Where does the restaurant critic go for a good meal when he’s off duty?

Question: Where do you eat when you’re off duty?

Adam Platt: Well, I live right near Washington Square Park and there are many, many restaurants within a two- or three-block radius that I would be happy to travel to from much farther than that to eat at so- and I could name five or six. Also I’m not a very picky eater. I’m happy going and getting a bag of hamburgers across the street. So they are very-- All the Union Square restaurants like Danny Meyer-- There are a lot of very solid restaurants. Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack is a great restaurant. There-- Otto,[ph?] the pizza restaurant, Mario Batali’s Pizza Restaurant is a great restaurant. There are a lot of them. I don’t really have one that’s my special favorite although there are certain ones that I like for certain kinds of events.

Question: Where do you go for an exquisite meal?

Adam Platt: Well, the most exquisite-- In Manhattan-- I’ve said this in my- in print so I-- The fanciest sort of Frenchiest five-star experience I think is still Laverna Bay[ph?] and that’s where I’d go if I wanted a fancy classical but also inventive meal, especially a New York-style meal. I think it’s a classic-- It’s a French restaurant but the classic New York- there’s a classic New York feel in that room. It’s polished but it’s also busy but it’s also very elegant. The service is the classical kind of service that you really don’t see a lot, the professional waiters that you don’t really see a lot in New York anymore. So that’s sort of the standard for that kind of dining. Masa on the Time Warner Center, the-- That’s the other-- I have a star system which was imposed on me and which I use now grudgingly and Masa was the other five-star restaurant that I- the other restaurant that I gave five stars to and that is the very effete, very expensive Japanese sushi restaurant on the Time Warner Center and that is also a great restaurant. The thing about Masa is that it’s an omakase restaurant, which means it’s Masa Takayama who is the chef’s. He serves the same menu most nights. It changes slightly with the seasons but it really doesn’t change that much so the first meal is going to be the best meal you ever had there. The second meal-- It’s like a bull seeing a cape the second or third-- The second or third time the impact is slightly less but that’s also a great restaurant.

Recorded: 4/22/08

Recorded: 4/22/08