Hungry in NYC? Here are some great places to eat cheap (sorta) when you’re dining with five or more people:

With a history dotted with famous patrons who holed up behind its pink walls in hopes of escaping the pressures of show business, La Valencia Hotel might very well have been the Chateau Marmont of the 1930s. Today, the La Jolla hotel is hardly the shiniest, slickest place around, but the combination of its near-ideal location and long history in the area make it an enduring choice for San Diego lodging.

Lined up alongside tony shops and destinations like George’s at the Cove, you’d never guess La Valencia first opened its doors in 1928 (don’t worry, the rooms were renovated in 2005) or that, for decades, this hotel was a quiet hideaway far from the buzz of urban life. Today of course, the quiet atmosphere still exists in the hotel’s courtyard patio and in the stately rooms, though just outside the entrance, the sidewalks are filled with bodies exploring La Jolla’s shops, art galleries and pristine waterfront landscape.

Atop the hotel, the Sky Room restaurant boasts Executive Chef Vaughan Mabee’s fresh take on California cuisine and over 1,000 wines. The famous Whaling Bar & Grill is a local dining institution. For an authentic experience, order up the house drink, appropriately named the Whaler. On Sundays, the Champagne brunch on the hotel’s Tropical Patio rivals any in the area.

While the hotel’s restaurants are ample, be aware that some of the rooms do not share that distinction. The smallest on the property start at a very European 246-square-feet. Mirrored walls and balconies off some rooms remedy the cozy room size, if only psychologically. Luckily, the views from the ocean-facing rooms do the trick.

You know how some destination restaurants say they have the best view or the best location or the best outdoor dining in the area or the best something or other, and you’re never quite sure whether you completely agree, because maybe part of you is agreeing just to be agreeable and maybe part of you doesn’t know any better because you’re a tourist?

Well, let me tell you about one restaurant that claims “best-i-ness” and actually, no doubt about it, deserves that distinction. George’s at the Cove in La Jolla, Calif., purports to have “the region’s best rooftop dining,” and once you’ve dined there, you will agree that, really, the view and overall ambiance could not be any better, especially on a sunny weekend afternoon in October, one of California’s most beautiful months. The menu is casual, with souped-up SoCal takes on fish tacos, burgers and pasta dishes. The food is good, nothing to fall down and die over, but good. And it doesn’t matter that the daytime menu falls short of life-altering, aria-producing culinary genius. Because what matters here is the experience of dining in what feels like a pristine, white box seat hung out over the Pacific blue just for you, the sort of place that reminds you how sweet life can be when you’re on vacation and you don’t mind spending $11 on a burger decadently enhanced with blue cheese or a glass of full-bodied California red long before the cocktail hour begins.

Go for the view on a sunny day or book a table at night in the lower level George’s California Modern restaurant below, where the sleek modern interiors and ocean views are irresistible on clear nights when the stars are out.

George’s on the Cove
1250 Prospect Street
La Jolla, CA
858-454-4244

Crushed Hooters

It seems staying in a Hooters-themed inn isn’t for everyone. Or really, for much of anyone at all. After pouring $1 million into its Lakeland, FL inn back in 2002, the owl-loving restaurant chain demolished the Hooters Inn Motel over the weekend. But fear not, ye traveling fans of buffalo wings and hot pants, the adjacent Hooters Restaurant along Interstate 4-U.S. 98 remains. Phew.

Emeril Does Vegas… Again

Come January 2008, celeb chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse will open a Table 10 restaurant at The Palazzo, which is currently being built by the Las Vegas Sands Corp next to the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino. The new dining destination will be Lagasse’s third in Sin City.

Up, Up in the Air

Last week, Frontier Airlines began the first non-stop service between Denver and Sioux City today, something we are sure plenty of traveling Iowans will consider a pretty Sioux-weet development.

Southwest Plays Fashion Police Again

This time, the airline objected not to a woman’s skimpy outfit, but to a fishing enthusiast’s t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase, “Master Baiter.” The passenger changed his t-shirt, but not before protesting that the airline’s request infringed upon his First Amendment right to free speech. Of course, then he sat down and shut up so he could make it home on time. In other news, Southwest officially has the sense of humor of a British governess. From the 1800’s.

Sustainable Tourism Made Simple

Travelers these days are always looking for ways to “do good,” whether it be buying carbon offsets or heading on volunteer vacations. But there’s a much simpler and more concrete way to do good the next time you head to the airport: actually tip your skycap. Most baggage handlers who perform curbside check-in make the majority of their money in tips. Fork over a buck or two per bag. Consider it good travel karma.

In the Pink

As the Informed Traveler blog notes, the Kor Hotels group, which operates posh spots like the Viceroy Santa Monica, is offering special Think Pink rates, special pink cocktails and pinked-themed gifts at its hotels this month in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. At the aforementioned Viceroy Santa Monica, the Think Pink package for a Saturday night in October starts at $379/night and includes overnight accommodations, pink velvet martinis for two and a fleece picnic throw (also known as a tiny blanket). Ten percent of the proceeds from your stay will benefit the UCLA Breast Cancer Center.

Antoine’s Restaurant, New Orleans

It’s not everyday you find photographs of Pope John Paul II and well-coiffed debutantes occupying the same walls. Nor is it everyday that one dines from a kitchen that has played host to everyone from Bing Crosby to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But that’s exactly what you’ll encounter at Antoine’s, the oldest family-operated restaurant in the United States.

