The most down to earth Daniel Boulud restaurant (his flagship is a 2-star establishment) still has French charm, mirroring comfort food served near Lyon. To drink, there are lists and lists of beer and fruity wines, all to go with the fatty fare known to the region. 

Bachelards MAG   $80.00
PlateauGrnd   $73.00
Chop Chop Salad  $14.00
Calamari  $17.00
Sausage Duo  $25.00
Fantme Pissenli  $36.00
Sausage Duo  $25.00
Salmon  $28.00
STRIP FRITES  $44.00
Broccoli Rabe  $8.00
SD Brussels  $8.00
Baked Alaska  $21.00
Cheese $12.00

The epitome of a gastro pub with excellent brew selection and heart clogging pub food. Can get a bit salty at times. No reservations. Get there early or late.

If we were trying to front-run the Michelin guide, this restaurant would top the list. It is the least expensive tasting menu ($67) in the level of food it plays at. There should be nothing spectacular about a beet and apple salad. In fact, any “salad” is usually ridiculous, as Eleven Madison Park had recently shown. But this salad is more like an elegant arrangement of well paired participants: the apple sour, the beet sweet, and the pistachio an earthy oiliness. Many restaurants serve sabayon, which is the pretentious way to say creamy heart attack (French Laundry, Eleven Madison Park) and a lot of restaurants put shrimp under a sheet of something, this time Kohlrabi. But this dish manages to be novel by allowing the shrimp to take precedence with a dense and soft texture. The best dish of the night was the fish – a soft and flakey whitefish in a salty, umami-filled broth. The steak was substantial, a humongous cut by tasting standards. It is covered with roughly sliced Brassica leaves that provide a crunchy counterpoint to the steak. It’s hard to dislike steak, but this dish manages to be standard against a meal of exception. A cool, if hard to swallow dish, is the tannin-filled persimmon over a tangerine flavoured tart. Removing the skin of the persimmon only does so much, it still dries the mouth like Bordeaux drunk too young. The final dessert is a frozen yogurt lying in an earthy mix of grains. Finally, a dessert that doesn’t use chocolate that manages to be just as savory. Oh, and make sure you get the bread.

Beet, Apple, Pistachio

Kohlrabi, Shrimp, Sabayon

Skate, Celeriac, Seaweed

Beef, Brassica Leaves, Sorrel

Persimmon, Tangerine

Buckwheat, amaranth, yogurt

This is the restaurant that catapulted David Chang on his stratospheric rise in foodie universe. I would know, since I have been to all three of his mediocre establishments in Toronto. One of them charges 50% more for a worse ramen, another one is fit only for large party dining, and the final one feels like a hostage situation where the ransom is $150 (Canadian dollars, I guess, which sounds like a deal… but isn’t). One of the great proponents of Shoto thought we should give Chang another shot. Chang's foodie views have often been questionable. He recommended this Korean place in Long Island city. They served mushy oysters from Korea, instead of fresh oysters from Maine. That was a disaster. So it would have been completely reasonable to expect nothing out of this two-star restaurant that has communal seating and obviously no tablecloths.

Begin with four amuses – they are each very good. Move to consommé, except it’s jellied and mixed with a tartare of Madai (red snapper – you’ve had it at every sushi restaurant). There’s a rustic quality but still definitively fine dining. The first spectacular dish is the sea urchin, itself rich and oily. It is paired with David Chang’s private brand of miso paste, but it is not made with soy but with chickpeas. The result is a lighter, sweeter, less salty paste that pairs perfectly with the urchin. It also seems to foreshadow many of the dishes to follow. Pairing is nothing new for restauranteurs but Chang has an intense mythology to it. He often puts two contrasting ingredients side by side in a tao-symbol formation. Once a dry aged steak tartare with a purée of sunchoke that picks up on the earthiness of the beef. Then caviar with its light, bursting qualities to offset a buttery potato purée.

