Aquavit

Despite changing chefs and locations several times over the last three decades, this fabled midtown temple of haute Scandinavian cuisine sails serenely on. The current maestro in the kitchen, Emma Bengtsson, is a former pastry chef who has a special talent for imbuing the familiar, slightly chaste, Nordic cannon with a sense of lightness and color. Pay special attention to the desserts (we’re thinking of the superb “Arctic Bird’s Nest”) and remember to enliven your dinner with a shot or two of the famous house aquavit.