NYC
Spent some time recently in NYC and hit the following -
Gabriel Kreuther (Dinner - lounge)
Nice, comfortable bar area of the restaurant. A la carte menu had a variety of good choices - we had the bacon tarte flambee, jamon iberico, and country sausage. Service was fine, they brought out the wrong tarte flambee at first, but quickly fixed the error. Solid, but unmemorable
Le Bernardin (Lunch)
I think I was at the exact same table as last time - towards the back along the big ocean picture. We both went for the prix fixe menu. I had the tuna and foie gras to start and the skate for my main. Service was again just fine, but the sommelier wasn't great - I asked for a recommendation of a white Burg or German Riesling and he immediately tried to steer me towards some Portuguese whites or a single Austrian Riesling, which I found really odd since I asked for neither of those and specifically said I have had a lot of Austrian wine recently... Overall, pretty solid
Marea (Dinner)
The surprise of the trip. We split three pasta dishes - fusilli with octopus and bone marrow, gnocchetti with shrimp, and casarecce with crab, along with a side dish of arugula. Really great food, and definitely exceeded my expectations. They've also reached out twice since, thanking me for dining - which I thought was nice.
Daniel (Dinner)
It's been nearly ten years since I was last here - we had the four course prix fixe and it was very nice. I had the foie gras, white asparagus, sweetbreads, and dessert. Surprisingly approachable wine list as well. Much better than I remembered. Plus a great cheese cart...
Overall, Marea and Daniel were the standouts, with Marea really surprising. Le Bernardin still seems to be the place for business lunches and not much else - it seemed a bit cold. Gabriel Kreuther was fine, really just unmemorable.
I can attach some pics if someone wants them.