High Steaks: The luxurious bar area at Terrance Brennan.    (Photo: Kenneth Chen)

Perfect Atkins

Diets are a necessary hardship for the food-obsessed, and no regime has captured the collective fat person’s imagination like the no-sugar, no-carbohydrate, all-steak-and-eggs program of the late lamented Dr. Robert Atkins. Like many of my corpulent colleagues and friends, I lost fifteen pounds on a modified Atkins plan not long ago, before promptly (and happily) gaining it all back. But I’ll return to the Atkins regimen one day, and when I do I’ll begin at BALTHAZAR for the new weekday breakfast featuring a very fine version of eggs cocotte, before sneaking up to CRAFTBAR for a chaste afternoon snack of the superior veal ricotta meatballs. The menu at CRAFT, next door, is filled with opulent, protein-rich delicacies like king salmon gently sautéed in butter, or the $78 rib steak, which is hoisted to the table on a great copper salver for two. A fine Indian restaurant like AMMA is a good place to go to break any protein fast (for the butter chicken, particularly, and the numerous crispy, hot kulchas and nans), although until then, a serving of the tender, yogurt-infused tandoori lamb chops will have to do. For a more traditional beef dinner, I’ll take the New York strip at SPARKS, the porterhouse at TERRANCE BRENNAN’S SEAFOOD & CHOP HOUSE, or the prodigious 50-ounce T-bone cut in thin strips and served with uptown flourish at PARISH & CO. in Chelsea.

The stately, bandbox-size A.O.C. BEDFORD is where I’d go if I were on an all-suckling-pig diet. The place in town for roast duck is still ILO, and if you crave cheese for dessert, you won’t do better than ARTISANAL or PICHOLINE. For everything else Atkins, the place is OLA, in midtown, where you’ll find rows of formerly blimpish trenchermen eagerly chowing down on nuevo Atkins creations like “mystery meatballs” (made with Kobe beef) and chef Douglas Rodriguez’s fine lamb combo, consisting of lamb tenderloin over paprika-flavored rice with lamb sausage. Rodriguez also serves a boat-size portion of crispy Cuban pork, and seared tuna, sliced and served with calamari salad. This rich dish has a melting, ice-cream-like quality, and if you’re a true Atkins warrior, you might want to ignore the cheesecake (made with goat cheese) and the neatly prepared flan de cocoa, and order more tuna for dessert.