Aureole

We suppose it’s no surprise that Charlie Palmer’s relaunched Aureole flagship restaurant in midtown (the original, overly ornate town house quietly closed in May 2009) appears to have been designed, to an almost depressing degree, with today’s profit-strapped restaurant market in mind. The boxy, double-height room occupies the shank end of the Bank of America tower on 42nd Street, just beyond the blinking, fluorescent glow of Times Square. Both the pint-sized dining room, and clamorous, oversized bar area are appointed in the familiar poshly featureless hotel-lobby style, and with a couple of exceptions (pork-belly sliders, a decent midtown burger), most of the menu is still stubbornly frozen in the ye old Charlie Palmer heyday of fruity tasting entrees, lots of truffles, and endless, candied iterations of that old gourmet warhorse, foie gras.