By the way - To find locations of restaurants, you can google their addresses or use menupages.com to find addresses. You can then put the addresses into http://maps.google.com and see exactly where they are.

when you say village...you mean Grenwich village right? thanks!

Union Square is bordered by 16th Street, University Place, Fifth Avenue, 14th Street. Broadway also runs around it, coming in at the northwest corner and going around to the southeast corner.

Max Brenner's is just south of the southeast corner, on Broadway (approx 13th Street)

I really want to try Max Brenner's, but I never have the patience to wait the 2+ hours for a table so, if I remember to make a rezzie there one of these days, I'll let you know!!

By the way, if you sign up at Not For Tourists, you can print all their maps for free. Maybe you should get one? I find it to be an indispensible resource that fits in your pocket and looks cool.

http://www.notfortourists.com/newyork.aspx

I just bought the Los Angeles edition last year. Wow!

thank you thank you thank you! i'll be sure to check that out!

Take the 4, 5, 6, N, W, R or Q train to 14th Street and you will be right smack in the center of Union Square. Where are you staying?

Union Square is named for the union, or junction, of the Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) with the Post Road to Boston and Albany (which no longer exists; it ran up the east side of the island in the vicinity of Third Avenue.) It is really the first of the "squares" that Broadway makes as it angles across the street grid. It runs from the line of Park Avenue South (here called "Union Square East") about to what becomes the line of Madison Avenue some blocks further north, between 14th and 17th Streets. Broadway meets it at its southeast corner and continues on from its northwest corner. Fifth Avenue does not in fact border Union Square, but is a short block away.

Leslie2, a great feature of Menupages is that they already have map (I THINK it's Mapquest)software already built in...if you are looking at one particular restaurant, just hit MAP and it will show it - if you are on a whole page of restaurants - in other words all the French restaurants in the Village, or ALL the restaurants in the West Village, etc., again hit MAP THESE RESULTS and it will pinpoint with numbers every restaurant on the list.

OK, I just double-checked and it won't show ALL the restaurants in an area, but will if you refine it by cuisine. Very helpful tool.

GreenWhiteBlue is correct. Another way of looking at it is that Manhattan streets are basically a gridiron but that Broadway gradually cuts across Manhattan from East to West, as it runs North. In general, wherever Broadway cuts across an Avenue as it goes North, it forms a large intersection known as a Square. Thus, when it crosses 3rd and 4th Ave. (at around 9th St.) it is Cooper Square. When it crosses Park Ave. South (formerly called 4th Ave.) (at 14th St.) it is Union Square. When it crosses 5th Ave. (at around 23rd St.) it is called Madison Square (site of the first Madison Square Garden). When it crosses 6th Ave. (at 34th St.) it is Herald Square. When it crosses 7th Ave. (at 42nd St.) it is Times Square. And so on continuing North.