There are many fancy restaurants on Manhattan, but Daniel is the best option in New York if you are looking for a traditional luxury dinner wearing your suit and ideally a tie as well. You can expect some of the best contemporary French Cuisine available so prepare yourself for a dinner to remember. The restaurant went through a renovation in the latter half of 2008 and designer Adam Tihany created an environment which is excellent for everyone looking for the most opulent food palace in town.

Chef and Restaurateur Daniel Boulud was born in French Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu outside Lyon in 1955. The Chef started to work in the kitchen professionally when he was a teenager and received his first recognition as a cook already at age 15. Boulud worked with several famous chefs including Georges Blanc, Michel Guérard and Roger Vergé, before he worked a couple of years in Copenhagen and after that moved to United States where he became the private Chef for the European Commission in Washington District of Columbia. But the Chef’s true home became New York where he quickly made success. After a few years he was appointed the Executive Chef of Le Cirque where he became a famous Chef and gave him the opportunity to open up his own eponymous restaurant in 1993 at the 76th Street. The restaurant was moved to the heart of Upper East in 1999 and there is where you will find the restaurant today. Daniel Boulud has become famous after numerous achievements and accolades besides several cookbooks and television shows. To date, there are 13 restaurants within his Dinex Group and more will probably open soon so Daniel Boulud’s vision nowadays spans way outside the walls of his flagship restaurant.

You can expect nothing less than impeccable service from the big team of waiters who take care of you. The 120 seat dining room is always fully booked so obviously the restaurant is very busy which can mean that you have to wait for some time before the next dish arrives. General Manager Pierre Siue looks after the dining room perfectly and Executive Chef Jean François Bruel makes sure that nothing less than brilliant leaves the kitchen. Daniel also offers a great wine cellar with around 2,000 selections from 15 countries. A lot of exclusive grapes from France, but also some of California’s best and rarest gems such as Colgin, Shafer “Hillside Select” and Bryant. Expect nothing less than excellent wine selections by Chef Sommelier Raj Vaidya.

Daniel is anything but an inexpensive restaurant so prepare for a hole in your wallet, but it is worth it. You will have a memorable dinner in a classic luxurious environment which may be too stiff and plain dull for some, but marvelous for others looking for an amazing meal.

Images courtesy of The Dinex Group

Written by Andy