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After some years of absence, French star chef Alain Ducasse is back in New York with a vengeance, i.e. two new restaurants, both of which opened in midtown Manhattan and only a few months apart. First up was the much-anticipated Adour, which debuted in the St. Regis in January. Less formal bistro Benoit followed suite in April (incidentally, a few days after the New York Times blessed Adour with a solid three-star rating). In light of Ducasse’s first foray into Manhattan—his much-gossiped-about restaurant at the Essex House, which featured $250-plus tasting menus and white-gloved waiters—expectations ran high for Adour, as gourmets debated whether Ducasse would again set out to overwhelm the city with an unhealthy dose of French formality. Those hoping for scandalous details (remember the selection of haute pens presented to diners for a somber check-signing ritual after a meal at the Essex House) will be disappointed. In many ways, Adour feels more perky Californian than brooding Frenchman.

All overly precious dining procedures have been purged from the sleek David Rockwell–designed room with its Pinot Noir-and-gold color scheme and soaring walls clad in modern glass panels boasting etchings of grapevines. Sure, diners are served by an army of waiters, but there’s no hushed ambience to speak of, and the young staff happily delves into lengthy menu explanations, mulls over multiple options from the excellent and fairly priced wine list, even makes the occasional (gasp) joke, like the story about recent diners who threatened to make off with the gorgeous hand-blown glass decanters (made especially for Adour in Slovenia).

The food, too, overseen by Ducasse’s executive chef Tony Esnault, is unpretentious to a fault, and what you read in the menu (“frogs legs velouté–watercress, crunchy celery/fennel”) is exactly what you get. The ingredients are first-rate, dishes are cleanly executed and the flavors straightforward in classic Ducasse fashion; a recent meal included perfectly seared foie gras served with mango and velvety duck breast with polenta that came in a small ceramic Le Creuset dish, so as not to ruin the minimalist arrangement of duck and vegetables on the plate. More adventurous foodies may miss a bit more of a wow-factor both in the presentation and innovation of the dishes—I did, especially at the price point (entrées average $40). But no one will find fault with the inspired wine list, which includes some six hundred bottles but also offers a substantial selection by the glass as well as by the decanter, approximately a half-bottle. Perhaps in another attempt to disarm, the abbreviated wine list (you have to ask for the cellar book) is grouped in gimmicky categories, like “exploration” and “treat,” but the selection is a masterful mix of lesser-known gems, from Austria, Greece and Castille and Leon, among others, as well as big hitters. Old and new world are evenly weighed and for every Saint-Emilion and Barolo, you also find top Cabs from California and Pinot Noirs from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Much has been made of the high-tech wine bar at Adour and indeed, the interactive screen that allows you to browse the menu and learn about wines is pretty cool, but considering that the bar has only four seats and is located right behind the hostess desk, chances are it won’t make for any serious competition for the ever-buzzing King Cole Bar, located a few steps from Adour. Of course, if the venerable St. Regis hot spot is too crowded, you can always head down the street for a night cap at Benoit.

TIP: With its soaring ceilings, the main dining room at Adour, in the former space of Gray Kunz’s Lespinasse, is not the most intimate setting; if you’re coming for a romantic dinner for two, request a table in one of the alcoves that form a half-circle around the main room. The semi-private dining room, separated by sleek floor-to-ceiling glass wine coolers, can accommodate up to ten people. Dinner only. Reservations can be made on www.opentable.com.

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Robert De Niro has a history of keeping Tribeca well fed with restaurants such as Tribeca Grill and Nobu; Ago will eventually be a great addition to his mini-empire. The Tuscan eatery has long drawn celebs to its Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami locations, and it has already become a tough table to get in New York. (We were told that more than 200 reservations were turned away in one day due to lack of space.) But while it’s still in its infancy, you might want to stop by for a glass of Chianti from the extensive wine list and wait to book your table. A trustworthy source who ate dinner there recently said that the staff and kitchen still seemed to be working out the kinks. She praised the appetizers, however, and loved the bustling neighborhood vibe. We think the great location and spacious, rustic-chic dining room will turn into a reliable spot for bisteca and the occasional celebrity sighting (especially during the Tribeca Film Festival, when many notables are staying upstairs in the Greenwich Hotel). A private room with views of the hotel’s quaint courtyard can also be booked for events and can seat 100 people.

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Bar Boulud, the newest venture from Daniel Boulud, provides a much-needed culinary infusion for the Lincoln Center crowd. Located directly across Broadway from the Center’s main entrance, Boulud’s casual eatery offers a full bistro menu featuring classics such as coq au vin, escargots and steak frites. But the real star of the menu is the wonderful selection of charcuterie. The pâtés include a to-die-for beef cheek and the chef’s specialty, fromage de tête; ask the expert sommelier to match your dish to a wine from the restaurant’s cellar. Although the vins come mainly from the Rhône Valley and Burgundy (the favorites of both Boulud himself and wine director Daniel Johannes), offerings also include lesser known varieties from outside the region. Tables can be tough to get, but we think landing a spot for a light meal and wine tasting before an evening at Lincoln Center is well worth the effort.

