Daniel or Masa? NYC

[gumpy]

Hey All

I have an opportunity to go to either Masa or Daniel in NYC which would people recommend? I love fine dining, i love trying different types of good food.

 

[Keith009]

Not been to Daniel but Masa is ahhh-MAZING! And very stylish which is a plus.

 

[drron]

Not been to either but when in NYC I highly reccomend having lunch at Le Bernadin.
Le Bernardin . 155 West 51st Street . New York City . 212-554-1515
A 3 hat Michelin restaurant.Seafood.Fantastic combinations of flavours.Great value at $70 for 3 courses.Of course tax and tip on top of that.Chef Eric Rippert regularly comes out of the kitchen to chat with patrons.Booking reccomended as lots of business custom.Last time Jamie Dimon,CEO J P Morgan was at next table.
Anthony Bourdain rates it top restaurant in NYC.We go every time we are there.

 

[GT351]

+1 for Le bernadin

Also 11 Madison Park is not bad

Per se recently scored the highest in S. Pelligrino awards of any NYC restaurant

But Daniel Le bernadin 11 MP all rated highly

GT

 

[Febs]

We got engaged at Daniel last year and had the degustation with matched wines.

Excellent restaurant, with (as you'd expect) amazing attention to detail, but I'd have to be honest and say despite it's then ranking of ~8 in the S.Pellegrino list, I'd rate Quay, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Tetsuya's (though I haven't been for years) above it.

To me, it's a bit like Bilsons. Fantastic food, but no "wow factor". That's no doubt due in part to being fairly traditional (compared to say Per Se, Fat Duck etc.. who are a bit more experimental)...but I wasn't "blown away", which I expect to be at a restaurant like that.

I've actually tried Jean Georges too and found the food had more of that "wow factor", though we only had lunch there.

Very keen to try Per Se (couldn't get a booking last year so went with Daniel instead) - will definitely head there when we return for the Honeymoon.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[gumpy]

No wow factor huh? =(

that was what i was worried about...

hmmm...

i wanted per se... couldn't get it...

 

[Keith009]

Per Se and La Bernadin are both fantastic.

But I found the ambience at La Bernadin a bit too stuffy, old school and haughty for my liking. Per Se has a nicer ambience, and Masa has the trendy feel that I like.

 

[gumpy]

Booked La Bernadin for lunch thanks for the advice people =)

I think it was better to do both La Bernadin and Daniel than to just go to Masa... they wanted 450 a head there... before drinks... like... yeah... nah... I love food but not 1000+ before tip for 2 people...