The McKittrick Hotel is known since 2011 as the home of “Sleep No More,” the interactive “Macbeth” in which the audience wanders through rooms in which scenes of the play are enacted. But it also has a rooftop restaurant, Gallow Green, a place of rustic elegance and five-star ambience on Manhattan’s West 27th Street, steps from The High Line.
Sometimes you go to dinner and sometimes you go to an event. Dinner at the Russian Samovar is an event! First, the drama is clear from how this was envisioned by the previous owners, Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and poet Joseph Brodsky. They made it into a place for artists, especially Russian artists.
Where to go before or after a play in New York‘s midtown west that is smart but gives you a choice of snacks or full dinner? It‘s called Rummy‘s Tavern, on West 53rd Street, west of Eighth Avenue. And in good weather you can sit at tables in a back garden!
The James Beard House is an iconic venue of high-end food events. It is run by a foundation that nurtures and honors American chefs. The house on West 12th Street in Greenwich Village hosts culinary masters who present dinners to members and patrons who enjoy very special dishes and paired wines.
The Argentine pampas, their “West,” was settled by English, German, Italian, and Spanish immigrants who became the gauchos, the “cowboys,” who ran the ranches, ran the cattle that made the country world famous for beef. And the Chimichurri Grill, this elegant New York Upper East Side Argentine steakhouse with a glittery Italian crystal chandelier and working Italian marble fireplace, goes back to those roots.
A charming local French bistro. Every neighborhood should have one! This one, Paname, is at Second Avenue and 57th Street. It‘s casual, inviting, with Art Nouveau on the walls. There‘s a 10-foot high ceiling, wood tables with tablecloths, brown leather banquettes and classic wood bistro chairs. Picture windows overlook Second Avenue.
The best food in Key West is at the Latitudes restaurant on Sunset Key. There is a magical feel to this exceptional place which is on a small island you reach via a 6-minute launch ride from a pier at the north of Key West. It is the showpiece of Sunset Key, a resort with bungalows, pool, tennis courts and quiet inviting beach.
Philippe Chow‘s cuisine is delicate, subtle, an infusion of Chinese flavors into an American sensibility. One of the waiters told me, “It‘s Americanized food. It‘s Beijing style, but you won‘t find this in Beijing.” It‘s a sophisticated take on Beijing cuisine.
