• Cuisine: American
• Vibe: Swanky supper club
• Occasion: Stargazing; see and be seen. Impress your date.
• Don't Miss: Monkey bread, Nora's meatloaf, sticky toffee pudding
• Price: Appetizers, $13; entrees, $25; dessert, $9
• Reservations: Highly recommended
• Phone: (212) 308-2950
• Location: 60 E. 54th St., near Park Ave.

In the lounge, it's Le Cirque in blue jeans.

151 E. 58th St. (between Lexington and Third Aves)
(212) 644-0202
Dinner, Mon.-Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.; lunch, 11:45 a.m.-3 p.m.
CUISINE Modern French
VIBE Elegant institution
OCCASION Business lunch, romantic date, family affair
DON'T-MISS DISHES Tuna with avocado tapenade, duck and green-mango salad, crème brûlée.
AVERAGE PRICE Cafe prix fixe, $35; appetizers/entrées, $17; dessert, $12.
RESERVATIONS Accepted but not necessary.

I wore jeans to Le Cirque. My friend wore jeans and sneakers, and they didn't throw us out.

I felt a little guilty, but no one winced at us. Not even Sirio Maccioni, who still runs the show. What's Le Cirque without Sirio — the man who wrote the playbook on working the dining room and keeping the rich and famous happy?

But these days, Sirio runs the show from a table near the door. Across from Sirio's up-front office is a pop-up bookshop where you can buy a copy of the Le Cirque cookbook, "Sirio: The Story of My Life and Le Cirque" (the English or Italian version), and Barbarba Walter's memoir, "Audition." And just this past December, HBO produced a documentary called "Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven." The DVD can be purchased on Le Cirque's Web site, but the documentary really tells the story of the old Le Cirque.

I ate dinner at a new Le Cirque. It is no longer a restaurant. It's a relic, really, the original, iconic supper club.

Other restaurants have achieved institution status — the Four Seasons, the '21' Club and the Rainbow Room. But none are invulnerable to time and the shifting economy. The '21' Club loosened its tie policy, the Four Seasons swallowed its pride with a $59 anniversary menu, and who knows what's to become of the Rainbow Room.

Then there's Le Cirque. There's still a jacket policy — tie optional — in the dining room, still silver sneeze lids over the plates, tableside theatrics and a $92 prix-fixe menu. And there's still a secret menu that only members know about — Dover sole, pasta primavera, and roasted chicken for two.

About a year ago, the Maccioni family turned the cafe into a lounge where can you kick back in your sneakers and order a glass of wine and mini-cheeseburgers. (There's also a $35 prix-fixe menu.)

Sirio's sons — Mauro and Marco — are the new welcoming committee. And there's young blood in the kitchen too — Craig Hopson, who worked at Picholine and One If by Land, Two If by Sea.

What's so great about the lounge is that you can get so many of the dishes that are also served in the dining room. Those are the ones you want to order.

The best is the tuna — smoky ribbons of sashimi layered with fresh clementine, sesame tuile and an unexpected jolt of avocado tapenade that tastes like fancy guacamole. Another good crossover dish is the sautéed shrimp with cilantro, kaffir lime and carrot confit.

But some of the lounge-only dishes are no slouches. Like the pavé of veal breast — braised, breaded and served with a coffee-cardamom jus, roasted pear and wisp of pecorino. The duck and green-mango salad is a lounge-only dish, too — an excellent mix of duck confit, duck cracklings, puffed rice and shredded mango in a lime vinaigrette.

But how do you mess up fried calamari or chicken paillard or lobster consommé?

Somehow, Hopson manages to, which is odd considering his résumé.

The dessert menu is the same in the dining room and the lounge, but all you need to know is this: Le Cirque makes the best crème brûlée in the city. And the recipe's right there on the dish.

I also love the millefeuille, but skip the pineapple carpaccio with a gritty lemongrass sorbet and the ginger panna cotta.

