Continental restaurant in the Breuer Building · $$$$
Two minutes south, in Marcel Breuer's 1966 Brutalist building, once the Whitney Museum and now the headquarters of Sotheby's, Roman and Williams and Sotheby's run a continental restaurant that is in the MICHELIN Guide. Dinner is served every night from 5pm to 10pm. Breakfast runs Wednesday to Friday from 7am to 11:30am, lunch Wednesday to Friday from 11:30am to 2:30pm and brunch at weekends over the same hours. Book dinner ahead. The room is the reason to go: Roman and Williams designed the furniture, lighting and tableware for it.
Reserve ahead945 Madison Avenue
Milanese café and coffee bar · $$$
A block north on Madison, a Milanese espresso bar at the front, with gelato and a case of cornetti, cakes and cookies made on the premises, and a mahogany-panelled dining room behind it. Stand at the counter for a cappuccino and a cornetto, which is the quickest good breakfast near the hotel, or sit down for the Milanese menu at lunch or dinner. It is open 8am to 10pm on weekdays and 9am to 10pm at weekends; the counter needs no booking, and the dining room is worth reserving in the evening.
Walk in1000 Madison Avenue
Parisian brasserie · $$$
A Parisian brasserie on Lexington at 75th Street, with mahogany panelling, Art Nouveau arches, a mosaic floor, a 24-foot pewter-topped bar and French doors onto a pavement terrace, and a place in the MICHELIN Guide. Order the onion soup gratinée at $18, escargots and steak frites, and the Dover sole meunière on a Friday. Lunch runs on weekdays from noon to 3:30pm and brunch at weekends from 11:30am to 4pm; dinner is every night from 5pm, until 9:30pm from Tuesday to Saturday and 9pm on Sunday and Monday.
Reserve ahead1057 Lexington Avenue
Kosher deli, since 1956 · $$
The New York deli at its simplest, on Lexington at 78th Street, kosher and serving since 1956. The order is the pastrami sandwich on rye, about $30, with a potato knish or a bowl of matzo ball soup beside it. It is open every day from 10am to 9pm, which makes it the lunch that fits round a museum morning, and the sandwich travels well if you would rather eat it on a bench in Central Park.
Walk in1125 Lexington Avenue
Edomae sushi counter, two MICHELIN stars · $$$$
The serious dinner within a short walk: an Edomae counter between Lexington and Third Avenue with two MICHELIN stars. The tasting menu opens with five or six small plates, then 12 to 14 pieces of seasonal nigiri, miso soup, tamago and dessert, served at a 200-year-old hinoki counter or a six-seat ash counter. There are four seatings a day, Monday to Saturday, at 5:30pm, 6pm, 8:45pm and 9pm, and each lasts about two and a half hours. Book well ahead; a cancellation inside 72 hours costs the deposit.
Book well ahead: tables go weeks out181 East 78th Street
Kosher bakery, since 1946 · $
The black and white cookie is a New York thing, a soft, cake-like round iced half in chocolate and half in vanilla, and this Madison Avenue bakery, baking since 1946, makes its own. Buy one for the walk across to the Met, or a box of rugelach and brownies to take home. It is kosher, and open from 8am to 6:30pm on weekdays, 8am to 6pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
Walk in1100 Madison Avenue
Burger saloon, since 1972 · $$
An Upper East Side saloon on Third Avenue at 74th Street, open since 1972, with green and white tablecloths, melon decor, an old jukebox and the burger it is known for, served with cottage fries; a bloody mary is the other order. It is in the MICHELIN Guide. It takes no reservations and only cash, so bring dollars, and it keeps late hours: 11:30am to 3am from Monday to Saturday and to 1am on Sunday, with the kitchen open until shortly before closing.
Walk in1291 Third Avenue
Breakfast is not in the standard room-only rate, so check what yours includes. Dowling's serves it on the ground floor from 6:30am to 11am on weekdays, 6:30am to 10:30am on Saturday and 8am to 10:30am on Sunday, with brunch at weekends until 2pm, and it takes walk-ins at breakfast. Two eggs any style with bacon or sausage and toast are $37, the smoked salmon bagel $41, a continental breakfast with juice, coffee, yoghurt and a pastry $35 and a coffee $12, all before 8.875% tax and the tip, so two cooked breakfasts with coffee come to a little over $100 before you have tipped. In-room dining is available too. The best outside option is three minutes north at Sant Ambroeus, a cappuccino and a cornetto at the counter from 8am on weekdays and 9am at weekends, and Marcel serves breakfast from 7am, Wednesday to Friday, two minutes south.
