4 Stars

In today's NY Times, restaurant critic Frank Bruni re-reviews Daniel giving it 4 stars in a rave revue.

Bruni sums up perfectly the super-expensive-fancy-French-cuisine-thing here in NYC.

"Among the handful of elegant restaurants that maintain the rituals once synonymous with superior cuisine and cling to an haute French style, Daniel is the most straightforward, the one with the fewest tics or tweaks. It’s the truest link to the past."

"Le Bernardin has its microfocus of seafood. Jean Georges has its mission of lightening French cooking, finding alternatives to cream and reductions. Per Se does its bombastic strut, with discourses on ingredients that are equal parts tutorial and sonnet."

We ate at Daniel years ago, it was boring, very beige and efficient but kind of not so interesting to us. I tend to like quirkier places.

The picture from the Times makes the room look splendid.