usa · Year round · best Sep–Dec, May–Jun
The city Camille's clients return to between the Hamptons in summer and Aspen in winter. The townhouses of the Upper East Side, the new members' floors downtown, the tables that have run for forty years and the ones that opened last Thursday. The map, kept short.
Hotels
Book the room — handled personally.
Palace · 5★The Crown Building on Fifth and 57th, eighty-three suites, the Aman Club above — the most considered new opening in the city in a decade.
5★ · Upper East SideThe Upper East Side address with the Jean-Georges restaurant on the ground floor and the penthouse the magazines won't stop writing about.
5★ · Midtown WestThe 28 West 53rd Street tower — the Baccarat crystal everywhere, the Grand Salon for the afternoon tea, the most considered midtown opening of the last decade.
5★ · Upper East SideMadison Avenue since 1930, Bemelmans downstairs, Café Carlyle next door — the New York hotel that has refused to update itself, on purpose.
5★ · Members hotel · Battery ParkForty-seven rooms inside the Battery Maritime Building, the Cipriani members' club above — the downtown answer to the uptown houses.
5★ · TribecaThe Tribeca Four Seasons — the limestone tower at 30 Park Place, CUT by Wolfgang Puck on the ground floor, the most considered downtown five-star.
4★ · Lower East SideIan Schrager's downtown statement — the escalator entry, the rooftop at the top, the city's most considered affordable-luxury hotel.
4★ · MeatpackingAndré Balazs's straddle over the High Line — the cantilever, the Boom Boom Room above, the most photographed hotel in the West Side.
5★ · MidtownThe Villard Mansion's 1882 courtyard hotel — the Gossip Girl shot, the Madison Avenue address, the most theatrical lobby in midtown.
5★ · TribecaRobert De Niro's house on North Moore, the Shibui Spa under the lantern roof — the Tribeca address for the long downtown stay.
Festive · clubs, line-ups, long lunches
Reserve the table for the night out — handled personally.
Italian-American · Greenwich VillageMajor Food Group's red-sauce room on Thompson Street, the spicy rigatoni vodka, the booth most of the city has been trying to book since 2013.
Meatpacking · Seafood & clubThe Meatpacking seafood-and-club room — the rooftop with the retractable roof, the truffle sashimi, the dinner that becomes the party.
Soho · Mexican speakeasyThe Kenmare Street taqueria with the brasserie downstairs — entrance through the kitchen, the basement room, the most theatrical Mexican in the city.
Meatpacking · Rooftop clubThe Standard High Line's 18th-floor rooftop club — the discothèque, the open-air pool, the view across the West Side.
Midtown East · Contemporary JapaneseRainer Becker's Midtown East flagship — the robata grill, the sushi counter, the room that organises the international business dinner.
Hotel bar · Upper East SideThe piano room at the Carlyle, the Ludwig Bemelmans murals from 1947, the New York hotel bar everybody else is measured against.
Soho · ItalianThe Soho chapter of the Cipriani family — the Bellini, the Carpaccio, the long lunch on West Broadway that has run unchanged for thirty years.
Soho · French bistro & Sunday party
Chelsea · Modern AsianStephen Starr's Chelsea dining hall — the cathedral room, the long communal table, the most theatrical Asian-American dining room in the city.
Soho · Rooftop bar
Chelsea · Asian fusionThe downtown Tao chapter — the cathedral dining room, the late-night register, the Asian-American format Tao Group built the decade on.
Gramercy Park · Hotel barThe Gramercy Park Hotel's Julian Schnabel bar — the velvet, the basquiat on the wall, the most adult cocktail room on the Park.
Bryant Park · Japanese
Williamsburg · Brazilian
Chelsea · JapaneseAuthentic · the quiet rooms
Reserve the quiet dinner — handled personally.
Columbus Circle · Central Park viewThe Mandarin Oriental's 35th-floor dining room — the floor-to-ceiling Central Park view, the contemporary American kitchen, the Sunday brunch with the highest sightline in the city.
Greenwich Village · TuscanThe Sixth Avenue Tuscan room — cash only, the daily special board, the booth one of the half-dozen most credible Italian rooms in the city.
Brooklyn · Italian · Bridge viewThe Soho House group's Empire Stores room in Dumbo — Northern Italian kitchen, the Manhattan skyline through the windows, the most photographed terrace in Brooklyn.
3★ MichelinEric Ripert's seafood room on West 51st, three stars since 2005, the most consistent fine-dining table in New York.
Multi-location · MilaneseThe Milanese café-pasticceria across the city — the Madison Avenue uptown, the Soho location, the Greenwich brunch, the only NY Italian that does Milano in the Italian register.
Central Park · Lake viewThe Central Park lake-house dining room — the rowboats outside, the lakeside terrace, the brunch the city books for the out-of-town visitor.
3★ MichelinDaniel Humm's room on Madison Square, three stars, the plant-based tasting that the city is still arguing about.