Ko seems to derive inspiration from Japanese Kaiseki and so a sushi dish is appropriate. Chang’s is inspired - a torched mackerel sushi, in the “oshizushi style,” meaning pressed in a box. The accompanying fish broth is the consommé you were expecting a few courses back. The next spectacular dish is the pasta course. The main attraction is “pici”, a thick, glutinous pasta that is halfway to gnocchi territory, smothered in a concentrated Hozon (like the urchin dish) and topped with shaved white truffle.
The pasta manages to be al-dente yet decadent, and thick. The venison does not disappoint, as Shoto did with its meat dish. Ko’s is alluring in raspberry pink , drizzled with “olive berry” sauce and accompanied by a spoonful of Kale purée, which looks like a basil leaf if unfocused. This dish is a lesson in simplicity and elegance.

Now, to the dish that put Ko on the map. It is frozen foie gras grated over lychee and jelly. There are few things as mouthwatering as watching a brick of frozen geese liver turn into snowflakes and settle gently on what could be symbolic of a pond in the winter (as we know, consommé can be solidified). One foie gras connoisseur was not a fan but this commentator also liked Shoto. The dish crosses the line between sweet and savoury, creating a segue into dessert. The best one is pistachio and apricot, a return to the Tao motif. The skill here is to seal as much flavour into these ingredients, and it is done spectacularly. Bonus points for a green ice cream that isn’t green tea flavoured at a Japanese inspired restaurant.

The final compliment to give this restaurant is for its well curated and affordable wine list.

Domaine André et Mireille Tissot, Creғmant du Jura, ‘Indigène’ NV $65

J.B. Becker, Wallufer ‘Walkenberg,’ Kabinett Trocken 2008 $59 (which is now sadly off the list)

Robert Groffier, Bourgogne 2006 $75 ($75 for a 06 Burgundy?)

Momofuku Ko is clearly the best restaurant in New York City (thus far), and probably the United States. It raises the question of why the Toronto branch is so mediocre. And why is it only 69th in the world, outranked by Nomad, Eleven Madison Park, and Per Se (which I haven’t been to but is presumably similar to The French Laundry). It is rare that a restaurant can attain such celebrity status and maintained it. Arguably, it’s even grown.

Vegetable roll, pommes soufflées, Lobster paloise, millefeuille

Madai – consommé, shiso, fingerlime

Uni – chickpea, hozon

Sawarazushi – wasasbi, ginger

Razor clam – apple, basil

Dry aged beef – sunchoke, Juniper

Siberian sturgeon caviar – potato

Sourdough bread & radish butter

Halibut – cauliflower, Hungarian pepper

Pici – sunflower hozon, white truffle

Venison – kale, olive berry

Foie gras – lychee, pine nut, Riesling jelly

Carrot cardamom – meringue

Pistachio – apricot

An overrated Thai restaurant with standard dishes for the genre. Go to Pok Pok instead in Brooklyn.

An expense account Michelin star restaurant with an inexpensive lunch prix fixe $38.

Pappardelle Oxtail, Rosemary

Roasted Beef Tenderloin Broccoli Rabe, Potato

There is seldom a restaurant more written about, speculated on, popularized by critics, and exciting to dine at than Eleven Madison Park. On many levels it is the American response to the French “three star”. From the look of it, there’s not much to suggest it is the best restaurant in America. The look is best described as run-down, reminiscent of your parents’ generation’s favourite steakhouse. It even shares a building with a Big Bank. People eat there in Jeans.

First are some cheese-flavoured cookies, an overdone motif. Second, a sabayon with a smoked sturgeon flavour and droplets of chive condensate. Sound a bit like another famous restaurant’s starters. The first spectacular dish is oysters in a cup, topped with shaved artichoke. The oyster is intelligently hidden so that only in your mouth do you feel the soft velvety texture meld with the crispy surroundings. In an accompanying bowl you slurp concentrated oyster velouté - so tangy and flavourful.

Next we have scallops and truffles squeezed into leeks and arranged in what one participant described as a heart formation. Yes, it looked disgusting and it didn’t taste much better. The next dish is better. It is a play on the classic American dish of eggs benedict, except the English muffins are shrinked like little pokeballs and the contents are arranged beautifully in what looks like a Spanish canned fish canister. It is delicious but you can’t but feel a bit of repetition from the sabayon a few courses prior. The best dish of the night might have been the seared foie gras, topped with crispy Brussel sprouts. It was delicious, and expected for foie gras.

