LITTLE WILLY'S. (West 47th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). There is no such diner as Little Willy's. I made it up. This is where Match #2, Eddie Benson, takes Kitty for a post-theatre meal. Eddie is a salt of the earth kind of guy and I wanted him to take Kitty to a place that had no pretentions to glamour whatsoever; just one of those wonderful New York City diners whose décor hasn't changed in decades and which still make up a heavy part of the fabric of a New York dining experience. There are a number of these type of diners along Ninth Avenue in the 40s and 50s and make for an affordable and often quite enjoyably tasty pre or post-theatre meal.

I put Little Willy's in the neighborhood that we New Yorkers call "Hell's Kitchen," and which is nowadays also called "Clinton" (after former New York State governor, DeWitt Clinton, not for former U.S. President Bill Clinton). Hell's Kitchen begins at the west edge of Manhattan's Broadway theatre district and spreads north to about 57th Street, south to about 34th Street, and west to the Hudson River.

Now that we're stopping in the theatre district, I encourage everyone who visits New York to see at least one Broadway and one Off-Broadway show. You will find the experiences are quite different from one another. Because of the high cost of producing a show on Broadway these days, emphasis is frequently on spectacle, although depending on the play or musical of course, that is not necessarily the case. In the more intimate setting of an Off-Broadway theatre, you, as the spectator may feel very much like you're a part of the show yourself - not in a literal way by any means (although there are a few shows…if you see my old high school buddies, Blue Man Group, be prepared to get showered with gloop…); but because an Off-Broadway theatre is much smaller than a Broadway house, you'll be much closer to the actors and really get the chance to observe their performance and share the experience in a more engaged, rather than removed way.