Aquavit

Aquavit has been teaching New York to eat Scandinavian since 1987, long before Nordic cooking was fashionable. Today, under Swedish chef Emma Bengtsson, it is one of the city's most polished dining rooms, holding two Michelin stars, with the hushed, unhurried calm of a Stockholm winter afternoon.

The tasting menu is the event, built on cured and smoked fish, shellfish, root vegetables, berries and dill. A meal might move through herring, gravlax, langoustine and venison before an arctic-bright dessert. For a gentler introduction, the bar offers Swedish classics — meatballs with lingonberries, toast skagen — and, of course, house-infused aquavit.