The dining room at Le Bernardin
In 1979, Esquire coined the term “power lunch” to describe the congregation of high-net-worth individuals for a meal at the now-defunct Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue. The pandemic brought those meals to a screeching halt. Now, up and down the city, business meals are picking back up. Almost 50% of New York employees are again showing up to work in offices on an average weekday, according a recent survey from the Partnership for New York City.
Michael McCarty, founder of Midtown’s long-established Michael’s restaurant, says that these days, Tuesday through Thursday lunch hour is so packed, it’s “all-out full metal jacket.”
At Gramercy Tavern, there’s been a similar midday resurgence. William Carroll, the restaurant’s general manager, said he sees it in reservations and booze consumption. This year almost 22% of tables ordered a liquor-based drink, compared with 16.5% in 2019; more than 42% of tables ordered wine, compared with less than 40% three years ago; and more groups ordered beer.
Nearby, at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s plant-based abcV, midday business is back to pre-pandemic levels.
“A similar amount of business lunches are happening,” executive chef Neal Harden said. “It seems even people who work from home will meet people for a lunch.”
At dynamic brasserie Frenchette, co-owner and chef Lee Hanson said he has seen more large parties booking business lunches.
Here are 10 of Manhattan’s noteworthy power-lunch haunts including downtown new-guard spots and Midtown restaurants that continue to bring in the corporate-card crowd.
At the year-old Rockefeller Center restaurant from Estela chef-owner Ignacio Mattos, the specialty is North Italian small plates and spritzes. In warm weather, the cozy front patio on the plaza is packed with people from the repopulated office buildings nearby. Most tables order the house bread basket, which contains one of the city’s best olive oil–laced focaccias. There’s a handful of large plates, such as pork sausage with mostarda, but the assorted antipasti including house-made ricotta and puffy butter beans with pancetta rightly get most of the attention.
Executive chef Hillary Sterling put the Manhattan West development on the city’s culinary map with her sublime Italian comfort-food cooking at Ci Siamo. Its dining room is convenient for offices at nearby Hudson Yards, such as those of SAP and Meta Platforms. Along with a strong pasta selection, Sterling offers greens-stuffed whole trout and chicken with fresno chiles from the open-fire hearth. For dessert, try the affogato and lemon torta with olive oil from legendary pastry chef Claudia Fleming.
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Chef Eric Ripert’s fine-dining institution on West 51st Street has been specializing in refined seafood since 1986. Banks, tech companies and publishing houses have come and gone from the neighborhood, but Le Bernardin continues to pack in diners at lunch. In the more casual lounge, guests can order lobster rolls or salmon rillette à la carte or opt for a $90 three-course, prix-fixe menu. Many of Ripert’s classics, such as his signature paper-thin yellowfin tuna with foie gras, can be found on the $120 menu offered in the main dining room.
Related: Le Bernardin brings back its power lunch
Since it opened four years ago, this upscale brasserie from chef-owners Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, who ran the kitchens at Balthazar and Minetta Tavern, has been a downtown destination for steak frites, côte de boeuf and natural wine at night. The daytime menu for diners from offices around Tribeca focuses on excellent renditions of French favorites such as truffle-topped brouillade—soft scrambled eggs—as well as steak tartare frites and soupe de poisson.
Related: Restaurants can keep foie gras on the menu this fall
Major Food Group, the team behind the ubiquitous Carbone and the soon-to-be-rebooted Torrisi, reconceived the iconic Four Seasons power-lunch spot in 2017 as a lavish ode to midcentury American cuisine. The Grill continues to make East 52nd Street a place to go for a big-deal lunch, where the menu runs to well-executed classics including club sandwiches, oversized shrimp cocktails and a selection of dry-aged beef.
At this bi-level space in Midtown East, across the street from Jeffries Financial Group and a stone’s throw from BlackRock offices, chef Alex Stupak specializes in a singular version of Mexican food. His take on a Midtown meat course is pastrami tacos on housemade corn tortillas. The drink of choice is a saffron margarita rather than a martini. For the table: a tray of inspired, colorful salsas and guacamole with crab nachos.
Since its 2016 debut in the Flatiron District, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s chic, plant-based eatery in ABC Carpet & Home has welcomed guests including the postwork yoga crowd and executives in search of a green meal. In the restaurant’s whitewashed space, executive chef Neal Harden offers avocado lettuce cups with roasted yam and iterations of dosa, the lentil- and rice-based Indian pancake, with turmeric sambal, a Southeast Asian chili sauce. There’s also a slate of fresh-fruit beverages that incorporate wellness-supporting herbs and immunity-boosting Chaga mushrooms.
Related: Jean-Georges takes on 14,000 square feet for a restaurant at 425 Park
Minimalist West Village hand-roll parlor Nami Nori, helmed by former Masa chefs Jihan Lee and Taka Sakaeda, has been a hit since it opened three years ago. Lunches tend to be packed, with meetings convening at the counter and in the rear semiprivate dining room over temaki (small open-faced rolls) with fillings such as tuna, crispy shallots and butter-poached spicy lobster.
At this elegantly minimalist Greek restaurant, which still believes in white tablecloths, the olive oil is neon yellow, and the imported yogurt tastes like fresh milk. The restaurant is known for simply prepared seafood flown in daily from Greece. The food invariably comes with a hefty price tag. That makes the $45 prix fixe lunch, which offers the option of the grilled whole fish of the day served with lemon oil sauce, a great deal.
With its longstanding proximity to the offices of entertainment agencies and real estate powerhouses such as The Related Cos., Michael’s on West 55th Street is New York’s most enduring power-lunch player. Michael McCarty, who launched the restaurant in 1989, was one of the city’s early advocates for seasonal California cuisine. The house-favorite Cobb salad is a neatly arranged plate of grilled chicken and bacon chunks with cherry tomatoes, blue cheese and hard-boiled egg, bound together in a tangy balsamic dressing.
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