High-end New York City

Would appreciate recommendations for NYC restaurants for a very special occasion. Type of food not important as long as it is the very, very best.

Bill/SFNM

Bill,

Haven't been, but a friend was telling me about a recent omakase dinner at Masa and it sounded truly amazing.

Enjoy,
Gary

NB: Masa is REALLY expensive. Upwards of $500/pp (!!)

A lot of people might point you to Per Se. That might be a good choice, especially if you have not been to French Laundry. If you are looking for something plain yet fancy, consider Peter Luger's. If it was me, push comes to shove, if I was looking for a high-endish experience in NYC right now, I'd try for a dinner at Craft, "Plotnicki style". Look also at Steve's site for opinions on a lot of other high end NY restaurants.

Rob

The three course lunch menu at Jean Georges has not only great food. But, it is a great value at around $50.

Le Grenouille in Midtown offers a similar lunch offering of three courses for around $50.

Either of these options are a great way to try two of New York's great restaurants at a fraction of the dinner price.

I had a fantastic tasting menu at Babbo's at $65

I lived in NYC for over 15 years, and really miss the restaurants.

I always loved Il Mulino, a wonderful place in the village for Italian food. It is quite an event: in addition to the food you order, they also bring over sublime fried zuchinni, garlic bread and crackers. If it's on the menu, order the appetizer portion of mushroom ravioli with champagne truffle sauce. It will make you weep.

At the end of the meal, they bring around a bottle of home-made grappa in a bucket of ice. Just the smell of it can get you drunk. Be prepared to spend a few hours. It's also really hard to get a reservation.

I also liked Manhattan Ocean Club. Fresh fish, great oysters and clams on the half shell. Lovely atmosphere, and great desserts. My favorite was the chocolate tart in a hazelnut crust.

Il Mulino
86 W Third Street
212-673-3783

Manhattan Ocean Club
57 W 58th Street
212-371-7777

tcdup wrote:I always loved Il Mulino

tcdup,

I've greatly enjoyed Il Mulino - especially the ravioli! But I haven't been there for at least 5 years. Have you been recently? Is it still as good as before?

Bill/SFNM

Bill/SFNM wrote:I've greatly enjoyed Il Mulino - especially the ravioli! But I haven't been there for at least 5 years. Have you been recently? Is it still as good as before?
Bill/SFNM

exc (seemingly) Mar '04 Il Mulino primer at this link, which due to software deficiencies on that other board is almost impossible to find by searching.

http://chowhound.com/boards/manhat40/me ... 21235.html

In case it should disappear unexpectedly like so many other posts, here it is in part:

"...As much as I love Il Mulino (and it is one of my very favorite restaurants in NY), I have to admit that it currently seems to be in a slump, foodwise...


INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENJOYING DINNER AT IL MULINO

1. Plan to be very hungry, but reasonably well-hydrated, when you arrive. A dinner at Il Mulino is like an athletic event, and you will have lost the game before it even starts if you show up without an adequate appetite.

2. I suggest that gentlemen wear a dark suit or dark-colored jacket, with no necktie.

3. Early antipasto management is the key to success at crunch time. Upon being seated, an ever-increasing array of antipasti will arrive gradually on your table, usually before you even have a menu. My advice: beware the bread. Don't touch the regular pieces of bread, as they're simply not worth the space they'll occupy in your stomach. The little fried-in-olive-oil pieces are the most addictive. Rookies fill up on these, and then they're out of the game before even they've even ordered. Eat no more than one early on, as they'll still be in good shape throughout in the meal. However, eat the garlic bread while it's still hot, because that doesn't keep so well. The spicy zucchini, bruschetta, and parmigiano-reggiano are worth eating, but you may not find the salami to be worth its meager stomach-occupying volume.

4. The menu is a prop. There's nothing in there that you need to see, and it's almost impossible to read anyway. You can look at it if you want to be polite, but your success or failure depends instead on the guidance of your captain. Historically there are only two captains, who are there every night when the restaurant is open (although I think I may have seen a third one filling in on Fernando's half of the room recently).

5. The "specials" consist of a few standard items, plus whatever the captain decided to mention at that moment. The truth is that the kitchen will prepare pretty much anything you want, however you want it, as long as it conforms to general red sauce Italian guidelines and is properly conceptualized by your captain. So, discuss your meal with your him, and he'll make sure you're happy. Note that the prices of the specials won't be mentioned, and they are likely to be quite expensive (sometimes $60). On the other hand, each main course special contains enough food for at least two normal meals. So, either share main courses between two people, or plan to take a lot of food home.

