Four Twenty Five, NYC

Four Twenty Five opened in early December 2023, in the new office tower at 425 Park Avenue.  Linda and I went for dinner on March 5, 2024.

Jupiter, NYC

Jupiter is on the skating rink level of Rockefeller Center.  It is a big space and can seat 140 diners.  Linda and I went for dinner on February 28, 2024.

Soledad, NYC

Soledad was opened on January 18, 2024, by Chef Julian Medina. He named the restaurant after his grandmother, Soledad Diaz, as a tribute to the dishes she cooked in Michoacan, Mexico. Much of the menu comes from her handwritten 1950s recipe book, although Medina has put some modern twists on these dishes. Linda and I went to Soledad for dinner on February 26, 2024.

Café Boulud, NYC 5

Café Boulud was opened more than 100 years ago by Daniel Boulud’s great-grandparents on their family farm outside of Lyon. It opened in New York in 1998. We had dined there many times before the Surrey Hotel, where it was located, closed in 2021. Its reopening was delayed due to Covid until December 15, 2023, in the Park Avenue site of the former Vaucluse and Perigord Park. Linda and I went for dinner on February 19, 2024.

Amarena, NYC

Amarena was opened on February 8, 2024, by chef Julian Medina, who now has twelve restaurants. The others are all Latin American, but Amarena features Italian cuisine. It is in the former Upper East Side spot of Simone, and Girasole before that. Linda and I went for dinner on February 17, 2024.

Al Badawi, NYC

Al Badawi has been a successful restaurant in Brooklyn for some time. It recently opened a second restaurant on the Upper East Side. Linda and I went for dinner on February 12, 2024.

Le Pavillon, NYC 3

Kristin joined Linda and me for dinner at Le Pavillon on December 23, 2023.

Eli’s Table, NYC

Eli’s Table, originally opened in 2003 inside Eli’s Market, our favorite specialty grocery store. Eli’s Table closed for three years during the pandemic, reopening in March 2023. Bill, Linda and I went for dinner on September 18, 2023.

Sushi Noz, NYC 4

Linda and I returned to Sushi Noz for dinner on July 5, 2023. We were seated in the middle of the Hinoki counter with a good view of everything. We were surprised to see that Sous-chef JT, normally in charge of the Ash Room, would be our sous-chef this evening. We ordered two small draft beers to quench our thirst.

Tempura Matsui, NYC 6

Linda and I returned to Tempura Matsui for dinner on June 23, 2023. We were seated at the end of the counter with a good view of the chefs and preparations. The glass that was dividing the area during our meal sixteen months before was gone. We ordered a glass of draft Sapporo beer to share and quench our thirst.

Daniel, NYC 6

Linda and I dined at Daniel twice in 2019 and thought it was excellent all around: cuisine, service and ambiance. Near the end of the pandemic we went once to the temporary dining room they had set up on the sidewalk outside. But now Daniel has reopened with some remodeling to the main dining room, including, unfortunately, the addition of music speakers. We returned for dinner on March 2, 2023.

Piccolo Cucina Uptown, NYC

Piccolo Cucina Uptown, was opened in 2019 by Sicilian chef Philip Guardione, who had built up a group of Piccola Cucina restaurants in lower Manhattan and elsewhere. Kristin joined Linda and me there for dinner on February 21, 2023. We had reserved a table inside, but when we realized its noise level was so high in its narrow, brick-lined space, we asked to be moved to the outside tent, a holdover from the pandemic closings. This turned out to be a quieter ambiance.

Le Jardinier, NYC 2

Le Jardinier opened in May of 2019.  It had to close for two years because of the pandemic and reopened in September 2022 with chef Alain Verzeroli still in charge. Judith joined Linda and me there for dinner on January 26, 2023.

Monterey, NYC

Monterey, which calls itself an “American Brasserie,” opened in the heart of midtown in October 2022. Linda and I went for dinner on January 19, 2023.

Christmas lunch at The Grill, NYC

On Christmas Day 2022 Barbara joined Linda and me for lunch at The Grill in the Seagrams Building, the only landmarked dining room in America.  A special holiday meal was being served for the occasion.

Mifune, NYC 3

Linda and I enjoyed our meal at Mifune five years ago shortly after it opened. We also enjoyed its delivery meal that we ordered during the pandemic restaurant closures. So we responded right away to their email notice for a Special Chef’s Counter Dinner by Executive Chef Tomohiro Urata on Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Mifune is closed on Tuesdays so the nine of us at the counter had the chef and kitchen for ourselves.

