NY's Best Eateries: The Modern

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Places To Eat

Published on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 05:18

Written by Brad Balfour

Though situated inside the Museum of Modern Art, the restaurant The Modern is no mere adjunct to the Museum but a work of art itself in design and cuisine. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement of the 1920s, this haute café from restaurateur-proprietor Danny Meyer is adorned with furniture and tableware from the Modernists, with a focus on the Danish style.



The Modern is actually two environments: the Bar Room and Dining Room. A little more casual and abuzz with energy, the bar offers an abbreviated version of the main menu with an array of over 30 savory dishes. While the bar suggests a lively, aesthetic debate, the dining area offers a more austere space ideal for reflection and conversation.

The two spaces montage through a frosted glass partition. In the clean, stately dining room, patrons can admire the sculptures from the adjacent garden while enjoying the finely crafted menu.



Chef Gabriel Kreuther’s nouveau French-American cooking, partly inspired by his Alsatian roots. is as refined and aesthetic as the room itself. He applies a finely tuned palate that can devise unique dishes of familiar ingredients, as in the hamachi tuna with a tart grapefruit sauce and spice crust, a potato escargot gâteau, or a cod graced with thin discs of chorizo and harissa oil.

Kreuther transforms the generally prosaic liverwurst or roast duck into something truly special. The restaurant offers three tasting options: three courses for $85, chef's seven-course tasting menu for $125, and a seven-course seasonal tasting menu for $138.



A meticulously chosen international wine list features more than 900 selections deep in Alsatian choices, including wines by the glass, and an innovative cocktail menu available both in the bar or dining space.

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