Where to Eat

A Boathouse Restaurant lakeside lunch can be fine dining or sandwich fare. (By Helayne Seidman For The Washington Post)

Dining in Central Park can be pricey -- a lunchtime turkey club at the famed Tavern on the Green, for example, is $23. But you can cut costs by picking up provisions at a local grocery store or deli and picnicking. Here are some options.

-- Elissa Leibowitz Poma and Anne McDonough

Dining in the Park

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* Boathouse Restaurant. Sit on the lakeside deck and watch rowboats drift by over a meal of roasted Atlantic monkfish with smoked bacon mashed potatoes or Berkshire pork medallions with sauerkraut and apples. Lunch is $19-$24. There's also a bar and grill and a snack bar serving wraps, sandwiches and burgers ($3-$7.99).

East 72nd Street and Park Drive North, 212-517-2233.

* Leaping Frog Cafe. You don't have to pay your way into the zoo to eat at the Leaping Frog Cafe, which offers a child-friendly menu and outdoor seating, and serves organic items, such asfree-range roasted chicken and organic peanut butter and jelly. Sandwiches are $4.25-$7.95; pizza $6-$7.50; children's meals $6.50.

830 Fifth Ave., 212-717-8918.

* Petrie Court Cafe. This European-style restaurant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is on park land, has a gorgeous view of Cleopatra's Needle. Pay a what-you-wish admission to the museum -- for a cafe visit only, a dollar or two would be sufficient -- and order pasta with haricots verts or a Black Forest ham panini. Lunch and brunch, $9-$19; dinner, $17-$26; afternoon tea, $24.

1000 Fifth Ave., at 82nd Street, 212-570-3964.

* Tavern on the Green. The flower-filled patios are impeccable at this New York fixture and tourist haven, but the views can be impeded by huge balloon bouquets for teeny-boppers celebrating their birthdays. Food includes a lunchtime grilled Porterhouse burger or Cobb salad and slow-roasted prime rib for dinner. Lunch, $21-$32; dinner, $25-$40; brunch, $19-$29; kids menu available.

Central Park at West 67th Street, 212-873-3200.

Where to Buy Picnic Fixin's

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* Zabar's. For a quintessential New York picnic, pick up some buttery chocolate rugelach and a tub of rice pudding and pair it with warm potato knishes or smoked whitefish on a sesame bagel -- or both -- at this West Side stalwart.

2245 Broadway, at 80th Street, 212-787-2000.

* Whole Foods Market. Grab organic cheeses from New York countryside farms and a hearth-baked baguette or fresh sushi at Manhattan's second-largest grocery store, in the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle.

Broadway between 58th and 60th streets, 212-823-9600.

* Eli's Manhattan. Brought to you by the same family as Zabar's, Eli's is a 20,000-square-foot food emporium on the East Side styled after London's food halls and markets. Head to the cafe, where you can buy sandwiches, salads and soups.

1411 Third Ave., between 80th and 81st streets, 212-717-8100 .

* Le Pain Quotidien. Those dining in sit at a communal table; for picnic fare, order salads and sandwiches (try the delectable ricotta and fig or the curry chicken salad) at the counter. There are several locations close to both sides of the park; the address below is a block east of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1131 Madison Ave., at 84th Street, 212-327-4900.