Oh, by the way, don't try the jeans-and-sneakers bit in the main dining room. It only works in the cafe.

CUISINE: Modern Spanish
VIBE: Buzzing midtown hub
OCCASION: Business lunch; after-work tapas; group dinner
DON'T-MISS DISH: Grilled calamari, pumpkin seed-crusted lamb, suckling pig, Mexican chocolate cake
AVERAGE PRICE: Appetizers, $9; entrees, $28; desserts, $9
RESERVATIONS: Accepted

Josh DeChellis has bounced around a bunch over the past few years. He's what I call a restaurant drifter, a chef with no home.

It all started with the closing of Rocco DiSpirito's Union Pacific.

And you can taste it in his cooking.

The back room is for grownups who want to talk business in a suit and exercise their table manners. And each room gets an appropriate menu. If you want affordable tapas, go to the front room.

If you want a traditional suite of food — appetizer, entree, dessert — go to the back room. And if you want to eat really well, go to the back room. That's where you really sense DeChellis' talents.

Upfront, they sometimes get lost in the hubbub. Here are some of the wonderful dishes I discovered in the back room — maybe 50 yards from the main concourse in Grand Central.

The Cochinillo, or suckling pig: DeChellis takes the whole pig apart, seasons it, braises it, then crisps the skin on the plancha, and puts the whole pig back together on your plate. Then he adds the finishing touches: Marcona almonds, charred brussels sprouts and smoked dates.

The sea scallops tiradito: He slices the - scallops thin as a rose petal, - layers them over sweet onion, lime juice and a sea urchin puree, and waits for them to ceviche themselves. The salt cod croquetas and the calamari a la plancha: Both are traditional Spanish - dishes and both come to life in DeChellis' hands.

The front room is hit-or-miss. The oxtail in the "sopa seca" - think Spanish stew meets casserole - was leather-dry and so were the white beans.

The garlic shrimp cazuelita was nothing more than ordinary. And it wasn't the carrot essence or the seasonings or even the salsify - smart accessories - that spoiled the salmon a la plancha. It was the salmon, overcooked and uninspired.

La Fonda del Sol is an odd oasis in a midtown desert. People love it for what is: a convenient stop on your way to the train or a great escape after work.

For me, it was a great place to rediscover a talented chef.

10 E. 60th St., between Fifth and Madison;
(646) 237-8977;
Open seven days, noon-4:30 p.m., 5:30-10:30 p.m.;
CUISINE: Modern American;
VIBE: Glossy culinary spa;
OCCASION Midtown lunch, business dinner, detox dining;
DON'T MISS DISH: Arctic char, yellowjack crudo, rabbit with chestnut pasta;
PRICE: Appetizers $10, entrees $20, desserts $10;
RESERVATIONS Accepted in downstairs dining room. Different menu in upstairs cafe; both equally good.

There are 393 calories in the rabbit Fleischnacke at Rouge Tomate. The nutritionist counted. How many restaurants do you know that have a nutritionist?

Fleischnacke is German for minced meat rolled in pasta and cooked in a stock. At Rouge Tomate, this means farm-raised, braised rabbit rolled up in chestnut pasta and sautéed in rabbit jus. None of the ingredients requires quotation marks.

There's not a mock anything anywhere in this dish. Those 393 calories also include a celery root purée, roasted celery root, roasted chestnuts, chestnut foam and a salad of apples, celery leaves and tarragon.

And that's one of the more caloric dishes on the menu.

My favorite appetizer - the celery root and almond panna cotta - is only 155 calories. The panna cotta is made with unhomogenized whole milk and topped with lots of peekytoe crab, grapefruit segments and fresh tarragon. The calories matter, but only because the food is so exceptional.

Usually the thought of self-consciously healthy food makes me depressed - so depressed I get the urge to curl up with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.

