re: Where to stay in NYC

Are you opposed to Airbnb? You could get a nice one in Brooklyn at that budget. We always stay in Brooklyn, Williamsburg is cool, Park Slope is really nice and Crown Heights is nice but may scare suburbanites as it's in transition. It's an easy 20-30 minutes on the train into Manhattan and half the fun of being in NYC is riding the trains. I am sitting in an Airbnb in crown heights typing this and we love it. There are some great parks around the cloistures you should look into checking out. That's the prettiest part of Manhattan and closer to what the island was before the white man came along . As for an anniversary meal, we don't do much high end stuff but One if By Land and Two if By Sea is a popular restaurant for new yorkers on special occasions. I will say for an amazing pizza slice, Pizza Suprema is incredible and for another casual spot Taco Mahal has Indian tacos, get the roti tacos, not the naan, that are great.