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| Atlantic Grill |
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Location: 1341 Third Ave. @ 77th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $25
Hours: Mon-Fri, 11:30am-11pm; Sat, 11:30am-11:30pm; Sun, 10:30am-11pm
This place is as Upper East Side as a jitney ride to Wainscott. Yet it also has a try-anything-once attitude toward seafood: Hey, buddy, we got a pan-Asian sushi bar, a wood-burning grill, a big lobster pot. Tell us what you want, and it?s yours. On an avenue where the restaurants are as hard to tell apart as the clientele?s khakis, Atlantic Grill?s adroitness is more than a drop in the ocean. ? Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld |
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| Blue Fin |
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Location: W Hotel Times Square 1567 Broadway @ 47th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $26
Hours: Sun-Mon, 7am-midnight; Tue-Wed, 7am-12:30am; Thu-Sat, 7am-1am
It takes guts to open a restaurant in Times Square that lacks a theme or strives to be classier than a carnival. Granted, Blue Fin offers an audacious voyeur's paradise in its soaring staircase that rises alongside a suspended abstract sculpture of a school of fish. But Steve Hanson is too masterly a crowd-pleaser to make a flight of fancy-clad diners the main attraction. He's created a 400-seat seafood-centric restaurant, unstinting in sophistication and skill, that will have you fighting your way across tourist-thronged Duffy Square in order to indulge in sushi offerings that match those of most any of the city's touted temples of spicy toro. But, memorable as these morsels are, you'd be a fool to forgo the other side of the menu, where chef Eric Woods equally rewards your perseverance with saut?ed black bass in an evanescent pool of chiv
e nage with a lush shrimp pumpkin and chanterelle risotto. Unless you have tickets to The Producers or Hairspray, Blue Fin may be the most satisfying way to give your regards to Broadway. ? Hal Rubenstein
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| Dos Caminos |
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Location: 3 Locations
Park Ave: 373 Park Ave. South @ 27th.
Third Ave: 825 Third Ave. @ 50th.
Soho: 475 West Broadway @ Houston
Hours: Mon, noon-11pm; Tue-Thu, noon-midnight; Fri, noon-12:30am; Sat, 11:30am-12:30am; Sun, 11:30am-11pm
Price Range: Entree's start at $20
These high-concept Mexican spots are the festive links in Stephen Hanson?s B.R. Guest chain. Stylized South-of-the-Border food created by chef Ivy Stark and flavorful margaritas (sage and plum, anyone?) appeal both to after-work hordes and weekend tourist throngs. Though the dining rooms at the massive midtown outlets and the relatively diminutive Soho location make token gestures at Mexican themes ? wooden crosses, carved wall panels ? sleek latticed walls and mood lighting are more hotel lounge than hacienda. With big mortars of guacamole made fresh tableside and those tasty cocktails (plus more than 100 tequilas), meals can be an afterthought for some patrons. It follows suit that the most satisfying orders are hearty appetizers like generously-stuffed plantain empanadas. Entrees can be poorly executed. Dryish chicken-filled enchiladas drown in mole and tomatillo sauces, and organic salmon sinks in a bowl of too-sweet pineapple salsa. The later you arrive, the louder Dos Caminos gets. If you?re not with a large group to join in the revelry, it's possible to request a quieter section. At the Park Avenue branch, the Alcove overlooks a large picture window; on Third, loft-like areas called Cielos are set above the main room, and you can just stay inside in Soho. Downtown's party is on the heated patio. ? Michael Kaminer |
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| Isabella's |
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Location: 359 Columbas Ave. @ 77th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $15
Hours: 11:00 AM - 10:30 PM
Isabella's is about as see-and-be-seen as the relatively unpretentious Upper West Side gets. The airy bi-level space is perfect for people watching, as is the patio, where diners overlook the Museum of Natural History while picking at dishes from a Mediterranean-tinged menu. Filling homemade pastas, like the seasonal dessert-y pumpkin ravioli in brown butter sauce, and lighter fare, but skip the talked-up but ultimately mediocre brunch if you?re hungry for more than an eyeful. ? Gabriella Gershenson
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| Ocean Grill |
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Location: 384 Columbus Ave. @ 78th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $20
Hours: 11:00 AM-11:00 PM
A sister of the Blue Water and Atlantic Grills, this sizeable Upper West Side restaurant is often bustling with a glossy, somewhat older crowd packed tightly into compartmental dining rooms. The service is almost startlingly friendly, and the salt-topped table rolls will have you feeling satisfied before real food even arrives. It?s not hard to see why the place is so popular: Most dishes are prepared simply and well. Plus, the 20-plus oyster selection is fun to read even if you don?t like the slippery devils. ? Christina Nunez |
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| Ruby Foo's |
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Location: 2 Locations
Times Square: 1626 Broadway @ 49th.
Uptown: 2182 Braodway @ 77th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $20
Hours:
Theatrical d?cor (in what might be Auntie Mame's duplex during her high mah-jongg period) and imaginative (and very good) cuisine make these cavernous spaces pre-theater favorites both in Times Square and near the Beacon Theater. Culinary emperor Steve Hanson woos kids with his dim sum assortment of noodles, sushi, spare ribs, and other Pan-Asian favorites?plus a PB&J roll. Request a table with a lazy Susan and eat family-style. And regardless of where you sit, you have to walk down the Mamescent staircase at least once. Screaming "Live! Live! Live!" is optional. ? Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld |
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| Vento Trattoria |
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Location: 675 Hudsob Street @ 14th.
Price Range: Entree's start at $10
Hours: Mon, noon-10pm; Tue-Thu, noon-11pm; Fri, noon-midnight; Sat, 11am-midnight; Sun, 11am-10pm
Stephen Hanson's trilevel spinoff of his Soho restaurant Fiamma shares an executive chef and a culinary concept (rustic but refined Italian
) with the mothership, but adds a subterranean twist of its own: Level V, a lounge with private alcoves where horse stables once were. The menu ranges from braised veal trotters to wood-fired pizzas, whole fish, seasonal pastas, and crowd-pleasing desserts like zeppole. ? Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld
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