Soho · Jewish appetisingMajor Food Group's Soho Jewish-appetising room — the bagel tower at the centre of every brunch table, the smoked salmon programme, the brunch the city has ranked first since 2015.
Lower East Side · Greek
Chelsea · JapaneseIron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's Chelsea room — the omakase counter, the architecture by Tadao Ando, the most precise Japanese kitchen in the West Side.
Central Park South · BrunchThe Central Park South Sarabeth's — the brunch the city has held since 1981, the lemon ricotta pancakes, the morning room the visitor books for the park entry.
American · MidtownMajor Food Group's reworking of the Four Seasons Grill Room — the Mies van der Rohe interior intact, the menu rebuilt around mid-century American cooking.
Flatiron · MediterraneanThe Park Avenue South Mediterranean room — the wood oven, the long communal table, the lunch the Flatiron desk has booked for fifteen years.
Noho · Japanese
Multi-location · Spanish tapas
Lower East Side · All-day diner
Bowery · Italian
Soho · French-AmericanJean-Georges Vongerichten's Mercer Hotel dining room — the basement bistro, the long bar, the format that has held the Soho lunch since 1998.
Soho · SicilianChef Philip Guardione's three Soho rooms — the Sicilian kitchen, the pasta plate at the bar, the most credible regional Italian in the quarter.
West Village · ItalianThe Greenwich Avenue Italian — the rooftop garden, the brunch the West Village books for the Saturday morning, the corner room that has held its line for a decade.
Tables
Book the table — handled personally.
Soho · Swiss bistroThe Lafayette Street Swiss-American bistro — the back-door bar behind the kitchen, the all-day kitchen, the room the Soho fashion crowd has held since 2008.
Nolita · VegetarianLower East Side · Australian café
Nolita · All-day eggsMulti-location · All-day caféThe Soho-South African all-day café — green shakshuka, the rosewater waffle, the queue that has not in any meaningful sense shortened since 2012.
Soho · Garden brunchThe Nomo Soho hotel's garden room — the wisteria-covered arch, the brunch, the photograph that has run on every fashion-week feed since 2018.
Multi-location · American brasserie
Soho · Australian caféSport · tennis, padel, polo, golf
Book the court · the green · the chukkers — handled personally.
Citywide · CyclingThe Citi Bike network end-to-end — Hudson River Greenway, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the city's most underused tourist asset.
Private aviation · jets
Charter a jet · point to point — handled personally.
Teterboro · WestchesterOut of Teterboro for the Hamptons, Aspen, Caribbean — NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet. Westchester (HPN) for the discreet alternative.
Helicopter transfers
Book the transfer · airport, peak, port — handled personally.
Hudson · Skyline tourThe New Jersey-departure helicopter tour — the Statue of Liberty, the full Manhattan loop, the only credible aerial of the city at a sensible price.
Spas & wellness
Book the treatment — handled personally.
Hotel spa · MidtownThree floors at the top of the Crown Building, a twenty-metre pool flanked by fire pits, the Banya — the most serious urban spa in the city.
Events · what's on this season
Book the experience — handled personally.
Midtown · MuseumThe Museum of Modern Art on 53rd — the permanent collection, the Yoshio Taniguchi extension, the most consequential modern art museum in the country.
Financial District · MemorialThe Michael Arad twin pools on the Twin Tower footprints — the Snøhetta pavilion, the museum underneath, the city's most considered memorial.
Madison Square Garden · KnicksThe Garden on a Knicks night — the courtside seats, the Spike Lee photograph, the only New York sports experience worth the prioritisation.
Chelsea · Elevated parkThe 1.45-mile elevated park on the West Side rail line — Gansevoort to 34th Street, the most consequential public-space project in New York since Central Park.
Manhattan to Brooklyn · Bridge crossingThe 1883 Roebling structure on foot — City Hall to Dumbo, the elevated pedestrian deck above the traffic, the city's most photographed sightline.
Bryant Park · Holiday marketThe Bryant Park holiday market and ice rink — the only proper Christmas market in midtown, the rink open through January.
Central Park · LakeThe Loeb Boathouse rowboat rental on the Central Park lake — the wooden boats, the rowing back from the Bow Bridge, the most contemplative hour in the park.
Midtown East · Beaux-Arts terminalThe 1913 Warren and Wetmore terminal — the main concourse, the celestial ceiling, the Oyster Bar in the basement vaults.
Midtown · Beaux-Arts libraryThe 1911 Carrère & Hastings Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — the Rose Main Reading Room, the lions on the steps, the most theatrical free building in midtown.
Clubs & members rooms
Get on the list — handled personally.
Soho · NightclubPaul Sevigny's Soho club on Spring Street — the Moroccan motif, the DJ booth, the room the fashion-week after-party books on autopilot.
Lower East Side · Theatre & nightclub
Members club · Hudson YardsMajor Food Group's New York members' club at 35 Hudson Yards — three floors, Carbone Privato, and a $20,000 initiation.
Lower East Side · Nightclub
West Village · Hotel ballroom