Dining

The holiday season is over but the chilly winter nights remain. Keep up the cheer by dining out and cozying up next to a toasty, warm fireplace.
—Kerri Fortune

By Sascha Brodsky

One of the best Asian restaurants in New York may not be Nobu, that perennial celebrity dining spot, but a Vietnamese place nearby. Mai House is owned by the same people as Nobu and gets less attention but its decisive flavors and warm atmosphere deserve more acclaim.

By Talia Berman

This fall, Park Avenue Restaurant, on the Upper East Side, closed its doors for a three-day whirlwind of renovations: a new menu, a new facade, new interior design—a new restaurant, in fact, called Park Avenue Autumn.

Chefs Prepare Sophisticated Dishes Using Figs

By Sylvie Bigar

Even though the season for fresh figs has come to a close, this sensual fruit finds its way to our table either flown in from warmer climates, or in the form of a small dried pouch fragrant with Mediterranean essence. Savored as a sweetener in Middle Eastern cultures, the fig was an early symbol for peace and prosperity. Why not take your cues from our star chefs and serve them, either as dessert or to add a sweet note to a holiday dish?

By Sylvie Bigar

As the frenetic holiday season begins, a few chefs took time to reminisce about their culinary roots.

Venison in SWITZERLAND

By Talia Berman

To get a table at Blue Ribbon Restaurant in Soho, one must wade through the crowd at the seven-seat bar to the host standing guard in front of a huge round booth in the middle of the room. The leather seat back obscures a view of who sits of this table, but the other diners can catch a glimpse of the people dining luxuriously around this throne of a booth.

Gobble Up Thanksgiving Dinner
If slaving over a turkey for hours in a hot kitchen seems unappealing, turn to one of these caterers or restaurants that will leave you as stuffed as a turkey.—Kerri Fortune

Meet the people who dine on live octopus, snake’s blood
and miso-marinated bull’s penis

I’d told my friends that my favorite local Japanese place served something provocative.

What the Professionals Buy at the Greenmarket

By Sylvie Bigar

It’s a rainy Wednesday morning in October and the only patch of brightness is chef Philippe Bertineau’s slick red rain jacket at the corner of 17th Street and Park Avenue. But then he starts walking towards the Union Square Market and the colors of the fall explode around him.

Beets don’t draw the eye with their round brownish roots, languishing between radish and turnip. But red beets are simple to prepare and take top billing on many of the city’s best menus. — Sylvie Bigar