Daniel

The great master of haute uptown cuisine has recently installed a glittering new kitchen at this venerable flagship establishment on 65th and Park, and the endlessly proliferating (and pricey) tasting-menu options continue to attract big money gastronauts from far off places like Dubai and Beijing. But the best way to experience the essence of what certain plutocrats around the neighborhood like to call “our local canteen” is to belly up to the bar just outside the ornate dining room on some early weekday evening, call for one of inky northern Rhone wines from around Daniel’s native Lyon, and bargain with your bartender for an à la carte taste of dishes from the old French cannon, like wood-roasted pigeon, opulent helpings of veal with artichokes, and milk-simmered suckling pig garnished with farm vegetables from upstate.