Profile

A global theme predominates from the first step into the columned dining room where translucent world maps divide the booths while somewhat abstracted, colorful representations of the planet repeat on the walls. Chocolate-colored marble in the front and rear complement earth-toned frosted glass screens and a room-long curved-wood panel. The result suggests art deco elegance à la 1939 New York World's Fair. The restaurant is equally worldly, its staff-owned cooperative representing twenty-two nations. (Many are former employees of Windows on the World.) The menu accordingly hopscotches from Japanese bento boxes to Bangladeshi pot pies to Argentine-inflected New York strip steaks. Though there are haute ambitions—lemongrass foam on the North Atlantic fluke and caramelized fennel among the green beans—the cuisine veers closer to comfort food. Dishes change seasonally and employ organic, fair-trade ingredients. The extensive wine list focuses on small-scale wineries. The regions represented, of course, span the globe. — Ethan Wolff