The Central Park Boathouse, NYC

The Central Park Boathouse is on the lake in the middle of Central Park. Linda and I joined Kim and Jim at its restaurant for dinner on August 23, 2022. 

Sushi Noz, NYC 3

Linda and I returned to Sushi Noz for dinner on August 8, 2022, after a three-year absence. The two rooms, which used to have different menus, now have the same ones, but the sous-chef presides in the six-seat Ash Room, while chef Nozomu Abe continues at the eight-seat Hinoki Counter.

Sistina, NYC

After spending 33 years on Second Avenue, Sistina has recently relocated to a townhouse on 81st Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues and so is near us. Giuseppe Bruno, Sistina’s owner, Executive Chef and Sommelier, believes in fresh comfort food which is the wisdom of his Salerno ancestors from Southern Italy. Judith joined Linda and me there for dinner on July 25, 2022.

Aquavit, NYC 11

Linda and I returned to Aquavit for dinner on July 8, 2022, with Russell.

Caravaggio, NYC

Caravaggio opened in 2009 on East 74th Street at Madison Avenue. Judith joined Linda and me there for dinner on March 30, 2022. We were seated with a view of the big springtime floral arrangement.

Hiramasa, NYC

Hiramasa opened last fall a few blocks north of our apartment. Jim joined Linda and me for dinner there on March 19, 2022. We were seated at a table in the building they had put up on the sidewalk to comply with pandemic regulations. It was supposed to be temporary, but seems permanent. 

Le Pavillon, NYC 2

Rob and Janet joined Linda and me for lunch at Le Pavillon on March 10, 2022. We were seated next to the window with a view down onto 42nd Street.

The Grill, NYC 2

The Grill describes itself as “a historically based American chophouse set in midcentury New York.”  It occupies half of the venerable space in the Seagram Building that was The Four Seasons from 1959 to 2016.  Judith joined Linda and me for dinner there on March 3, 2022.

Tempura Matsui, NYC 5

Linda and I returned to Tempura Matsui for dinner on February16, 2022. We were seated at the center of the counter in front of Chef Kiyoshi Chikano and his Nepalese sous-chef.

Daniel, NYC 5

Daniel Boulud has long been a highly-regarded celebrity chef in New York. He has various restaurants, including his flagship, Daniel, which is still closed indoors for the pandemic. We have dined well there several times. We enjoyed his cuisine during the lockdown a year ago, on June 16, 2020, through delivery from Boulud Kitchen. His most recent venture is the new mid-town restaurant, Le Pavillon, where we dined on July 10, 2021.

He has set up tables on the sidewalk and in cabanas along East 65th Street in front of Daniel. The menu has a photo of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where we live almost half of the year. The website says:

“Chef Daniel and his culinary team have curated a new menu featuring the flavors of Provence. ‘Boulud Sur Mer’ transports guests to the South of France . This menu is currently being served on The Terrace at Daniel.”

 Russell joined Linda and me there for dinner on August 24, 2021. We were seated in one of the cabanas (behind the curtain on the left.)

Avra Madison, NYC

Avra Madison is a 300-seat Greek restaurant between Madison and Fifth Avenues on 60^th Street. Jim and Kim invited Linda and me there for dinner on August 1, 2021. The large dining room was almost full, including many tables of Greek families enjoying a Sunday meal.

Aquavit, NYC 10

Linda and I returned to Aquavit with Maggie, Becky and Chuck on July 31, 2021 to celebrate Maggie’s 18^th birthday and her recent graduation from high school. We were seated at a round front corner table with views out to 53^rd Street and back to the glassed-in kitchen.

Le Pavillon, NYC

Le Pavillon was a New York City restaurant that defined French food in the United States from 1941 to 1966. The restaurant started as the Le Restaurant du Pavillon de France at the1939 New York World’s Fair run by Henri Soulé. When World War II began, Soulé and the Pavillon chef Pierre Franey stayed in the United States as war refugees. Their restaurant opened on October 15, 1941, at 5 East 55th Street. (I had a memorable meal there with my father and brother in 1965.) Now Daniel Boulud has used the name for his new restaurant in the just-built Vanderbilt Building next to Grand Central Station. Linda and I went for dinner with Jim and Kim on July 10, 2021.  

Aquavit, NYC 9

Aquavit is a favorite restaurant of ours. It features excellent Swedish-themed cuisine and has a spacious, quiet ambiance. On June 23, 2020, during our Covid confinement, we ordered for delivery to our apartment a Full Smörgåsbord for Two. We knew that this would be too much, but assumed correctly that some of it could be saved for the following night.