THE GRILL

"The Show: Pasta A La Presse A splashy, special occasion meal at The Grill is basically just tableside performance after tableside performance. There's an avocado crab louis salad tossed before you, a prime rib trolley circling the dining room, and a baked Alaska that they'll light on fire at least twice. But you should not leave this Midtown East martini lunch institution without coming face-to-face with La Presse, a medieval-looking contraption dating back to 1901. The same server is always in charge, cranking the juice out of a handful of bones with the confidence of someone who does this 40 to 60 times a night. The kitchen then turns those dark, meaty juices into a velvety pasta sauce, for a final product that is downright luxurious." - willa moore, molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah, will hartman

"Major Food Group’s takeover of the landmark Four Seasons space remains a citywide destination for expensive a la carte fine dining — all in the form of a throwback chophouse. In the stunning midcentury room, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, patrons gather for Dover sole, red meat, and martinis, with the same level of glitz and theatrics as the team’s Carbone." - Eater Staff

"If you’re going to spend several hundred dollars on a splashy special occasion dinner, you better get some free bread out of it. At The Grill in Midtown East, it’s a basket with soft pretzel sticks, brown crusty bread, and buttery rolls. Plus a quenelle of chive butter that tastes like scallion cream cheese, if it were the richest kid in school. " - bryan kim, neha talreja, sonal shah, willa moore, will hartman

"This massive, upscale American restaurant in Midtown from the team behind Carbone makes you think of a bygone era when you could drink two martinis and have a slab of prime rib brought to you on a trolley at lunch. You'll pay a good amount of money to eat here, but the experience comes with plenty of space between you and your neighbors. Stop by early on a weeknight, and you might not even have anyone within 15 feet you." - kenny yang

"A disclaimer: yes, this is our steakhouse guide, and this fancy Midtown East restaurant from the team behind Carbone is a steakhouse. But we're going to recommend the prime rib over the steak every single time. Still, if you're looking for a big pink steak with all the steakhouse-adjacent frills—creamed spinach, sub-zero martinis, multiple potato preparations—The Grill is a fantastic choice. Come here for a spontaneously spendy special occasion dinner in the dark wood dining room that’s lit up like a stage, and since you're going to spend regardless, why not order a steak, and also the prime rib. When you really, really think about it, a hard-crusted porterhouse and a soft hunk of prime rib are like two sides of the same coin. " - neha talreja, kenny yang, carina finn koeppicus, bryan kim, willa moore