But I don't feel that way at Rouge Tomate, even though they've replaced most of the fats we associate with haute cuisine. Take butter, cheese and cream away from most chefs and they would throw their hands up in despair. But Jeremy Bearman, chef at Rouge Tomate, has had a few good mentors, including Joel Robuchon and Daniel Boulud.

Here's how it works: Take the lobster à la plancha with green fennel risotto. Usually, what binds a risotto together is butter and cheese. Instead, Bearman uses fennel stock, fennel purée, fennel juice and fennel-fronds purée - the quintessence of fennel. He finishes the dish with sauce Americaine, a brandy-spiked lobster stock with a splash of Pernod. These are robust flavors and you never pine for the absent fats.

Rouge Tomate adheres to an 85-page S.P.E. charter - Latin for Sanitas Per Escam. That means health through food, a phrase that comes from Emmanuel Verstraeten, the founder of the original Rouge Tomate in Brussels. What this really means is sourcing, preparation and enhancement. It's the cult of culinary balance - the balance of taste and nutrition - not a bad cult to be in. But it's bigger than that.

Rouge Tomate may be a prototype for a restaurant of the future - a new way of thinking, a new way of eating, a new way of dining out.

Let me just point out some of the highlights of this wonderful menu: squab and slow-roasted faro salad; Arctic char with smoked sea salt and Asian pear sorbet; and yellowtail amberjack crudo with vanilla salt, a mung bean salad, crispy ginger, kaffir lime and fresh tropical fruit.

There's also dessert, which is where you would really mourn the missing calories. Except you don't here. The chocolate and banana tasting is 272 calories - a chocolate and caramelized banana napoleon, roasted baby banana split and a teacup of rich hot cocoa. James Distefano, the pastry chef, makes a terrific parfait with yogurt, fresh huckleberries, candied lemon and a chamomile crisp. In fact, the only dessert that doesn't work is the Hudson Valley apple soup.

I hope Rouge Tomate is going to be here for a long, long time. Especially if Jeremy Bearman stays in the kitchen.

ADDRESS:2 E. 55th St., at Fifth Ave. (212) 710-2277
DINNER: Mon.-Sat., 5.30 p.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 5.30 p.m.-10 p.m.
CUISINE: Contemporary French
VIBE: Elegant affair
OCCASION: Fine dining, special occasion
DON'T-MISS DISH: Ricotta gnocchi; diver scallops with black truffles; beef tenderloin.
PRICE: Appetizers, $17-29; entrees, $32-49; desserts, $14.
RESERVATIONS: Required.

In recent years, New York has been the thorn in Alain Ducasse's side. An exalted French chef, Ducasse has amassed an empire of Michelin-starred institutions, including Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo and his eponymous restaurant at Plaza Athénée in Paris. While Ducasse has conquered much of the globe, his first two Manhattan ventures resulted in defeat and subsequently closed (Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, Mix).

Yet he seems more determined than ever to win our affections at Adour, his newest restaurant set in the landmark St. Regis Hotel. What was formerly Lespinasse has been transformed into an elegant showcase for haute French cuisine and an exquisite wine selection. The David Rockwell-designed space is flourished with wine armoires, plush burgundy banquettes, and a glass veil that frames the main dining room.

There is an interesting marriage of an old and new world order of dining with the installment of an interactive wine bar and private wine vault where diners can electronically scroll through the 600-bottle wine list. Sensational choices are an Alsatian Pinot Gris and a full-bodied Roussillon, both refreshingly affordable and available by the glass for $13.

But don't be misled. Dining at Adour is an extravagantly pampered affair. Purses get their own pedestals and the service is so flawless it feels like there's a server for every guest. The food gets the same regal treatment as the patrons. Luscious sautéed foie gras is perfectly modulated by a peppery duck jus and al dente lentils. Though Ducasse is famous for his French cooking, his ricotta gnocchi are on a par with some of the finest Italian restaurants in the city. These exuberantly fresh nibbles melt into a sharp arrangement of dried prosciutto, sautéed lettuce and a bright splash of vinegar.

