I don't it helps that most startups here in NYC are pretty lame, ripoffs of yelp or really weak ideas. I have been very unimpressed and stayed away from both startups and wall st.
I work for a startup in New York. We have a really cool idea, but raising money has been a bitch and a half. We've decided to bypass the VCs almost entirely and focus on customers.
In my opinion, this is exactly what you should do! Build a really great product and perhaps even become profitable on your own before you try to take on capital.
I lived in SF for a number of years, and the mix of impressive to unimpressive start-ups is fairly similar in both places.
If you can't find anything interesting it's just because you aren't looking.