The next part of the meal requires some annotation and this is the type of course that probably earned the restaurant its Top 50 rating. A push cart comes along where a salad of macerated apples, celery and mayonnaise (and grapes and walnuts and blue cheese) is made in front of you. It is explained that this came from the Waldorf Hotel from a period\ when they did not have refrigeration. It actually tasted pretty good but it leaves you to wonder why you paid a day’s salary on this.  But thankfully, more surprises await, lift the receptacle for the salad and underneath, hidden inconspicuously, is a compartment with soup and spoon holding garnish. It’s the same ingredients as the salad, but in soup form. It’s all well-meant but the soup is reminiscent of the oyster Velouté with its richness and texture.

Next is the poached lobster, which is perfectly tender and perfectly cooked. It tastes great but wish it wasn’t hidden by two slices of squash. The vegetable dish is interesting – it showcases hen of the woods mushroom (which is the mushroom of choice of the foodie class) and it comes with horseradish and what is presumably a mushroom purée. This is a dish that has potential – something that is novel and unexpected – but in its current state, it lacks vibrancy. It will be forgotten soon. Probably the most impressive dish of the night is the slow cooked venison. The chef comes out with the venison in this piece of wood, which looks like a piece of coal out of a fire. I have a bit of a hard time believing that the piece he showed us is the venison on the plate, unless it shrank tenfold. But the slow-cooking worked – it is beautifully pink and probably the most succulent game (which is often chewy) I’ve ever had. The presentation is beautiful too – beets normal and in chip form create a flower arrangement to offset the blush of the meat. A vin sauce is chocolatey looking and a delicious dip for the meat.

It is downhill from there.  Fondue is the cheese course. Melted cheese in a squash with some pretzels and mustard. The pretzel is not good, and the mustard is not special. A salad you could’ve ordered at Pret-a-Manger helps offset some of the cheesiness. I am guessing this is an intellectual inside joke. It works until you’ve been to enough restaurants to call cheat. It’s a dish that is trying something that is completely incomprehensible.

The next dish is supposed to be a play on Botrytis, which is a method for making sweet wine from Europe. It involves taking grapes that already rotted and are thus sweet. It works well in Germany and France, with the grape of Riesling, but the New York variety here was so one dimensional it could have been a sweet Fuze juice. The wine had no acidity to counteract the numbing sweetness. And then it was paired with something even sweeter. And what does ice cream with almond and ginger have to do with noble rot? Am I missing something?

The next dish is actually quite interesting because it has a little breakable ball of honey in the middle of it. If I hadn’t had so many variations of this exact same dish at restaurants all over (say Milk and Honey at Nomad – they own that restaurant too), I would have been impressed.

To say the restaurant was a bad experience goes too far. No, it was a product of high expectations and failed experimentation on the chef’s part. The restaurant has risen up the rankings on the top 50 list (from 50th in 2010 to 5th this year) so quickly to overtake its 3-star rivals that there are concerns that the top 50 list rewards experimentation over pure experience. It was finally promoted to 3-star status along with the other five that have been there for much longer. Despite all of the awards, it is not a mature restaurant like those that play in the same league (and charge around the same price). Some of the dishes stand out, but most of them feel either incomplete or inadequately framed, either from inadequate presentation or from unthoughtful sequencing. Why have soup, foie gras, then a salad, then a soup? Only one dish felt truly like a main course. A lot of good things are here but to say this is North America’s best restaurant is a disservice to the wonderful restaurants in the United States (and Toronto).

An excellent modern Korean restaurant featuring traditional bibimbap either deconstructed or toped with sea urchin.

MUSHROOM SALAD Grilled French baby horns, hen of the woods, ginger snaps, fine herbs, mustard greens with citron-pine nut vinaigrette

 17

SEA URCHIN BIBIMBAP 성게알밥 Organic quinoa and rice topped with sea urchin, flying fish roe, seaweed puree, perilla, kimchi, chives, and micro green

 28

BIBIMBAP 비빔밥

Warm rice served with bean sprouts,

zucchini, shiitake mushroom, carrots,

spinach, and radish served with beef,

daily soup, gochujang, fried egg 24

An affordable pairing menu if uninspired menu. Very fishy taste in the cod. 