But no dish surpassed a breathtaking entree of creamy diver scallops, embellished with tender slivers of black truffles, shellfish jus and spinach leaves. It was an exemplary composition that achieved more succulent depth than a relentlessly tough pork tenderloin served with a cranberry-stuffed apple, which tasted like a holiday ham gone terribly awry. For every dish that dazzled, there was another that utterly disappointed. On one visit, an unusually juicy beef tenderloin was presented alongside a mushy sea bass draped with manila and razor clams, devoid of their characteristic brininess.

Pale shades of flavor too often emerged from the pedigreed kitchen, helmed by chef Tony Esnault. Foie gras tapioca ravioli deserved a richer broth than its timid sunchoke consommé. And lobster was an altogether weak point on the menu. Both an overworked lobster thermidor and an unrewarding appetizer of chilled Maine lobster seemed to have lost their nerve.

Desserts ran a similar turbulent course of highs and lows. The "thin chocolate leaf layers" - albeit beautiful - were stacked with dull praline mousse. Instead, opt for a fabulous crème brulée smothered in a raspberry sauce, or a "Contemporary Exotic Vacherin" with a zesty layering of lime gelée, mango marmalade and foamy passionfruit emulsion.

Though some may dispute we're no longer up for fussy French affairs in this decidedly casual dining era, New Yorkers will never tire of talent wherever they can find it. But with a world-renowned chef like Ducasse, more dishes should lodge themselves in our memories than they do at Adour.

You have to admire chef Matthew Kenney's unbridled enthusiasm for opening restaurants.  Though Heirloom and Blue/Green Organic Juice Cafe were both unsuccessful, Kenney seems to be making a comeback at Free Foods NYC.   With business partner Peter Schatzberg, Kenney has launched this organic answer to fast food - a quickly burgeoning trend in NYC.  Though this eatery is located in the heart of midtown, the space feels more like a Vermont country store.  Shelves are lined with organic sodas and wicker barrels are stocked with organic chocolates and chips. 

While the container (pictured right) may look like plastic, it's made entirely out of 100% sustainable, corn-based material.  Thus, I was quite skeptical that the food would transcend any "tastes good for healthy food" expectations.  Well, it does.  In fact, the spice-rubbed filet mignon is excellent.  Juicy slivers of filet get wrapped around a sweet caramelized potato, all of which are finished with a tangy caper parsley pesto.  It's offered at the market table, which features a seasonally rotating selection of dishes, including salmon with shitake mushrooms and pomegranate seeds as well as farro pasta with fiery chicken, pancetta and fennel pollen.  Other than Moroccan-spiced carrots that had a slightly medicinal aftertaste, nearly every dish I sampled was tremendously flavorful and 100% organic.  Though Kenney seems to be rediscovering meat and fish, we noticed the vegan raw lasagna he launched at Pure Food & Wine has resurfaced here.

Free Foods NYC also features a soup station with a tasty roasted red pepper soup as well as a large roster of paninis, including a BBQ pork panini.  Skip the gluten free chickpea brownie and grab a chewy macadamia nut blondie spiked with maple sugar. 

Address: 18 West 45th St., btwn. 5th & 6th Aves.
Phone: (212)302-7195
Hours: Mon-Thu, 7a.m.-8p.m., Friday, 7a.m.- 5p.m.
www.freefoodsnyc.com

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
**Don't forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl's Weekly Newsletter**

Address: 44 W. 44th St., between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Phone: (212) 944-8844
Hours: Dinner, Sun.-Thur., 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5:30 p.m.-midnight. Breakfast & lunch service.
Cuisine: Modern American.
Vibe: Yacht adrift.
Occasion: Under-the-radar dinner; hotel dining.
Don't Miss Dish: Sweet onion tart; olive oil poached salmon.
Price: Appetizers, $14-24; entrees, $24-44; desserts, $12-15.
Reservations: Accepted.
Capsule: The nautically themed Brasserie 44 feels like a restaurant adrift in the Royalton Hotel.

