Vaucluse

Michael White has made a reputation over the years as one of the city’s great pasta savants, but at this gilded Park Avenue establishment, he and his seasoned team of cooks turn their attentions to the kind of durable French classics that are still beloved in this more traditional, monied part of town. Go at lunchtime, when, in the words of one of our neighborhood spies, it doesn’t feel like “you’re eating dinner in the middle of a train station.” There’s a fine burger, provided you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, and predictably lavish version of that old brasserie standby, steak-frites. But pay attention to the hors d’oeuvres section of the menu, which is chocked with familiar francophile delicacies like smooth rounds of foie gras terrine, excellent escargots from Burgundy dressed with bits of roasted bone marrow, and a superior steak tartare, which is best enjoyed with a side of golden, crunchy frites, served with a proper uptown flourish in a silver cup.