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The legendary bistro, Benoit, has been open in Paris since 1912, but it’s only been open in New York a day (if you don’t count last week’s friends and family seatings). At lunch today, Alain Ducasse, the three star Michelin chef, who bought the Paris original three years ago, darted back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room. Did his irrepressible smile reveal that he knows that he has a hit on his hands? Or is he just more relaxed now that his new gourmet restaurant down the street, Adour, has already garnered three-stars from the New York Times? Or maybe it’s because now he can be in New York but in a place that feels completely like home.

As soon as you step through the front door, you do feel transported to an authentic Paris bistro. To the left is a classic men’s bar with black-and-white-striped wallpaper and a tiled ceiling with putti dreamily floating over the leather upholstered stools, a few tables and a brass rack from which the daily newspapers hang. Directly ahead, the dining room, which can seat 120, is lined in blond wood paneling with mirror insets. The chandelier and Art Nouveau sconces remain from La Côte Basque, the fabled café society haunt that used to occupy these rooms, as does the giant ceramic Art Nouveau bird sculpture. (To find the seascapes of La Côte Basque, you have to be invited to the private dining rooms upstairs.) The charming portraits of well-dressed flaneurs that parade around the room’s perimeter above the mirrors were kept from Le Choux, the restaurant after La Côte Basque. Red leather banquettes, white mosaic tiled floors, zinc tables and oak tables could have been lifted right out of the Right Bank original Benoit. Ducasse has added his own details, though. For instance, he salvaged the brass-edged milky glass dividers that separate the tables from an old Banque de France building. Antique carafes and liquor bottles from his collection line the bar and reception areas as well.

Just as Ducasse has honored the restaurant’s namesake, its predecessors and his own tastes in the décor, so does he pay homage to all three with the menu. You’ll find Benoit classics such as paté en croûte (recipe dates to 1892) alongside lighter more modern renditions such as braised barbue with champagne, asparagus and sabayon. The chocolate soufflé and vanilla millefeuille will please the La Côte Basque loyalists, who will be stunned to learn that Benoit will be open for breakfast too. In fact, the media hangout Michael’s is only down the block, and this may be a popular alternative for hearty breakfast eaters.

The private dining room upstairs will certainly compete with those at ‘21’. The highlight: the Officine, which seats up to twelve. Ducasse found ornate 19th century apothecary cabinets from an old pharmacy in Bordeaux that had been dismantled and had them refurbished and installed in a second-floor room. They surround a glorious antique dining table and the hallways and meeting rooms bear the oil paintings of sailboats off the Basque coast for which the former watering hole was named. I’d guess that they will witness many more merry moments in the new Ducasse reincarnation. Open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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What an inspired collaboration! Take those two mischievous, talented owners of Soho’s hottest design store, Moss—Murray Moss and Franklin Getchell—and add Nicola Marzovilla, impresario of the excellent I Trulli and hey, presto, a classy new island of civility, right around the corner from Moss on West Houston Street, perfect for lunch after working the shops and galleries; something of a design hangout at dinner.

Consider it a neighborhood restaurant—if your nabe were Milan—but even with Addolorata Marzovilla’s handmade pasta (pappardelle with thinly sliced wild mushrooms), chef Patti Jackson’s cooking is far from down home: paper-thin slices of fried parsnips on a bed of mâche, a nest of quail on polenta, silky tentacles of warm octopus curling on a white plate, roast pork loin with sweet and sour onions. The chic gray interior is enlivened by witty, multi-colored glass Venini chandeliers. Mystic design names in furnishings and tableware abound: Castiglioni, Alessi, Jasper Morrison, Joe Columbo. Centovini expresses its own name in an elegant wine shop, glassed off from the restaurant and accessible from the street, with—you guessed it—more than one hundred excellent Italian wines.

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As I wrote in my Food Passion Point on Gray Kunz’s newest venture, which opened in September, I would add Grayz to the city’s top tables and will be disappointed if he isn’t rewarded with three-star status by the critics. The food remains quintessential Kunz with Swiss nods like a weisswurst with a pretzel appetizer and Asian teases like an almost broth-like butternut squash soup with lemongrass and crab meat. Warm, mini-baguettes arrive in paper-lined silver cups with a dish of olive oil and yogurt. The crisped calamari is dipped in a batter of cream of wheat and graham crackers, then fried in grapeseed oil and served with a lemon honey chutney in a sheet of simple paper towel that is folded to create an origami-like geometric basket. Stand-out entrees included the red snapper in a ginger bouillon with lima beans and pickled ramp that was at once sweet and sour and melt-in-your-mouth braised short ribs. Our group tried four desserts: the huckleberry tartelette topped with meringue and accompanied by a scoop of cassis sorbet; frozen chocolate truffles that arrived on a bed of steaming stones; a semolina hazelnut confection; and the citrus fruit panache with grapefruit granite—a sophisticated slush that won as our favorite. All were delicious though.

