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The new Le Cirque sits on the bottom floor of the Bloomberg corporate headquarters and looks out over an impressive stone courtyard surrounded by a curving façade of glass and steel. The antic color scheme of Le Cirque 2000 has been replaced by a look that is sleeker, more formal, even funereal. It feels restrained, even a little subdued, a place designed less for glamorous celebration than a hushed business lunch. Conflicts between old and new are evident on the menu. It's been pared down from its previous baroque, Eurocentric form and is dotted now with chic Greenmarket references to "vine-ripened organic" tomatoes and bluefin tuna caught, in the proper Slow Food manner, on "hook and line." Nouveau delicacies like langoustines doused with curried ginger and Kaffir lime coexist with elderly favorites like sole meunière. The best entrées at the new Le Cirque tend to be the safe and stolid ones as well, the dependable kind of big-ticket items favored by elderly plutocrats with settled tastes and fat pocketbooks. — Adam Platt

Jackets are required for gentlemen in the dining room

Wine Lounge
According to owner Sirio Maccioni, the lounge "is a more casual side of Le Cirque, with chaise longues and where no jackets are required. We wanted to offer something, in our lounge, without all the rigueur of the dining room.”

Related Stories

New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (7/24/06)

Featured In

• Eat Cheap 2009: Tasty Sandwich Creations (7/20/09)
• Adam Platt's Where to Eat 2009 (1/5/09)
• 40th Anniversary: Gael Greene Picks the City's Most Important Restaurants (10/6/08)
• Where to Eat 2008 (1/7/08)
• Where to Eat 2008: The Least Politically Correct Dishes (1/7/08)
• Le Cirque's Global Machinations (11/26/07)
• Dark Night at Le Cirque (12/25/06)
• Insatiable Critic: Le Cirque (6/5/06)

Recipes at Le Cirque

• Mrs. Maccioni's Fruitcake (2001)
• Chicken-Liver Crostini (2001)
• Sautéed Carrots (2001)
• Boneless Stuffed Turkey (2001)
• Semolina Soup (2001)
• Stuffed Squab (2001)
• White Onions Sautéed in Balsamic Vinegar (2001)
• Pie Pastry (2001)
• Broccoli Rabe (2001)