My mother once called Le Bernardin crying. She told the host that she’d be fired if she couldn’t get her boss a last-minute reservation. She didn’t get fired, but it wasn’t because she got the reservation (she did). It was because she did not really have a boss who wanted to dine at Le Bernardin. What she did have was a fiancé who wanted to take a client for work, but told her it was impossible to get a reservation at the restaurant week of. I do not condone lying to hosts, but I do love when people scheme and charm their way into the things they want.
This is how I imagine my friend, who is an assistant to an important person at a big agency, has to act every day. She always has good celebrity gossip but also has to do things like plan her boss’ dates after work. A month ago, she texted me this:
These are all of the hot, sexy, pre-theater restaurants I told her to send her boss to. They skew expensive (important person at a big agency) and are mostly downtown (as requested), but not so far south that it would be a hassle to get back up to the Theater District. They’re also all easy enough to walk into early or make a reservation at, no crying necessary.
Oh, and if you have a good one to add to the list, throw it in the chat:
Estela has been open for 10 years but somehow still feels kind of like a secret when you’re there. I like how exciting and surprising the food is — the steak tartare is crunchy, the salad is hiding fried bread and cubes of creamy, salty cheese, the chocolate cake is practically pudding. It’s all pretty sexy. Altro Paradiso, also from Ignacio Mattos, is too. It’s much bigger and a little ritzier, but still very romantic. The food — I particularly like their pastas and crunchy, molten arancini — is not just wonderful, but beautiful too.
People sleep on Casa Mono, but the food coming out of the open kitchen is really great, they have an impressive, lengthy wine list and it’s on one of the most quaint corners in the city. Most things on the menu are small but deceivingly rich — hunks of trout roe-topped bone marrow, crunchy cod croquetas, the insanely indulgent soft scrambled eggs with uni and walnuts — but sharing a few with a glass or two of cold, crisp wine in the dark dining room (that is the perfect volume!) is a beautiful pre-theater date.
A dining room that’s almost too dark, red leather booths, crowded bars, plates of red meat and hot, skinny french fries, and glittery crème brûlée is inherently desirable. You can find these at a few places around the city. Of course you could go to Balthazar, but a bar seat at Pastis is much more reliable, and pairs incredibly well with with an order of oysters, escargot and a bar steak. Raf’s is newer than those, and leans more cool, refined French-inspired restaurant than classic French bistro. Still, they serve classics like steak tartare, escargot and côte de boeuf, the dining room is stunning and they serve a luxurious bread basket. Frenchette is probably my favorite of the bunch, though. It’s a little more fun and lavish than the others. It feels the most alive. The duck frites and gnocchi Parisienne are exceptional and their dessert menu is very special.
Minetta Tavern also fits right into this clique. If you don’t make a reservation you won’t get to sit in a big booth in the dark back dining room, but I think walking in for a bar seat right when they open at 5pm would still be a good move in this situation.
I’ll continue to preach the gospel that is a plate of long, creamy panisse tangled with crispy fried sage leaves, eaten in the love seat at King. It’s a gorgeous, golden dining room with a very sexy, shareable menu.
Another very smart move to make in this scenario would be to book an early table at the normally packed I Sodi, which opens at 4:30pm and has a decent amount of availability for that first seating. They moved down the block recently, but the frosted, mirrored windows came with them, so the space is still bright but secluded, and the pasta is as decadent and delicious as it was on Christopher Street.
Personally, I would want to go to a sexy restaurant after the theater. These are the places I’d for a nightcap of cocktails, maybe snacks and definitely dessert:
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