6. Appetizer recommendations: (1) Porcini ravioli. This is served in a thick, oozing, cheesy sauce incorporating parmigiano, champagne and truffles. It is always listed among the specials. (2) Fusili special, with a red sauce containing homemade sausage. For me this serves as a nice foil for the porcini ravioli. It actually wasn't so good the last time I had it. (3) Langostini with risotto. Another perpetual special. These little fellas will be brought by your table for viewing before your meal. Share a pasta with someone else, or better yet, have the captain mix quarter-portions of two different pastas for more variety. I believe that any of these items can also be ordered as a main course, if you so desire.

7. Main course recommendations: (1) Veal chop with sage and potatoes. A magnificent dish, my all-time Il Mulino favorite, it almost killed me the first time I ordered it. It too had declined in quality when I most recently tried it, and frankly you may be better off that way, because it won't be so wonderful that you'll flirt with serious gastric injury by trying to eat a whole portion. This is simply not possible for a human being. For extra safety, consider having the captain split the portion onto two plates, one of which will be kept out of your reach in front of someone who shares it with you. (2) Osso bucco. Though I prefer the veal chop in general, this can have a particularly wonderful sauce which may be to your liking if you're in the mood for a more heavily sauced dish. (3) Rack of lamb. I do like the rack of lamb, although I prefer the two dishes mentioned above. (4) Dover sole meuniere (or prepared in any other way agreeable to you and your captain). Il Mulino does usually have the most beautiful sole around, in my experience. Ask how it is that night. (5) Shrimp fra diavolo. A non-special that Claudio suggested to me one night years ago. The combination of shellfish and spicy sauce makes this dish a particularly nasty partner for the big red wine you're bound to order. But I've enjoyed this very much from time to time.

8. Enjoy (or at least respectfully regard) the parsley. It took me a while, but I eventually came to notice how uncommonly robust and full-flavored Il Mulino's parsley garnish is.

9. Accept the free grappa that you'll be offered after the main course, then take only one tiny sip at a time.

10. Dessert recommendations: tiramisu or cheesecake, each of which is served with zabaglione. If you're in the mood for something lighter, just order mixed berries with zabaglione."

Wow, Thanks Steve! I never thought I'd have to read the manual before going to a restaurant.

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions. I love LTHForum!

Jean Georges is fabulous. the room, service, food, wine all is top notch.
LO

I might add that I really loved the brunch options at Good on Greenwich Avenue in the Village. Their lemon ricotta pancakes are an absolute thing of wonder. Light, lemony and wonderful. I hope that it doesn't turn you off that they are also cheap.

I'm not sure if the restaurant is still there. But, at one time, it was one of my favorite brunch stops in the city

I have always enjoy http://www.peterluger.com/
It's been a while since my last trip to NYC It's a must stop meal for me.

not to detract from Chicagoans views on the subject, but a good resource for high-end NY restaurants is: http://www.mouthfulsfood.com/forums/ind ... howforum=1

good luck.

Had the pleasure of running up the expense account in Manhattan recently. Was with clients so didn't have the most adventurous choices but was nonetheless quite delectable.

The highlight was Lupa (couldn't get into Babbo) - this is the best Italian meal I've had since I was in Italy 4 years ago. Was at Spiaggia a few weeks ago and I thought the food at Lupa was much truer to the Italian ideal at half the cost. Some highlights were the salads, the salumi platter (better than Blackbird/Avec), and the roast pork shoulder. Great wine list, some very nice '97 Tuscans available at non-extortionate prices. Spiaggia had only one lonely 97 Brunello on the wine list, and when I ordered it was told they were out of it - I asked the sommelier to run over to Binny's and replace it, but nope.

Pastis was also up to the hype. Had lunch there, steak frites. Delicious hanger steak with a bernaise sauce to dip the great frites in. Had a bite of someone else's croque monsieur which was also nicely executed.

Balthazar was also very good. Just had app's and many glasses of wine, the seafood platter app was nicely done. Steak tartare was ok but the duck foie gras was excellent. Great bread and butter.

Took a vacation day Saturday and made it up to Barney Greengrass, will definitely throw my hat in with a high recommendation - great space, you'll only find it in NYC. Had Nova/Bagel/Cream Cheese and chopped liver for breakfast, oy. My wife's omelette was kind of odd, the cheese was all melted on top instead of folded in.

Grand Sichuan on 2nd Ave & 55th was pretty good for dinner. Best dish was a very simple cucumber and garlic app, I don't know what they did with it but it was delicious. Chong-Quing spicy chicken with aromatic spices was also nice. Shrimp in spicy garlic sauce was a cloying mess. But the tab was pretty friendly for NY, two people got out of there for under $50.

Mr.Chris wrote:I have always enjoy http://www.peterluger.com/
It's been a while since my last trip to NYC It's a must stop meal for me.

One of my all time favorite waiter responses to a question was at Peter Lugars.

Q. What kind of steak do you serve?
A. We have steak for 1, steak for 2, steak for 3, steak for 4 or steak for 6.

babbo and cafe boulud were excellent. (we couldn't into per se, although i'm sure that is excellent also)