Despite all the new touches, dinner at Picholine still unfolds in a refreshingly old-fashioned way. In a town filled with barn-size dining rooms, the space is still small enough to be intimate but just large enough to be grand, and on opera evenings, it’s a pleasure to see one or two ladies enjoying their dinner in frilly, wide-brimmed hats. Dessert retains a special place in this stately ritual, but at Picholine, it’s invariably overshadowed by the cheese. McCalman still trundles his cheese cart among the tables, and to simplify the selection process, there are now $18 cheese plates available, each arranged by country. You can complement these with a variety of new desserts, the best of which tend to be traditionalist items formulated, again, with a slightly modern twist. I liked the caramel apple brioche, molded into the shape of a little bread loaf. My mother liked the chocolate soufflé, which comes with a racy scoop of fennel ice cream. “Mmmm,” she said, dipping her spoon, ever so delicately, into the dark, fluffy chocolate. “They do this just right.”

Picholine
Address: 35 W. 64th St., nr. Broadway; 212-724-8585
Hours: Monday through Wednesday 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday to 11:45. Sunday to 9.
Prices: Bar-menu tasting, $15 to $18. Main menu, two courses for $64 ($14 for each additional course).
Ideal Meal: Bar-menu tasting, “Bacon and Eggs” or squid-ink linguine, chicken Kiev, warm apple brioche.
Note: Among the cheese plates, our favorite included Constant Bliss, Bartlett Blue, and Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, all from the good ol’ USA.
Scratchpad: Three stars for general excellence, and one more to Brennan for deftly combining old-fashioned grandeur with the shock of the new.

Related:

• Archive: “Restaurant Review”
• Articles by Adam Platt
• Table of Contents: Dec 4, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!