And while many come to experience the ambiance of a place that’s been serving patrons since 1840, still more come to taste the original recipe for the founding chef’s most famous dish. Served on the half-shell since 1889, Oysters Rockefeller are known for their substantive, yet smooth sauce and its strangely tart, yet intensely rich flavor. But trying to figure out exactly what’s in the iconic dish is almost an exercise in foodie futility. Simply put, Oysters Rockefeller just do not taste like anything except Oysters Rockefeller. And to this day, the restaurant still keeps the recipe a closely-guarded secret. Ask your waiter to divulge the ingredients, and he’s likely to rattle off a few items, then smile coyly and offer, perhaps by way of distraction, a personal tour of the steamy, bustling kitchen, the opulent private dining rooms or the 165-foot-long, seven-foot-wide wine cellar with a 25,000 bottle capacity (pictured).

While the restaurant’s formality strikes an interesting contrast to the raunchy reveling happening just blocks away on Bourbon Street, even this historic venue cuts loose on Sunday mornings for the weekly Jazz Brunch. Settle in with the sweet, apple brandy brunch cocktail Antoine’s Smile, order up a plate of Oysters Rockefeller and end with classics like the crab cakes with horseradish sauce or fried trout amandine for a meal that truly sums up the flavor of New Orleans.

Antoine’s, 713 Saint Louis St., 504-581-4422

The TravelPost.com Insider Native City series is a regular feature highlighting unique, iconic or influential edibles, products and other creations found in some of the world’s most popular travel destinations. If you have a suggestion for an upcoming Native City feature, contact us.

We can all embrace the D.I.Y. ethic from time to time, but there are certainly plenty of situations what many of us would like to pawn off on someone else, especially if the price happened to be right. Meet Sunday, a new-ish service that offers busy travelers services of the sort you’d normally have to hire a personal assistant to complete. Things like:

- Someone to spend time researching options for using miles to pay for an upcoming flight

- Updates on flight delays and cancellations wherever you are

- Help finding a hotel room in New York for under $250/night

- A person to investigate why frequent flyer miles you should have earned mysteriously failed to appear in your account

- Someone who’ll book your reservations at the French Laundry

- Directions to the nearest pharmacy when you’re in an unfamiliar town

It’s kind of like having your own personal Jeeves. Sunday tackles requests of all kinds - related to travel or otherwise. For $29/month, Sunday will handle up to 30 requests (you pay $2 per request after 30). For $49/month, Sunday will make up to $50 requests a month on your behalf ($1.50 per additional request), including international calls and 24-7 access to Sunday’s email and telephone support.

US Airways is rolling out new coach class meal options that it says are healthier and made with higher quality ingredients. Of course, along with the “premium” edibles come matching prices. Up until now, US Airways has charged $5 for its in-flight dining options and snack boxes. Now the price will be $7. For your extra $2, here are examples of the new options you’ll find onboard your next flight (I say examples because the choices will change every few months):

Breakfast: a deli plate with mini bagels, slices of peppered turkey, provolone and cheddar cheese served with red grapes and cream cheese or cinnamon-flavored French toast with a honey-nut cream cheese spread and sliced deli ham served with a side of red grapes.

Lunch: a marinated, grilled chicken salad served on a bed of romaine lettuce and garnished with roasted pecans and mandarin oranges or sliced turkey on molasses bread with green leaf lettuce and a jellied cranberry sauce, served with Kettle Classic natural potato chips.

Snack: The new snack box includes chicken salad, garlic and rosemary crackers, a fruit bar, fruit and nut mix and chocolate mint chip cookies.

Note that in-flight meals are available on select domestic, Caribbean and Latin America flights over 3.5 hours between 5am and 8pm (hence the lack of dinner options).

For celebrities, London’s 5-star Dorchester Hotel is one of the most popular places to bunk in. In New York, A-list celebrities can be found staying in any number of hotels, but in London, the Dorchester seems to have a monopoly on Hollywood. Case in point: J. Lo and husband Marc Anthony chose the hotel during their recent stop in London, where the rumored mommy-to-be stepped out in this interesting outfit.

If you can’t swing the Dorchester’s room rates (which, when I checked today, start at about $650/night for a 300-square-foot room and go up dramatically from there), you can see what all the fuss is about with a dinner at The Grill, which puts a modern twist on classic British fare from head chef Aiden Byrne. Another option, but one with a slightly higher price tag? In November, highly-anticipated Alain Ducasse restaurant opens up in the hotel.

Celebrity Watch: Jennifer Lopez in London

Finding good food on the cheap is a difficult task anywhere, but head to a popular tourist destination like the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and the challenge increases dramatically. After all, tourist hotspots depend on charging travelers as much as they can possibly get away with. The next time you’re in Oahu looking to fill your belly without emptying your wallet, check out Cheap Places to Eat in Oahu Hawaii. It’s an always-informative, sometimes hilarious and often irreverent look at the island’s eateries. Run by a local foodie and restaurant industry veteran, the blog serves up great images as well as honest, unpretentious commentary. Check check checkitout.

Traveling foodies, cocktail denizens and frequent hotel guests will be pleased to know they can now access Zagat content directly through any web-enabled cell phone or mobile device. To use ZAGAT.mobi, just navigate to http://zagat.mobi to view free content, including contact information, directions to locations and links to basics like movie and airline schedules. Other free features include a Send to a Friend text message option. And if you already subscribe to Zagat, you’ll be able to get full ratings and review content for restaurants, nightlife destinations and hotels when you visit the site.