A $17.5 million facelift and a newly minted restaurant were meant to reignite the once iconic Royalton Hotel. So where is everybody?

Media moguls once flocked to the Philippe Starck-designed boutique hotel. Its futuristic lobby looked like a runway leading to its restaurant, 44, the city's most fashionable cafeteria. But even the best of trends fall out of fashion.

After a dramatic renovation, the Royalton Hotel's lobby now looks like a plush bachelor pad. Designers Roman and Williams have outfitted it with masculine cowhide-covered lounges and a two-sided gas fireplace.

Stashed at the far rear of the lobby is Brasserie 44. Restaurateur John McDonald (Lever House, Lure Fishbar) has swapped the minimalist trappings in favor of creamy leather banquettes, glossy teak wood and woven rope arches that evoke a yacht-at-sea vibe. Though it feels luxurious and serene, the space appears timid against the swanky backdrop of the lobby.

McDonald has elected chef Scott Ekstrom (Oceana, Daniel) to oversee the modern American menu that ambitiously straddles breakfast, lunch, dinner and room service. Thus, it caters to a broad scope of hotel guests at the sacrifice of excitement.

Like the setting itself, many of the dishes proved timid and lackluster. A steamed black bass barely registered any flavor at all. The dashi broth poured tableside, albeit a lovely gesture, was nearly as tasteless. Room temperature gnocchi neither benefited from a thin saucing of beurre noisette (browned butter) nor an accessory of white asparagus, distinguishable only by texture.

Even a milk-fed poularde (chicken) wasn't particularly juicy or crispy. And though I was fond of its roasted artichoke accompaniment, they certainly didn't warrant a pilgrimage through a lobby that spans a city block.

But Ekstrom's olive oil-poached salmon is worth the trek. The glossy pink fillet sits above stewed leeks on a plate richly painted with dollops of sour cream and caviar vinaigrette.

A sweet onion tart is nearly as delicious. Its flaky crust is flavorfully stacked with caramelized onions, chevre cheese and a shallot confit. There's also a velvety risotto that gets its thickness from an acorn squash puree, and a terrific sunchoke soup topped with smoky bacon and wild mushrooms.

At times Ekstrom's pedigree translates to overworked dishes with underwhelming results. Medallions of lobster were clobbered by maitake mushrooms and artichoke barigoule. Not to mention a fistful of frisee and pea shoots. I felt like I was fishing for lobster in a jungle of greens. The short ribs were tough and curiously topped with a penny-sized dollop of bone marrow, which had to be identified by the server and did nothing to enhance the meat.

But pastry chef Tai Chopping's subtly crunchy chocolate torta, encircled by spicy cardamom foam, makes a seductive case for fuss.

Still, more than half of the tables were vacant on numerous visits. Sequestered deep inside the belly of the hotel, Brasserie 44 is strangely adrift in a veritable abyss. The restaurant was nearly as quiet at breakfast, where I enjoyed Ekstrom's fluffy cornmeal pancakes. But while a captive hotel audience may not wince at an $8 order of homestyle potatoes or a $14 bowl of soup, Manhattan's vast culinary landscape offers too many other exciting and affordable dining options. New Yorkers no longer seem to be taking the bait at the Royalton.

946 Second Ave., near 50th St.
(212) 355-6565
Dinner: Sun.-Wed., 5:30-10 p.m.,
Thu.-Sat., 5:30-midnight.
CUISINE Creative ceviche
VIBE Lively neighborhood haunt
OCCASION Solo flight, casual date
DON'T-MISS DISH Spicy yellowfin tuna; Kona kampachi
PRICES $8-$25
RESERVATIONS No reservations accepted

There are those few precious restaurants you contemplate keeping to yourself. It is a selfish act, though not an unreasonable one, as a way to safeguard tiny haunts harboring gutsy chefs and even gutsier flavors.

