New York City Restaurants

Opaque presents Dining in the Dark for the first time in NYC with The Breslin Bar & Dining Room at the Ace Hotel. Prepare for a dining experience unlike any other. Opaque, one of the first dark dining restaurants, invites patrons’ taste buds to guide the way as they peruse soft and potent flavors in the pitch-black dining room. Aided by visually impaired servers, customers spend the evening immersed in darkness, stimulating the other four senses with conversations with dining companions, navigating the table settings with curious fingers, inhaling exotic aromas and savoring every individual flavor in a way that they never have before. Reservations are required for this New York dark dining experience.

It's hard to imagine New York, or New York society, without the venerable "21" club. Business tycoons, movie stars and ladies-who-lunch have packed this charming and historic townhouse since its early days as a speakeasy. The food is excellent and quintessentially American, if priced for the penthouse crowd.

This bustling midtown restaurant, just blocks from the Empire State Building, boasts more than 200 varieties of cheese, though the fromage is just the starting (or, perhaps, ending) point of the wildly popular new dining experience. Seafood and vegetable dishes dominate the menu, but its widely applauded variety of game, fowl and beef are nothing to sneeze at. Artisanal's wine list is exceptional and tops the lists of food critics and patrons the city over.

This New York Japanese restaurant is refreshingly minimal in décor, yet excitingly inventive on the plate. Along with Nobu (from which BondSt's chefs originally hailed), BondSt serves the best and freshest sushi in New York. Models, financiers and fish aficionados all flock to the perennially hip establishment to dine on sashimi and other Asian-inspired, minimalist dishes.

Classic Italian country fare, dense as all hell, may go against the dietary restrictions of carb-restricted Chelsea denizens, but Bottino has nevertheless drawn in the gallery-hopping crowd since its unveiling. The mahogany interior provides a relaxed setting for a casual lunch or romantic supper. On warmer days, patrons enjoy a few glasses of wine with antipasti while reveling in Bottino's gorgeous patio garden.

While Brasserie (in both its old and new incarnations) is well known on the after-party circuit as a fantastic late night dining staple, even brunch at this space-pop modern dining room is cause for celebration. The French inspired comfort food (quiches, duck cassoulet, onion soup) and the active bar scene make it a perfect fit for the foodie looking for a taste of New York hip.

Every bit as stylish as its famous eastside cousin (see Brasserie), Brasserie 8 1/2 takes a slightly more American approach to its menu, pairing butternut squash with chorizo and braised veal cheeks with a wild mushroom tortellini. A grand pumpkin-colored stairway descends to the lounge and restaurant below for a grand Hollywood entrance.

B. Smith is the Martha Stewart of Soul Food, in part due to the former's syndicated hit show "B. Smith with Style." But the multi-mediated Martha hasn't managed to open her own restaurant, let alone master the art of centuries of African-American cuisine. B. Smith takes her upscale yet down-home recipes and adds an Asian flair that has become the (shrimp) toast of the New York, both up and down town.

Craving a chilled spring pea soup? How about roasted scallops with quail eggs...or, perhaps, a goat cheese Napoleon with caramelized quince? Star chef Daniel Boulud has our tastebuds shaking again at his this-side-of-the-Atlantic regeneration of his fourth-generation Lyon, France Boulud family café. It is quaint, homey, yet utterly amazing.

With a host of internationally known performers who make Café Carlyle their home base, diners come for the cabaret entertainment (Bobby Short, Woody Allen, Eartha Kitt, to name a few) but end up coming back for the first rate cuisine. In a nation of copycats, no supper club comes close to matching Café Carlyle's combination of star wattage and stellar food.

Café des Artistes originally served the needs of those actual artists who made this block home in the early part of the twentieth century. Today, this artistic café continues its tradition of offering market fresh ingredients in an uncomplicated, bistro manner. Murals of playful wood nymphs by famed illustrator Howard Chandler Christy decorate the venerable institution, which now serves a different variety of artiste -- the Hollywood legend (Kathleen Turner and Paul Newman are two of many who have regular tables here). Just blocks away from Lincoln Center and the theater district, Café des Artistes is high-caliber French comfort food in an intimate and colorful setting.

Chef Daniel Boulud is a New York culinary superstar with impeccable credentials. Before opening his eponymous restaurant in the late 90s, he was head chef at the original Le Cirque. With Daniel, Boulud has added another crown jewel to New York's culinary tiara. The French-peasant food that serves as the menu's base is elevated to decadent, haute proportions. The jacket-required interior is every bit as sumptuous with world-class crystal and china sparkling on the tables and rich Lyon-inspired décor on the walls.

When celebrity chef Daniel Boulud needed a break from his high-end, formal restaurant (see Restaurant Daniel), he created DB Bistro Moderne. His signature skill with seasonal ingredients continues in a less-formal, friendlier setting, similar to the extremely popular new school Parisian bistros. Be prepared for visually and gastronomically stunning saffron risottos, artichoke soups and lobster salads.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer (formerly of the Union Square Café) takes a light, whimsical approach to the haute American which has rightly made him famous. Meyer favors local ingredients and meats from the Hudson River Valley are favored, but the kitchen also takes its cues from the sea. Patrons are young and fashionable, often loosening the tie after a busy day in the boardroom.

Opened in 1913, the Oyster Bar in historic Grand Central Station attracts everyone from posh Connecticut commuters to tried and true New Yorkers looking for the best on-the-half shell meal in the City. In addition to over two-dozen oyster varieties (flown in fresh daily), the Grand Central Oyster Bar offers a variety of other shellfish delicacies along with substantial champagne and wine lists to best accompany all the delicate creatures.

Michael's, with locations in both New York and Santa Monica, has been serving California cuisine to power brokers and pop stars for over 20 years. The casual yet modern dining experience centers on well-prepared, inventive and borderline health-conscious dishes made from fresh American ingredients. Grilled duck breast and comfit, poached Alaskan salmon and Hudson Valley foie gras are some of the perennial delights of this California and New York mainstay.

Francois Payard, former pastry chef at Restaurant Daniel, opened his own sweetly chic bistro on New York's Upper East Side to crowds of chocolate lovers, but his quiet, unassuming take on French bistro cuisine is just as addictive. Relax in the warm, inviting dining room or take your confections to go.

Brazilian sushi? Has New World cuisine gone crazy? One look at the inventive menu—lobster ceviche marinated in mango and lime juice, seared beef tataki, chocolate tamales—and you'll be eating to the beat. The Japanese roof garden overlooking Fashion Avenue is a perfect place to enjoy Sushi Samba's legendary saketinis and mojitos.

Brazilian sushi? Has New World cuisine gone crazy? One look at the inventive menu with its lobster ceviche marinated in mango and lime juice, the seared beef tataki and chocolate tamales and you'll be eating to the beat.