Le Veau d’Or is French for “the golden calf”. Making reservations for 2 for this was incredibly difficult as it gets sniped the moment the reservations come up. Luckily I checked a random time, and I noticed there was some 5:00 PM slots opened on a Wednesday. This is one of the hottest restaurants in the city because it’s a revived restaurant from the Frenchette and Le Rock chef/owners, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr. The food is expected to taste much better than the restaurant’s previous life.

We were out and about in Central Park taking pictures, and we were looking for a place to check out midday. This no-frills Mexican-like restaurant was near where we walked out of Central Park. We were a bit skeptical of this restaurant since the menu was on the smaller side, but we decided to give it a try. We were seated without reservations pretty easily around 1 PM on a Sunday afternoon.

The View was New York City’s iconic revolving restaurant, bar, and lounge, and recently reopened after a 5-year hiatus. It’s located in the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, and it was recently taken over by the Union Square Hospitality Group (known for places like Gramercy Tavern, Manhatta, and The Modern. Reservations were fairly easy to get, and since I was craving for prime rib, I snagged one just to see how it was like. Previously when this was opened, it was a buffet with not-so-great rated food.

We finished watching a matinee of a Broadway show, and we’re running out of desirable early dinner options in the Midtown area. This one was on my list for quite some time as it looked like a restaurant that was a no frills izakaya type restaurant. This restaurant is about 2 doors down from Valerie, a pretty popular Midtown restaurant. We were able to walk in around 4:30 PM on a Saturday without any issues.

We decided Don Don because we’ve really been enjoying Chef Sungchul Shim’s restaurants, including Mari and Gui. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday just a few days ahead, and it was fairly easy. Located very close to Bryant Park, it’s along the way from Valerie, and it can be easily missed. It’s pretty discreet until you take a look at the front window.

Ambiance & Service

Upon entering, it reminded me of when I was in the South Korea malls where they had a ton of little stools and electric BBQs. People would just congregate, drink, and eat a lot of BBQ things. The atmosphere definitely feels like that as the seats are pretty close together, and the crowd noise can get a little loud.

Gui caught my attention because it offered a baked Alaska and prime rib. What I did not realize was that this restaurant had some folks with a track record of good Korean foods. Chef Sung Chul Shim comes from Kochi and Mari. Pastry chef, Sarah Smith, comes from many fine kitchens including Le Bernardin and Le Rock. The reservation was very easy to reserve for a 5:15 PM dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is located on the second floor, but you check in on the first floor.

La Tête d’Or by Daniel is a tribute to timeless flavors and traditions with infusion of French flavors. What attracted me with this restaurant was that chef Daniel Boulud has a pretty decent track record of delivering good refined flavors. We went to Le Gratin previously, and we were very impressed by the taste of everything. As usual because he also holds some type of celebrity status, this restaurant is located in a posh area very close to Eleven Madison. I was able to book a reservation about a week out for 5:30 PM on a Friday night.

Raon is a new Korean tasting restaurant from Chef Soogil Lim and his wife, Sasook Youn. Their other restaurant, Soogil, is located in the East Village, and they’ve wanted to open a more intimate fine dining type of restaurant. One of the key features that attracted me to this was that they would a tasting menu centered around kimchi. When we went to Meju, we simply adored it. So we wanted to see how this would compare because both restaurants emphasize that kimchi is a key part of the experience. I was able to book a 5:00 PM reservation for a Saturday without much issue. I’m assuming it’s because the restaurant is still fairly new. The restaurant is very close to the N/W train off of Lexington and Bloomingdales.

Roscioli has been on my list for a while since the original location of this restaurant is in Rome. This New York City alternative offers a pasta tasting menu, which looked quite interesting and affordable. I was able to book a reservation about a few weeks out for a 6 PM dinner. Keep in mind that the tasting is located downstairs, whereas the normal restaurant is located street level.

Smithereens opened pretty recently in last November, and is from chef Nick Tamburo (Claud) and beverage director Nikita Malhotra (Momofuku Ko). This is a New England-style restaurant focused on fresh seafood and some different types of cocktails. Their wine list is pretty extensive, and they also have some pretty interesting glasses of white wines as well. I was able to book a reservation for 5:30 PM for 2 on a Friday evening about a week in advance. The restaurant is located in the East Village off 9th Ave, and it’s located in half floor basement of a building.