Where to Eat 2004

Leverage: The power scene at Lever House.

(Photo: Joe Scafuro)

Hot Spots

Among members of a certain midtown set, the modular, honeycombed dining room at LEVER HOUSE RESTAURANT seems to have momentarily replaced THE FOUR SEASONS as the place to be seen eating your lunch. But I thought the tall, windowless room claustrophobic, even a little stuffy, and although my kinetic publishing friend professed to enjoy her very fine (and very low-carb) chicken paillard, my own pricey lobster dish (with herb spaetzle, wax beans, and cherry tomatoes) was strangely oversalted. The desserts seemed decent, particularly the apple beignets, although none of them was quite as satisfying as the baked Alaska I shared with my mother during our annual lunchtime pilgrimage to SWIFTY’S, where it was a pleasure to watch the diminutive Joan Rivers come sweeping through the door, her face obscured by a huge brown feather boa.

Possibly Joan Rivers has made the late-night scene at HUE, in the West Village, although on the evening I dropped in, the two-tiered space was crammed mostly with youthful banker couples all barking into their cell phones. Ask for the “chim quay” (spiced quail), and if it takes too long to arrive, addle yourself with a lemon-basil martini at the bar. The white-truffle pizza is the thing to order if you find yourself marooned among all the hipsters who gather after dark in LA BOTTEGA in the new Maritime Hotel, in Chelsea, and if you crave lobster nachos after midnight, or a plate of button-size hamburgers, the place to find them is in the backroom lounge at POP BURGER, in the meatpacking district, where silent Loony Tunes cartoons play like shadow puppets along the walls and the waitresses all wear bright white undershirts to better exhibit their tattoos.

If you can’t wheedle your way into the Soho House for a swank after-hours gourmet meal, may I suggest AMUSE, whose clamorous acoustics are made bearable by chef Gerry Hayden’s consistently inventive cooking. Or, if you have the financial resources, you can camp out at the long, glowing sushi bar at MATSURI, deep in the basement of the Maritime Hotel, where you can bolt down New Age sushi treats (seared toro dripped with pepper miso, fluke with plum purée, etc.), sip icy carafes of sake, and observe the late-night models and their consorts drift to and fro around the huge, nautical-themed room like exotic schools of fish.