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42 East 58th Street
New York, NY
212-888-2288
Tao
High-concept Chinese, complete with a towering Buddha in the main room. Is that Robert DeNiro? Or just Jackie Chan?
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25 Little West 12th St
New York, NY
212-647-7314
Budda Bar
Another high-end Chinese place, this one in the heart of the meatpacking district, so the chicken may really be chicken.
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47 Ave B.
New York, NY 10082
212-777-5454
Le Souk
Egyptian and other North- African cuisine, complete with belly dancers and hookahs. Remember, don't use your left hand to eat.
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89 5th Ave
New York, NY
212-604-0600
Sushi Samba
A mix of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisines? Domo arigato, mis amigos.
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75 9th Ave
New York, NY
212-989-6699
Buddakhan
A truly huge, ostentatious place, also in the meatpacking district—but the food may well be worth the overdone décor. Try the mao poe tofu—spicy Thai peppers igniting a traditional mixture of tofu and spicy pork.
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240 Sullivan St
New York, NY
212-677-3995
Peanut Butter & Co
Yes, a sandwich shop dedicated to peanut butter. The late William F. Buckley was a nut for peanut butter—on this, and this alone—he may have had a point.
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100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-644-1900
Park Avenue Winter
Upper-crust American cuisine: both the menu and the décor are changed with each passing season.
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50 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002
212-477-2900
WD-50
Monkfish? Bone marrow? Popcorn soup? Food combinations you'd never think of, but will no doubt enjoy. OK, maybe not the bone marrow.
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1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY
718-522-5200
The River Café
Take the A Train—no, really take the A Train—to this classic A-list venue in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. The training ground of some of America's best chefs—and they even have a chocolate marquise dessert in the shape of the Brooklyn Bridge.
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111 E 49th St
New York, NY
in Waldorf Astoria
212-355-0440
Inagiku
Traditional high quality—and high priced—Japanese cuisine. $139 for shabu shabu? Why not? In the Waldorf Astoria Hotel—please don't ask for a Waldorf salad.
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3152 Brighton 6th St
(at the Boardwalk)
Brighton Beach (Brooklyn)
718-891-5151
Restaurant Tatiana
Lenin would not approve. Ornate Old Russia style, with the accent on love, Saint Petersburg style. Vodka. Caviar. Russian supermodels. What could go wrong? Live on Fri, Sat, Sun)
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24 W 56th St
New York, NY
212-333-3868
Joe's Shanghai
Legendary working-class Chinese, with famous pork soup dumplings for which fans travel, well, all the way from Shanghai.
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47 E. 21st St
New York, NY
212-505-3072
Via Emilia
Good, cheap Italian, in a casual modern style. Specializes in Modenese cuisine—pass the balsamic, per favore. Cash only—if you try to use a credit car, well, somethin' could happen, ya know?
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505 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
212-462-4300
The Half King
What do you do after you write The Perfect Storm? Writer Sebastian Junger co-owns the perfect Euro-pub, with a rustic recycled barn-wood décor, comfort foods from all over the Continent, and nearly reasonable prices. The perfect place for a burger and a beer.
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1048 5TH Ave.
New York, NY 10028
212-288-0665
Cafe Sabarsky
Cafe Sabarsky is a great cafe located in the Neue Galerie for German and Austrian art. It's modeled on the great Viennese cafés that served as centers of intellectual and artistic life at the turn of the (20th) century. Ja,ja, der Linzertorte ist fer gut!
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37 Spring St.
New York, NY 10012
212-274-0008
Rice to Riches
Rice Pudding? Indeed. By combining yummy hand-picked ingredients from around the world, RR has reinvented this mundane dish, resulting, so they assert, in a variety of RP variations that are “threatening to other desserts.”