Crave Ceviche Bar is one of those rare finds in a part of town better known for its happy hours and expense-account dinners. Candlelight dances about the beachy nook, marked with white paneling, wood floors and exposed brick walls.

Scribbled on a blackboard are not daily specials, but the names of hopeful diners anxious for one of 21 seats. This is the first obstacle. The second is the waiting area, or more precisely, the lack of one. At present, the sidewalk of Second Ave. serves as a makeshift assembly point for Crave-determined diners.

Chef Todd Mitgang (formerly of Kittichai) devotes his undivided attention to ceviche. While this dish tends to lean on its Peruvian and Ecuadoran roots (lemon or lime juice marinades), the menu is unbound to any tradition or country. Instead, Mitgang wanders freely about the globe, drawing inspiration from Asia, Spain and Latin and South America. He marinates everything from salmon to filet mignon in anything from aged sherry vinegar to Worcestershire sauce.

Launch into the spicy yellowfin tuna. What I had dismissed as an overplayed dish is thrillingly reimagined: Velvety mounds of tuna, punched up by threads of toasted nori, arrive on a bed of yucca.

Petals of kona kampachi are hit with a cool blast of yogurt and mint, rounded out with curry-dusted chickpeas. Even a "traditional shrimp ceviche" is blissfully complicated by an interplay of plancha-charred corn, hearts of palm and the salty crunch of chili-spiced popcorn.

Some dishes inevitably overreach. One misstep came at the expense of a beautiful arctic char that would have been better paired with a glass of Champagne than adrift in a sea of it - cloying strawberries bobbing amid the bubbles. A riff on an Israeli salad, consisting of diced cucumbers, tomatoes and tahini sauce, overpowered delicate bits of yellowtail. And tender strands of filet mignon caved under an overwhelming dollop of chimichurri aioli, pickles and manchego cheese.

Address: 137 East 55th St., btwn. 3rd & Lexington Aves.
Phone: 212.755.7055
Cuisine: French-Moroccan
Vibe: Exotic Arabian escape
Scene: Euro crowd
Hours: Dinner, Mon - Sat, 5:30pm- 12am.  Lounge hours, Mon - Fri, 5:30pm - 4AM, Sat. 10pm - 4am. 
Scoop: Multitask - shop while you imbibe in the downstairs store filled with Moroccan wares
Price: Appetizers, $5-11.  Entrees, $22-34.
Reservations: Reservations accepted.
www.azzanyc.com

Ever wonder what happened to Fizz, that members-only supper club & lounge in midtown, which suddenly lifted its exclusionary policy to fill the swanky void within?  Neither did I, but apparently it "fizzled" into the night, not shocking considering the allure of downtown Lotus, Marquee and Stereo.  In its wake, Restaurateur Djamal Zoughbi and his partner Thierry Pomies have ambitiously revamped the space, unveiling French-Moroccan Azza.  Gone are the moneyed namedroppers and impossible Fizz guest lists, replaced by a kindler, gentler Euro-centric crowd. 

If you happen to be in midtown east, Azza merits a visit on aesthetics alone: What could've potentially looked like Epcot's Moroccan Pavillion (yes I've been), manages to eclipse kitschy artifice.  The palatial space is exotically festooned with gold & burgundy accents, vibrant lanterns and pillows, all amassed by Djamal himself on trips to Morocco.  Upon entering Azza, mismatched antique rugs line a lengthy candlelit front hall, draped in shimmering blue tapestries.  Wander left and you'll happen upon the restaurant, but continue down the stairs and you'll find yourself wandering through a subterranean series of moody lounges equipped with hookahs, wireless and a rotating cast of DJ's. 

Naturally, I veered left toward the wireless-free dining room, which was furbished with Gustav Klimt-like wall murals and gilded chairs.  While cuisine tends to be an afterthought at lounges involving DJ booths & dancing, the French-Moroccan menu is so much better than it has to be.  Even more unexpected than the simple, yet polished offerings, is that chef Stephen Ferdinand (Le Zoo & Aquavit) employs only organic ingredients in a flurry of mezze, couscous & tagines.

