About 701
Before owner Ashok Bajaj replaced this jazz-playing power dining room’s chef, Ed Witt, with the Oval Room’s Tony Conte in November, the cooking had slipped into the hit-or-miss category. House-made pastas showcased Witt’s considerable abilities, but sides and starters suffered. Conte has cleaned up these accompaniments while tweaking entrées and appetizers—swapping out bay scallops for chubby Kumamoto oysters in a spectacular crudo with passionfruit brown butter and trading a Scottish salmon’s red-wine reduction and coffee crumbles for a simple sake-miso glaze.
Don’t miss: Fingerling chips with buttermilk dip; Caesar salad; beef tenderloin with beef-chili jus; rapini with oven-dried tomatoes and olives.
Open: Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for dinner. expensive.