Located in several classy-looking rooms on the ground floor of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, with sterling views of Columbus Circle, it's actually two restaurants in one: formal Jean-Georges and casual, cafe-style Nougatine, which has offered a $24 prix-fixe lunch for more than a decade.
But now you can get the lunch deal in Jean-Georges, too, as well as a four-course dinner (from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m.) for $35, which is about as cheap as a meal comes at a Michelin three-star restaurant.
Apart from price, the beauty of a Jean-Georges prix fixe is the abundance of choices -- about a dozen at lunch, all on the small side but filling in their complexity. My selections: tuna tartare with avocado, spicy radish and ginger marinade; steamed skate on spaghetti squash; and warm, oozing chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream. Then coffee, which comes with homemade marshmallows. Of course, you must make reservations for a culinary experience like this.
And remember, if the service pleases, your waiter deserves a tip based on a full-price meal.
Keeping these things in mind, eat your way from the Battery to the Bronx, as I did. Here are some of my top choices:
Cafe des Artistes, 1 W. 67th St., (212) 877-3500, www.cafenyc.com, has a year-round prix-fixe menu with seasonally changing selections, including a starter, entree and dessert for $35, not including tax and tip. The frothy decor, starring murals by Howard Chandler Christy painted in the '30s and '40s, is free; alas, not so the delightful house aperitif made of Champagne and Poire William (sweet pear liqueur).
Daniel, 60 E. 65th St., (212) 288-0033, www.danielnyc.com, has been for ages one of the top Michelin-starred spots for eating French here. It's on the Upper East Side, close to the Carlyle Hotel, and is the home of a gourmet restaurant chain masterminded by chef Daniel Boulud. At Daniel he offers a $98 three-course early dinner menu (5:30 to 6:30 p.m.) that includes specially selected wines.
Devi, 8 E. 18th St., (212) 691-1300, www.devinyc.com, is a cool downtown spot decorated like a Rajasthan palace, where chef-owners Hemant Mathur and Suvir Saran rewrote the book about going out for Indian in the Big Apple. The $25 three-course lunch includes such choices as salmon-crab cakes, lamb-stuffed tandoori chicken and mango panna cotta.