Prix Fixe Menu

$29 for three course menu and $47 with a wine pairing

Butter nut Squash Soup. foie gras royal , black trumpet mushroom and roasted pumpkin seeds

Cato Farm Bloomsday Cheddar Salad. fennel, frisée, shaved vegetables, migliorelli roasted bosc pear and hazelnut vinaigrette

Day Boat Cod & Brandade. kaffir-lime and lemon grass billi bi broth

Roasted Confit of Duck Leg Parmentier. potato pureeand jus naturel

Bittersweet Chocolate Hazelnut Bon Bon. hazelnut ice cream

Trio of Seasonal Sorbets

A good pizzeria, though a bit expensive and out of the way.

Classic pizzas high-teens

Special pizzes high twenties

A polarizing restaurant best reserved for expense accounts and cheap lunches ($49 + $10 pasta). As fancy Italian food goes, this restaurant is in a class of its own, serving white tablecloth food against pasta counters and pizzerias. The restaurant is not convincing as to whether Italian food deserves this treatment. 

The successor of 2-michelin star restaurant SHO Shaun Hergatt (which I attended in youth) is smaller, more personable, and the food, more striking. For $39, start with a deeply and rich flavoured sweetbreads, which moves in your mouth like molasses. Make sure it is accompanied by a crisp wine, or have one of the great Saisons on the menu. In a 180 degree turn, the main is soft, flaky, and vegetal. The dessert is funky in chocolate and hazelnut, topped with a ball of bay leaf sorbet. Delicious.

3 courses $39

crosnes – sweetbreads – black truffles
romanesco – chatham cod – kalamansi
gianduja – sweet potato – bay leaf

The best way to try Michelin stars on the cheap is during weekday lunch. Before I started work, I was able to try four: Bouley, Juni, Del Posto and Tocqueville. The first is well-known as the best lunch deal in New York: $55 for a prix-fixe at Bouley, the flagship of the eponymous chef and holder of a Michelin star. The five course meal ends up being 10 if you count the guy who bring around a bread trolley (it’s all freshly baked and unavailable anywhere except at the restaurant. Start with a cool gazpacho serving as a refreshing and cool lunch time amuse-bouche. Then to assorted Tuna (yellowtail and bluefin) topped with caviar and a foamy citrusy sauce. It ends up being seven slices to sashimi equivalent and therefore generous.  The whole meal follows those first steps of generosity - lunch is almost too much to swallow.  The signature lobster soup is next. It has the odd reminiscence of those cheap starter soups you get as Chinese restaurants – they are highly viscous with strings of something throughout. This one is, of course, much fancier, and does not feel like last night’s uneaten provisions. We will conclude to say that it is unique for fine dining. A special from the kitchen comes next – an egg custard loaded with truffle both foamed and shaved, and cheese. The instruction is to dig deep with your spoon. It is a delicious experiment in molecular gastronomy, anchored by the lightness of the foam, without sacrificing any flavor. The next dish is three generously slices of duck over wild rice and a sweet puree. The cut is gorgeous but not exactly special, as might be expected for lunchtime fare. Next, a special mango dessert – gelato and sorbet in the same plate. This dish felt as though you were chewing into an actual mango mango. The real treat is the molten lava cake with two scoops of gelato – chocolate and vanilla, all on some specks of nuttiness. If that isn’t enough, a tea-room bird cage of 10 pieces of dessert. It is impossible to finish and so that’s dinner.

It is nice to see these old world restaurants still exist and that they haven’t all been hypnotized by hipsters. Good to see white table cloths once again, and waiters adjusting the bouquet arrangements.  There is no other place you can get such “luxurious” food, in such a luxurious setting, for $55 (at least, not in New York City). It seems like a good idea to come back and do another set and try to eat through the entire menu.

