• Café Gray

  10 Columbus Circle; 212-823-6338

  Leave it to Gray Kunz—that master of the haute and hearty—to out-schnitzel the competition. While a nice breaded veal, pork, or chicken cutlet—lemon wedge and parsley sprig at the ready—certainly has its appeal, how much more Kunzian to reinvent the Euro classic with a bread-crumbed and pan-fried ray fish and call it skate schnitzel. Served in a caper-brown-butter sauce and seasonally festooned with pumpkin seeds, finely diced butternut squash, and red-wine-steeped apples, the crisp yet tender, rich but tangy entrée is fast on its way to Kunz-signature-dish status, alongside his famous short ribs and wild-mushroom risotto.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine