Café Carmellini

Andrew Carmellini's return to fine dining fills the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a Gilded Age building in NoMad, with a theatrical two-level dining room: chandeliers, indoor trees, curtains, and curved sapphire-blue velvet booths against caramel leather. It is one of the most glamorous rooms to open in the city in years.

The menu crosses France and Italy and leans on luxury. The crab mille-feuille, built like a tower of wafers in Meyer lemon sauce, and the scallops Cardoz, dedicated to the late Floyd Cardoz, are the dishes to know; the squab en croûte with foie gras is the indulgence. The free bread, a pull-apart sourdough loaf and arm-length cheese breadsticks, is a highlight in itself.