Hawaiian Hiramasa & Nantucket blue fin

Meyer lemon, passion fruit, fresh verbena

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Porcini Flan

Golden Princess crab, black truffle dashi

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Organic Long Island duck

Indian Reservation wild rice, wheat berries, black dates and hand milled polenta

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Chilled coconut soup

Pineapple granite, exotic ten fruit sorbet. passion fruit and amaretto Ice cream

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Hot Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé

White coffee cloud, coffee ice cream, chocolate mousse

5 courses Prix-fixe         55

A reliable Italian restaurant with cheap wines and a mix of traditional and non-traditional Italian offerings.

Corvina #9225 48

Burrata                15.75

Kale       15

Fettuccine Mushroom17

Lumache Cauliflower   18

Campanelle Crab             23

Tiramisu             11

An odd restaurant that accepts credit card at every time except brunch.

Banana Bread   9

English Breakfast            15

Fritata16

Pancakes            14

Matilda Belgian                11

Cheese Plate Dessert     17

A Michelin star-ed Thai restaurant that punches above its weight. Originally from Portland and also in Brooklyn. See original review here. Amazing drinking vinegars.

Drinking Vinegar             5

Hang Leh             18

Rice-Jasmine     3

Wings   15

This is as New York as it gets. It is one of the best restaurant week deals in the city - a 3-star NYT rated restaurant serving three courses for $25. Accordingly, some things are simplified: both the kale salad and cured salmon leave little for the imagination. The main course, however, is worth the price alone - a perfectly cooked halibut that delicately picks up the runny tomato juices, and infused on a basil and pea purée. Dessert is similarly delicious. Chocolate lovers will die for the cake that is soft enough to be a mousse. Otherwise, the lemon pudding is softly sweet, and not too lemony.

$25 Lunch

House Cured Atlantic Salmon

cracked wheat salad, heirloom cucumber, pink beauty radish, dill horseradish

Organic Kale and Quinoa Salad

local stone fruit, black currants, marcona almonds

percorino perato

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Nova Scotia Halibut

greenmarket ratatouille, sugar snap peas, yellow tomato vinaigrette

--

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

greenmarket berries, thyme streusel, yogurt ice cream

Gotham Chocolate Cake

served warm with salted almond ice cream

Food stalls come out on weekends in Williamsburg, the hip part of Brooklyn. It makes for a decidedly fun alternative to the hangover brunch. A full meal with drinks costs about $30.

$38 dinner

The tofu that this contemporary Japanese restaurant specializes in comes early and fails to make an impact. Some simplistic apps later, the mains are unthoughtful and a bit overcooked. All the while, ideas from the waitress to supplement a prix-fixe, like a second dessert, are proposed. (Do you know what prix-fixe means?)

handmade tofu
freshly-made scooped tofu with wari joyu
O-BANZAI
chef’s selection of two Kyoto-style appetizers
Salmon Ankake
salmon, lightly fried, in a savory dashi broth
with tofu, mushrooms & edamame
or
grilled washugyu
 Japanese Black Angus strip loin from Lindsay Ranch,Oregon
with ponzu citrus soy
(supplement $13)
onigiri & EN MISO SOUP
chef’s choice of seasonal sorbet or ice cream

This is a place you go to gorge on big chunks of fish. The tuna is two triangular prisms of gluttony, drizzled with a poignant peanut dressing. It sits on disorganized vegetables that could have come from a freezer. No, there's nothing pretentious about this restaurant. It's a convenient and pretty cheap place to get full from tasty seafood. The sea bass is similarly good - soft and brimming with delicious umami. White wine starts at an affordable $35 (Melon de Bourgogne).

Oysters $2-3 each

Grilled Yellowfin Tuna | $29.00
with Crispy Jasmine Rice Cakes and
Wok Seared Vegetables in a Ginger Peanut Sauce

Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass | $30.50
with a Korean Kimchi and Tuice Cooked String Beans
in a Wasabi-Miso Sauce 

Close-by, still in hipster Greenwich Village is a $50 five course Sunday dinner at Public, another one-Michelin star restaurant. In atmosphere, it is like any new-French establishment in Paris. The exposed lightbulb trick can be found in most Roncesvalles artsy-fartsy restaurants. To drink, a blow-away and innovative drinking vinegar topped with soda. The five courses commence in ridiculous fashion: a foie gras surrounded by what would be better served as dessert. But the saltiness of the duck liver prevails to make an revolutionary first course. The rest continue to mix of sweet and salty. The pheasant terrine pops with marmalade and chili foam. The duck confit melds with poached quince. The bass breaks the chain with a sleepy lobster bisque. And the dessert returns in high form.

