Daniel

Chef Boulud started cooking at fourteen and still lights up behind the stoves of his Upper East Side room, which has been the place for big deals and bigger occasions since 1993. He trained under a who's-who of French legends and brought that elegant, old-world style to New York whole — updated classics with his thumbprint on every one. If you can swing it, the Canard à la Presse is a genuine bit of theater (you order it a day ahead, they roast the duck and press the juices tableside for the sauce), but there are prix-fixe and vegetarian routes too if you'd rather keep it simpler. One Michelin star and a longtime World's 50 Best name. The kind of grand New York night that doesn't really exist anywhere else.