250 Fifth Ave., New York, USA
$$$ ・ Mediterranean Cuisine,American
Andrew Carmellini's return to fine dining is housed in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a former Gilded Age gem now recast as an elegant NoMad stomping ground. The dining room bears a sumptuous throwback ambience with wood plank flooring, curved sapphire-blue velvet booths and caramel leather seating. The open kitchen turns out dishes that whiff of the Mediterranean, as in the crab mille-feuille, a neatly arranged tower of delicate wafers and sweet crabmeat in a golden-yellow Meyer lemon sauce. Scallops Cardoz is a heartwarming composition dedicated to the late Chef Floyd Cardoz and features beautifully seared bivalves with a turmeric-tinted and warmly spiced coconut milk sauce. The squab en croûte pairs rich and rosy breast meat and seared foie gras in a thin layer of pastry.