Luce is the restaurant in the new Intercontinental Hotel on Howard at Fifth Street. Let’s just get this out of the way: it’s a terrible location. But don’t let that stop you from going to this restaurant; we had...

the 5th dinner never shows. As the 4 lucky diners finish their meal the fifth dinner shows up – we immediately send back to the kitchen to be wrapped to go. Lots of apologies, no charge for the dinner that showed up late and...

, and no harm would come from it. However, it sounds like the wine was oxidyzed from a faulty cork. I find metallic elements in non-fortified wines with heavy oxydation. What was the color of the wine – brick, brownish red?...

On the Upper East Side – I love the coffee at Via Quadronno, on 73rd between Madison & Fifth. The cappucino is incredible.

in France, along the way learning from such legends as Alain Ducasse, Jacques Maximin, Guy Savoy, and Alain Senderens. Gras left Pea Alley in 2001, moving across the country to San Francisco to assume the position of Executive...

these responses there were 60 different restaurants voted for. The scoring allotted 5 points for a first place vote, 4 for a second place vote, 3 for a third place vote, 2 for a fourth place vote and one for a fifth place vote....

with market-freshness. The taste of the food, from amuse bouche to mignardises, were utterly sublime and exquisite. One element which really stands out, I thought,was how diligently David Lee uses his complex and refined sauces...

How “not fancy” are they looking to go? SBC is one possible choice, but entrees are in the $16-23 range. There are some Asian fusion elements to the food (wasabi aioli with the softshells) but it will not register...

I went to AOC recently with a largish party. It was my fourth or fifth visit. I have always had wonderful service at this place. While overall, I continue to highly recommend this place, I did have one previous visit where I felt...

and a kind of curdled mango sauce to the side. No sooner had I inquired whether all the dishes were to be fish when the fifth dish arrived and turned out to be slices of duck breast, with wild rice topped by something called a...

, the more I see the element of texture popping up. Served on the side of both the rice paper and the chicken were small but adequate piles of addictive pickled radishes and carrots. A few were even cut in a fancy flat flower...

're in the Hudson Valley if it weren’t for the trash and heavily scaffolded bridge to the immediate east, though the unsightly elements are easily ignored. A veggie burger for six bucks was fine for what it was, and my dad...

night crowd) until you feel like you’re in an East London imam’s convention by 11:15pm. I walked into this meeting watching The Fifth Element quite attentatively before finding myself in front of a wonderful glass...

My directions, by the way, assume that Figueroa runs north-and-south, which isn’t quite true. Also, under no circumstances should you walk on or near Fifth Street to the east of Broadway. Everyplace else downtown is...

For about the fifth time this year, I have wasted money on mealy peaches at my local farmer’s market (Union Square in NYC). Few days ago I spent $3. pound, a total of $4 for 4 peaches. Cut into one only to find it mealy and...