$50

Cured foie gras with peanut banana bread and chocolate mole

Pheasant terrine with sweet potato, orange marmalade, chive shortbread and Holland chili foam

Duck confit with poached quince, watercress, and pistachio vinaigrette

Black bass with haricot vert, braised swiss chard and lobster bisque

Almond lemon cake with vanilla crème, cranberry compote and tangerine tarragon sorbet

Now, in deeply Michelin star territory, a throwback diner, Minetta Tavern, in Greewich Village sells a $28 Black Label Burger said to be made from a dry-aged striploin. It is drenched with disintegrating caramelized onion act like a potent steak sauce. The result is a messy, flavour-packed delight.

Latkes $22

with poached eggs, smoked salmon and dill hollandaise

Black Label Burger $26

selection of prime dry-aged beef cuts with caramelized onions

and pommes frites

Another foodie hotspot in Manhattan is near Columbus circle. An offshoot of three-Michelin-star restaurant Jean-George is Nougatine, where a three-course lunch is only $32. It is a fine restaurant in the Trump building in the French style. Its staple status is defined by the tuna tartare, an Asian miso with perfectly balanced sour and spice. Or the crispy calamari dipped in light foam.

$32

FRIED CALAMARI

Basil Salt, Citrus-Chili Dip

VEAL MILANESE

with Parmesan, Escarole and Lemon

Warm Flourless Chocolate Cake

Not far away, the hot two-Michelin-star Marea. Its Italian edginess (and its bad wines) probably means it has hit its ceiling on stars. A last minute walk-in reservation granted us a hard-earned table deep into the night. The menu was a $99 prix-fixe, largely in line with the market-price for such a meal. To start, lobster on heavenly burrata and perky crudo. Then chewy, wavy, al dente risotto with pockets of tomato burst. On the other side, some octopus pasta in bone marrow tomato sauce without the usual tomato punch. For mains, four gargantuan scallops on Brussels sprouts, potato purée and hazelnuts and a swordfish that tasted like really good chicken. Finally, some desserts that, like the rest of meal, is done well but uninventive.

$99

ASSAGGIO DI TRE 27 (pf supp $8)

tasting of three crudo

ASTICE 25 (pf supp $7)

nova scotia lobster, burrata, eggplant al

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funghetto, basil

(Risotto) MARE 33

lobster, halibut ­n, sea urchin

FUSILLI 32

red wine braised octopus, bone marrow

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PESCE SPADA 41

grilled sword­sh, roasted sunchoke, salsify,

hen of the woods, trout roe, capers

CAPESANTE 41

seared sea scallops, potato puree, fried chickpea,

brussels sprouts, golden raisins, pickled mustard

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SEMIFREDDO DI NOCCIOLA 14

piedmont hazelnut, dark chocolate, grapefruit, anise mascarpone

BOMBOLONI 13

doughnuts, rosemary, chocolate sauce, spiced honey

NoMad.

If the stars in the city form a constellation, then NoMad is unfortunately a dim one in the background. But it is vying for more, as unsmiling waiters crank up the pretention. The ris de veau to begin is a delicate object, itself unspectacular but spectacularly accentuated in texture (by the chips) and taste (by the jam). A plate like this can easily turn overbearing and messy, but the proportions are quite perfect. Next, a perfectly cooked pork loin, thickly sliced, takes centre stage among pear and cabbage. Finally, milk and caramel come together for an intense, if too sweet, combination.

SWEETBREADS

GLAZED WITH QUINCE, SUNCHOKES & WILD RICE

23

FOIE GRAS

SMOKED TERRINE WITH APPLE, SUNFLOWER SEEDS & THYME

26

SUCKLING PIG

CONFIT WITH PEARS, CABBAGE & MUSTARD

35

MILK & HONEY

SHORTBREAD, BRITTLE & ICE CREAM

13