JoJo
160 East 64th Street (212-223-5656).

It's a miracle: Though Mercer Kitchen is his fourth new restaurant in seven years, master chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten still hasn't repeated himself once.

There are two kinds of food magnates today: repeat offenders who recycle one idea ad nauseam, and risk-hungry imagineers who never travel the same road twice.

It's fairly startling, and kind of disheartening, that a city with such a slurping passion for ice cream is handed so few dessert menus that actually feature a single icy delight that amounts to more than a scoop on the side of something you don't crave nearly as much. Occasionally, however, a wiser chef with a cooler tongue prevails.

Citarella
1240 Sixth Avenue, at 49th Street (212-332-1515)

The Caribbean fare at Cabana beats anything you’ll eat on the islands.

Sometimes even the most dutiful critic can barely bring himself to risk ruining his favorite new place by naming it, but if you promise not to tell . . .

Arezzo, 46 West 22nd Street (212-206-0555).
Centolire, 1167 Madison Avenue (212-734-7711).

The city’s latest Japanese joint serves delicious food, if you can stomach the crowd.

Geisha may not offer the most Zen-like space in town. But chef Michael Vernon’s menu will definitely leave you blissed out.