1) Café Sabarsky at Neue Galerie: Baby-friendly service upstairs and down. Down is easier for restless little ones and bathroom is close by. Either way, you can eat quickly and well, or savor. Quark cheese-cake, all-Austrian wine list and amazing winter soups (chestnut, for example) are expensive but exceptional pleasures for museum dining (The Modern is in its own league).
2) Shake Shack in Madison Park+nearby Starbucks. Good ’til the dead of winter. Hot chocolate is unbelievable, and fluff enrobed. Burgers and Usinger sausage are perfect this time of year, so don’t be put off by a few snowflakes. Remember, if you can walk in the cold, you can eat warming food in the cold, especially the best burger in town. Steak ‘n Shake and Ted Drewes were never this good. Starbucks is helpful for diaper changes, or head down to Babies ‘R Us.
N.B.: Send someone up the drink line to get hot chocolate; your wait will be much more pleasant.
3) Upstairs at the Vinegar Factory in Yorkville: Big open space. Balloons for the kids. Great bread basket, satisfactory food. Low stress.
4) Bryant Park ‘wichcraft at Christmastime. Watch the ice skaters or skate yourself. Take a moveable feast from ‘wichcraft sandwich to soup to desserts and coffee. Three stations for a full winter meal.
5) The West Side and Brooklyn: They’re just a lot easier. In fact, so is Queens.
Gray and Grizzled Food Fan 
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