As for the atmosphere, if you want a hushed temple of serious gourmands, this is not for you. However, if you like to be surrounded by people who are enjoying themselves and who take pleasure out of sharing good food and wine with friends, then you should come. When we sat down at our table, which faced the bar (lined, too, with happy diners), two men in their early thirties were at the table next to us. Dressed in suits, they were clearly having a business dinner but they shared entrees and were so impressed by the short ribs that they persuaded someone at our table to order them. When they left, a group of two women and three men sat down. All were casually dressed in jeans and sweaters and they spent a good ten minutes discussing the wine selections before ordering two bottles. The convivial feeling that pervaded the small space reminded me of a neighborhood spot that’s been open thirty years and is filled with regulars. Oh, to be a regular here, that is a worthwhile ambition.

Tip: Try to get a table on the main floor. The main dining room is long and narrow with a lively bar scene on one side and seating for only 38 at tables around it. There are also two tables with a view of the kitchen. Downstairs, the Speakeasy Room is a narrow space with rows of tables on either wall. Some in our party thought they were kind of cozy, but I don’t relish the idea of eating in a basement. For the moment, the restaurant is only taking reservations for private events; but ask to be put on the “waiting list” and you may get a call with the time you desire.

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Mid-town foodies have an airy new option in the neighborhood. In the same building (different space) that formerly housed Alain Ducasse’s first New York gourmet restaurant, South Gate takes a decidely more modern, more American approach. While I am a fan of Ducasse’s food, I always disliked the gloomy, glitzy decor at his Essex House outpost; it reminded me of the Addams family gone Vegas. Thankfully, South Gate is a lighter experience all the way around. Located in a soaring space facing Central Park South, the new restaurant will appeal to those who like the modern, refined atmosphere of places like Brasserie 8 1/2 or the Lever House (but blessed with natural sunlight). Designer Tony Chi, who lives in the neighborhood, evokes the kind of communal dining room that you might find if one were being added to the city’s best new buildings. There’s a fireplace framed by bookshelves, an impressive glass wall of wine and leather swivel chairs that ease you into a casual slouch. If the menu, with dishes like lobster and leek vinaigrette with cardamom and dill seeds and Arctic char with grapefruit, olives and thyme, reminds you of Eleven Madison Park that may be because the chef, Kerry Heffernan, comes from there. At South Gate, he has been able to elevate a market menu without getting fussy. When he came out of the kitchen recently at lunch and greeted diners in his whites, he had the friendly air of a passionate snowboarder (which he is in his off-time) but the confidence of a super successful entrepreneur, the kind who would feel right at home in such sleek, yet laid-back surroundings. If Grenouille upholds the kind of elegant dining of years past, South Gate points to the future. I just hope that New York is ready to embrace it.

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Thanks to architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s brilliant retrofit of the Museum of Modern Art into the urban fabric of the West 50s, and the equally inspired restaurateur Danny Meyer, MoMA has become the consummate repository not just of modern art but of modern eating, too. Book a table in the Modern’s formal dining room for the end of the day and get a New York view never before possible: the sun setting on the museum’s renovated sculpture garden, Picasso’s She-Goat peeking in at your table. The Modern’s masterful Alsatian chef, Gabriel Kreuther, delivers refinements of hearty ideas: terrine of cider apples, chorizo-crusted cod, Gewürztraminer poached foie gras, organic pork tenderloin marinated in wheat beer, fallow venison loin.

The same kitchen serves the Modern’s Bar Room, which has become New York’s stylish new meeting place (even on Sunday), a big easy space with a long stretch of bar and dishes served tapas-like from a well-edited menu of three courses to mix and match: the chef’s Modern liverwurst, wild mushroom soup, homemade Alsatian sausage with turnip choucroute, arctic-char tartare, roasted garlic gnocchi.

The Modern’s designers Bentel & Bentel, are responsible for MoMA’s great surprise, Cafe 2: Meyer’s reimagining of a Roman trattoria. While the Modern’s entrance is on 53rd Street, you reach the informal Cafe 2 by going to the second floor of the museum (you’ll need a membership card or day pass). The set up is smart: a wall-sized menu allows people waiting in line to make decisions in advance. Beyond the block-long counter of antipasti and panini, cured meats have their own station, starring a venerable Ferrari-red meat cutter (a machine not a man). Each order has a number; post it on a stand at your table (I like the high metal ones), then wait as servers in long patterned aprons deliver.