The best of the offerings are the mezze, liberally sprinkled with fresh mint, lemon, harissa and cinammon.  The seared yellowfin tuna, perfectly rare and tender, packed a laden harissa heat offset by a drizzling of honey.  Well-charred octopus was nicely posed on barely blanched chickpeas with mint, but I was uncharacteristically more taken by a gently sweet, baby carrot salad, crowned with diced mango & fresh dill.  While I usually skip over all things fried when judging the merits of a menu - because almost anything tastes good drenched in hot oil - the fried cigars, rolled in a phyllo dough then stuffed with supremely fresh spinach & melting goat cheese, are not to be missed.  Unfortunately, a heaping bowl of bland & tough falafel is.

If not for the theatrics alone, order a tagine which arrives tableside in traditional clay pots.  A moist tagine chicken came stewing in a blissful puddle of orange flower-perfumed demi glace and dotted with marcona almond-stuffed dates.  We bid adieu to Azza with warm sugar & spice donuts accompanied by a honeyed dipping sauce, a refined take on Dunkin Donut's munchkins.

Limited by not only its midtown locale, but also its clubby vibe, DJ and French Tuesdays, Azza is destined to exist as a Euro-bent nightlife destination that just happens to have good food.

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
**Don't forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl's Weekly Newsletter**

151 E. 58th St., btwn. Lexington & 3rd Aves.
(212)644-0202
Website

TYPE: Modern French
VIBE: Austere elegance
OCCASION: A momentous date or family affair
DON'T MISS DISH: Spaghetti primavera (off the menu)
DON'T BOTHER DISH: Scallops with walnut crumble & cauliflower a la Grenobloise
DRINK SPECIALTY: A lengthy and expensive wine list
PRICE: $90 & up
HOURS: Dinner, Mon-Sat, 5:30pm-11pm, Sun, 5pm-10:30pm; Lunch, Mon-Fri, 11:45pm-2:30pm.
RESERVATIONS: Reservations highly recommended.
DRESS CODE: Jacket required in the main dining room (not the cafe).
RESTAURANT GIRL RATES: 6
FINAL WORD: Stuck in a culinary catch-22 of sorts, Le Cirque seems trapped between a new and old restaurant world order.  As chef Christophe Bellanca throws his hat into the ring, he plays it a little too safe with overly polished, but somewhat uninspired French fare.  Go for the Maccioni family theatrics and coax the "off the menu" classics out of your servers.

On most nights, you'll still find Sirio Maccioni parading around Le Cirque's new digs, which are definitively more tempered than its original space.  Furbished with sky high ceilings, an impressive glass wine tower and wood-paneled walls, the only true allusions to the circus theme are signature monkey accents and a cloth-trimmed ceiling.  But what's most striking about the third incarnation of this legendary haunt is who else you'll find patrolling the front of the new house - Mauro and Marco Maccioni.  There seems to be a changing of the guards as Sirio's sons attempt to usher in a younger dining generation.

On the heels of a two-star review from The New York Times and buzz that the famed institution was perhaps no longer a restaurant force to be reckoned with, chef Pierre Schaedelin has made an exit after eight years in the kitchen.  With the weight of Le Cirque's troops on his shoulders, classically trained chef, Christophe Bellanca, has stepped in to breathe new life into this big top affair.  A French-born chef whose last cooking stint was at L'Orangerie in Los Angeles, Christophe seems well-versed in the art of haute French fare, and therefore, a potentially organic fit with Le Cirque's present regime.   

