Balthazar

Keith McNally opened Balthazar on April 21, 1997, at 80 Spring Street, in what had been a leather tannery. The house calls it a bustling, romantic brasserie, serving French food from breakfast through supper every day, with brunch on weekends, and the bread and pastries come from its own Balthazar Bakery. When it reopened after the pandemic closure, McNally wrote its personal history for Vanity Fair.

The food is brasserie canon done at scale. The seafood tower, Le Balthazar, arrives in three tiers of oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster and ceviche, and the staff clear it one level at a time. The steak frites is the order. Escargots, too, if someone at the table has not had them in years.

Escargots, too, if someone at the table has not had them in years.

Go for dinner with a plan, or for the first night in town after a flight.

Why it impresses: nearly thirty years on Spring Street, and it still feels like the place to be seen arriving.

Text to ask.