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That First Dinner, Conde Nast Traveller (UK) October 2007
THAT FIRST DINNER
At 7pm we were suffering the onset of jet lag, but as it was too early to sleep we needed a restaurant that would fulfil two criteria: a good wine list to ensure a good night's sleep; and a location not too far from our hotel bedroom. |
Staying at the Flatotel on West 52nd Street (which has good-sized rooms, good plumbing and good rates), we were pointed in the direction of the 21 Club, only two blocks away. This New York institution has ollly one drawback for men: it still stipulates a jacket and tie. But once you have overcome that, the restaurant delivers a very particular experience. When you are seated in the dimly lit dining room watching every man walking in wearing an outfit, it makes you think you are on the set of one of those classic black-and-white American TV series from the 1950s.
With the restaurant's history as a speakeasy in the Prohibition era, it is no surprise that its cocktails are excellent and its wine list extensive. Chef John Greeley's food encompasses all the comforting dishes one could ask for: crab cakes. risotto, braised short ribs and '21 Classics' such as creamy chicken hash, Caesar salad and the '21' burger. But the stars of the show were the initially lugubrious maitre d's in their dinner jackets. who quickly turned on the charm and treated our daughters like royalty. Ours, it transpired was Turkish by birth and had spent 23 years running a restaurant in Harrogate, Yorkshire. |
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(212) 582 7200 