The menu deftly reflects the internal war to preserve the old order, while simulataneously appealing to a modern palate.  Gone are Schaedelin's most recent, Greenmarket-centric dishes and Kobe cuts, which stand at blatant odds with Le Cirque classics - cote de boeuf, crispy pig's feet, and quenelle de brochet.  Instead, Bellanca replaces many seasonally-focused dishes with restrained updates on French standards, which seem to exist in a culinary no man's land.  He leans on dated preparations: snails en persillade (parsley & garlic), Gremolata style lamb saddle and crustacean bavaroise.  Still, old battles it out against contemporary dishes, like langoustines "a la plancha" and tataki of yellowfin tuna with yuzu and cucumber granite.

The generational conflict seems almost palpable on a Friday night, where Le Cirque veterans and aging socialites dine amidst a sparse scattering of young couples, noticeably uncomfortable in the obligatory jacket dress code.  I, being of the younger crop, opted for Bellanca's degustation menu, which began with small nibbles of a fresh & buttery crab leg, a dollop of rich crab bavaroise (creamy mousse), and an overly salty crab salad thinly sheathed in black caviar.  I cringed as the next dish neared the table: walnut crumble-topped scallops with cauliflower a la Grenobloise (brown butter, capers and lemon juice), red beet and mushroom jus.  Enough with the unbearably trite scallop and cauliflower ill-pairing.  Unmemorable at best, this was a messy match of poorly married flavors and seasonings. 

It is a rare occassion when the entrees excel over the appetizers, but Le Cirque manages this curious feat with an outstanding herb and ginger-crusted turbot brightened with a sweet lemon and citrus vinaigrette, brought back down to earth by a savory hon shimeji mushroom accompaniment.  Equally, a crispy-skinned duck magret, served rare, managed to be tender and juicy, atop a bed of a wonderfully fragrant black truffle parmentier (potatoes). 

Still, it was impossible to ignore waiters toting dishes that seemed curiously absent from the menu.  In mid-bite, my dining partner demanded to know what the table next to us was eating.  "What is that?" I whispered to the fur-cloaked women.  "It's not on the menu," one of the women coyly bragged as if she knew something we didn't. "It's just spaghetti primavera."  On behalf of my eating partner, I chased down our waiter and timidly requested the same dish.  The entire troop of servers circling our area, took pause, dumbfounded by the demand.  Sometime later, a silver serving cart toting a dish of naked spaghetti arrived with unusual fanfare.  "Big deal", I thought to myself as they whisked the cart away to toss the pasta with primavera sauce.  Two piping hot bowls were presented before us; firm spaghetti entangled with bits of broccoli, fresh tomatoes, savory mushrooms and a sprinkling of crunchy pine nuts, all pleasingly bathed in a creamy sauce that didn't resemble primavera, but I wasn't about to push my luck by asking questions.  While the pasta itself was incontrovertibly pleasing, the satisfaction of dining on "members only" fare far outweighed the charm of such a simple dish.  As my dining partner reclined back into the banquette, he gloated, "That's the way you eat at a place like Le Cirque." 

We wrapped up the evening with a rich, warm chocolate cake, topped with a splendid mint chip gelato.  As I sipped an accompanying petite mug of thick hot chocolate and a homemade mint-laced marshmallow, I pondered a somewhat inexorable dilemma: Will the next breed of diners ever truly embrace the notion of jacket & tie dining?   While aspirational young foodies are undoubtedly serious about inspired fare, they seem unwilling to make it a formal, never mind weighty affair.  We are a generation of casual diners bred to enjoy good food in a relaxed setting.

While Le Cirque still seems to satisfy its veteran clientele, the institution is tragically damned if they do, damned if they don't.  Like many other fine dining establishments, Le Cirque now faces the quandry of drawing in a new crop of diners, while still maintaining its loyal following.  As Sirio slowly passes down the reigns to his sons, the Maccioni family might be forced to acknowledge that old world regulations just don't work in this millenium.  Maybe they should lose the jacket policy in the dining room, an ancient practice that just doesn't work anymore.  If they truly want to compete with the new culinary establishment that has moved in on New York's food scene, they'll have to change more than just the menu, and perhaps share "off the menu" secrets with the rest of us.

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl

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