The Grill

On the one hand, Mario Carbone and his cohorts at the Major Food Group deserve all of the credit for their tasteful makeover of Philip Johnson’s venerable space, and for introducing a new, more populist audience to the joys of gilded, mid-20th-century fat-cat dining. On the other hand, the room, especially at dinnertime, can resemble a scene straight out of the hedge-fund fantasy Billions, and if you wish to dine like a New Age robber baron on roast duck and great haunches of beef, the extravagant price to entry is predictably nuts. So go at lunchtime, the way Mr. Johnson and his friends at the old Four Seasons Grill Room used to do, when the staff (and kitchen) feels less stressed, the careening food-trolley traffic slows to a dignified crawl, and it’s possible to enjoy what is still the greatest of all dining spaces in this great dining city without breaking the bank.