Lists

What’s the Greatest Restaurant of All-Time?

Delmonico's.
Delmonico’s. Photo: Shanna Ravindra

Okay, so the oyster pan roast is New York’s greatest dish, per Platt, but what are the greatest restaurants of all-time? Robert Sietsema ranks them in order from tenth greatest to greatest of all: Rector’s, 21 Club, Restaurant at the Waldorf-Astoria, Barbetta, Coach House, Lutèce, Delmonico’s, Bank Coffee House, Daniel, and Le Pavillon. Gael Greene asked the same questions a few years ago, though she limited her time frame to the past 40 years and came up with a list that was much kinder to contemporaries.

Lutece got top honors, followed by Four Seasons, Maxwell’s Plum, Shun Lee Dynasty, Le Cirque, Windows of the World, River Café, Quilted Giraffe, Odeon, Gotham Bar & Grill, Le Bernardin, Lafayette at the Drake, San Domenico, and Nobu. Perhaps Mimi Sheraton would add La Grenouille to these lists, for starters? Discuss! And feel free to use our look at William Grimes’s great history, Appetite City (and the comments that ensued) to jog your memory of Luchow’s, Toots Shor’s and the rest.

Our 10 Best NYC Restaurants of the Last Two Centuries [Fork in the Road]

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What’s the Greatest Restaurant of All-Time?