I would say that is the general consensus, yes. Just had that conversation the other day with a friend at Sarah’s birthday party.
I don’t think Nakazawa is in the same conversation.
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Agree on the Modern. Really lovely experience.
paywall . . .
ate at both past week. Carbone stuck in the 70s, loud and overpriced. Waiter kept trying to push over ordering. Via Carota lovely and a neighborhood type place. Would go again.
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My one piece of advice is AVOID Per Se. I think Keller disdains the high end NY restaurant crowd–thinks they are a bunch of suckers. I also tend to avoid the upper east side, including Daniel–unless you’re Henry Kissinger, they really can’t be bothered.
I have found Le Bernardin life affirming, if not life changing. We go for lunch–easier to grab those resses–and the total package–the room, food, service, wine is–well, really nice!
We’re going to One White St in a couple of weeks, which looks promising, also Rezdora (again lunch), where we have never been. Alan confirms my suspicions about Carbone–I’ve never liked those guys or their over the top shtick. If you want old time red sauce go order the veal parm at Coppola’s on W 72nd; it’s stll the real deal.
Also, had a terrible experience with a maitre de at Nougatine/Jean Georges and I will never go back. Though he can certainly cook, his restaurants tend to be a bit robotic.
Generally I stick to Tribeca (or now east village or LES) for serious meals. A lot of my old high end favs no longer exist: Bouley, Wiley Dufresne’s place, Chanterelle and the earlier incarnations of Batard,when Liebrandt was cooking. Robert and others have lots of good suggestions–not Michelin starred: Noreetuh, Cagen, others.
In any case, experiment and enjoy–as I say with food and wine, the learning curve, it ain’t so rough, as these things go:)
Is Joomak Banjum really korean food? I just looked at the yelp pictures and closest I see to “korean” is jajangmyeon, which is chinese-korean dish.
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According to the website. “Michelin-Starred Joomak Banjum is a Korean-Chinese fusion executed with French technique and expressed through New York culture.”
Qualified in that I have not dined at many of the top NYC restaurants, but I have dined at a few (EMP (pre-vegan), Atera, Marea, Jean-Georges, Bar at Modern, Grill, etc.), I would say my favorite has been Atera or The Grill. Last visit to NYC was The Grill and the hen with black truffles and foie gras dish was probably the best poultry dish I’ve ever had. The crab cakes were nothing all that special. As others have mentioned, crazy wine list (and prices to match), although the somm did pick out a nice affordable burgundy (2017 Domain Roulot Monthelie).
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Alternatively I can PM you the text from the article if you’re interested 
As for Carbone, they started only a decade ago so the whole 70s theme is Mario Carbone’s cheesy way of alluding to it. I just like a few dishes there and I don’t really think it’s worth the hype of camping for a reservation (but in my case I don’t need to camp 
)
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Carbone is really fun for what it is, but it’s not a super high end wine or food destination. Nor is it designed to be.
Joomak is very creative and isn’t traditional Korean food at all.
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Love to have that article
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The link worked for me
Another name that hasn’t come up, if you don’t mind making the trek to Brooklyn, is Aska. Great Scandinavian cuisine.
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I will check out The Grill next time, thanks for the tip!
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Kochi for closer to mainstream but great food. Jua for more experimental. I’ve been to kochi several times jua once. Id also try joomak. Jungsik is good as well. Just havent been to the one in nyc for meal course just dessert course.
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I managed to get reservations at Yoshino and Claud, but I just have to say, those went really fast (like within 2 minutes of being posted on Tock/Resy). My first choice timeslots were snagged by others while I was refreshing the websites, but I managed to get backup timeslots.
And I thought getting reservations in San Francisco was tough.
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In fairness those are probably the two toughest reservations these days, both just having received fantastic reviews in the NYT.
Though I do wonder what the Venn Diagram of people who want to eat at 6pm and people who are awake at midnight looks like.
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Chefs table at Brooklyn Fare… the worst Michelin experience globally in my entire life. All 4 of us still talk about how memorably bad it was. Absolute disaster.
Welcome! Care to expand? Must have been bad to register for the site just to post this review!
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People who want to eat at 6pm = people who are awake at midnight to book = people who know what Venn Diagram is. 
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