Big fancy Restaurant Lunch

[Luckylies]

I can go anywhere, and any type of cuisine is good, but I want big fancy and overstuffed. Where to go?

Per Se is booked. Any other suggestions. My window is tomorrow.

[ellenesk]

Daniel

[rozrapp]

Daniel does not serve lunch. Cafe Boulud does. Not a big space, and the decor is sophisticated rather than fancy. However, there are four different menus to choose from (plus a menu of daily specials), and everything is a la carte. You can mix and match as many courses as you wish, which will enable you to leave overstuffed.

Eleven Madison Park does, of course, fit your desire for big (huge, actually) and gorgeous. The a la carte lunch menu has much to choose from. The food's very good, but I do think Cafe Boulud's is superior.

Edited November 20, 2005 by rozrapp (log)

[newguy]

When did Daniel stop serving lunch?

[Bux]

When did Daniel stop serving lunch?

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If I recall correctly, it was after 9/11. In fact I'm sure that was the time.

[mascarpone]

Nougatine or Eleven Madison Park

[daisy17]

Le Bernardin!

[mrs.albanese]

Jean George is a great place for lunch

[cupcakequeen]

Jean George is a great place for lunch

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i second jean george!!!!!!

[Bux]

"Fancy," as perhaps "big" and "overstuffed" as well, suggests Jean Georges more than Nougatine. Of course the window under discussion is now closed, but the subject is still of academic interest. It would be interesting to learn where Luckylies eventually dined.

[Luckylies]

well...I see somebody cares. We went to eleven madison park. They had a prix fix 25 bucks. I have a friend who works there so lucked out with a few glasses of free champagne. The booze was the only good part. While i like EMP for dinner, I found that the brunch was a bit pedestrian. It was the sort of thing that would be perfect for out of town guests (not too expensive, pretty, nice seeming) but I found that there was no care or craftmanship applied to any of the dishes.

We had:

Oysters on the half. nobody died, so they must have been fresh. fine. this cost extra.

Some sort of bacon creme frache puff pastry thing with lardons and onions. This is unfuckupable and it was really good. Cream, Fat, more cream and fat...just fine. I would happily eat this again.

Pork belly. Not soft or sumptous. Chewy, not served hot, sauce all over the plate, served with fingerling potatoes. The potatoes tasted like potato salad. eh.

we also ordered a side of latkes, which were brought without any kind of condiment, and had no noticeable seasoning. lame.

The waiter dissapeared for long periods of time and waited to bring us the bottle of wine we ordered until we were finished with our entrees. didn't want it then. couldnt seem to flag hin down for the check.

The space was pleasant enough. but the whole experiance was wham, bam, thank you ma'am

Can't even remember dessert.

Edited November 24, 2005 by Luckylies (log)

[Daniel]

Sorry about your experience Luckylies.. I have been to EMP a couple of times and find it all a bit dull.. Its close to a showroom I have, and I sometimes take out of town customers there.. I am sitting there picking at my expensive boring dish, while they are still shocked by the space, loving the food.. I hear the bloody mary's are good there..

[Bux]

Pork belly and potato salad sound like a good combination. I haven't been in Eleven Madison Park in quite a while, but used to like lunch there. If nothing else, I like the space by day even more than I do by night. I've always found the service gracious. At dinner, I've generally preferred the appetizers to the main courses. The appetizers have tended to be less ambitious and more successful for that. Main courses often have too much going on to the point where elements started to cancel each other out. Sometimes one less ingredient would have resulted in a better dish. Then again, it's been a while and I don't know that things haven't changed. Bargains on the wine list have also gone a long way to leave me a happy diner. On the other hand, bringing my wine after my food, makes me very cranky.

[bmj]

Next time go to the Noug and get the "$20 holla'"! You'll be calling all your friends!!

Edited November 30, 2005 by bmj (log)