The scene: the handsome bar area of Daniel, where diners wait for their tables by sipping cocktails, nibbling tasty olive twists and checking out other guests. Emerging from the sumptuous dining room, a well-fed business type in a blue blazer regards those about to enter the inner sanctum. “The stimulus package is working,” he informs us. “Every table is filled.”
Can it be that expensive restaurants in Manhattan, the epicentre of the global financial crisis, have somehow become immune to its economic consequences? Of course not. Top spots are suffering as expense accounts dry up and customers trade down. Some restaurants have responded with specially priced meals or discounts on wine. Even Michelin-starred Daniel has a deal: $98 for a three-course meal, including wine, for diners with a reservation between 5.45pm and 6.30pm.
But my husband Don and I opted to pay $105 for three courses, without wine, at a more civilised hour. We were “comparison dining,” seeing how Daniel – the headquarters of renowned chef Daniel Boulud's six-restaurant empire – stacked up against a recession-friendly $35 meal from another French mega-chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten. We chose his Nougatine, a smart-casual place, because it is as close to Vongerichten's flagship, Jean-Georges, as you can get – they occupy adjoining rooms. It wasn't a fair comparison obviously but it gives people a sense of the range of the options available as many of us tighten our belts.