While the setting inside the Trump International Hotel & Tower and the correspondingly stiff prices certainly would suggest that Jean Georges is the ultimate memory-making venue, writer Hal Rubenstein, for one, once advised in New York magazine forgoing anniversaries and marriage proposals here. That's because no wannabe groom wants his multi-carat offering to be outshined by the seven-course dinner tasting at this restaurant with a Mobil Five-Star rating and the national 2009 Beard Foundation award for most outstanding restaurant. Run by world-famous chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the dining room's floor-to-ceiling windows offer beautiful views of the city that can be enjoyed from romantic tableside settees. The menu, and that of the more casual and accessible (read less expensive) Nougatine restaurant inside Jean Georges, blends French, American and Indochinese ingredients. The three-course, prix fixe dinner menu offers a virtual bonanza of bewitching combinations, including sea scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caperraisin emulsion; young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs; and arctic char, asparagus and oyster. Full bar. Serving lunch Mon–Fri, dinner Mon–Sat. Closed Sun.
Where the Locals Eat rating
Top 100 Restaurant, New York City
"[Jean Georges] still presents an experience unlike others around town. ...The dining room's big windows, Central Park glimpses and unobtrusive palette of beiges and grays give it an airiness ... [that] complements the cleanness of much of the cooking."
– Frank Bruni, The New York Times, Apr 19, 2006
"Nothing you encounter will fail to awe, from the simplest dish of sea scallops with caper-raisin emulsion to the unexpected combo of sweetbreads en cocotte with ginger and licorice."
—New York magazine
"Tableside service wows the guests: Servers lift old-fashioned lids to reveal small but artfully plated combinations of ingredients, then pour a soup, sauce or other liquid curiosity around each dish."
—Time Out New York
"The food is imaginative and well thought out. ... All the service is, as you would expect, professional; what you might not expect is the level of friendliness that pervades the place. This is high-style dining without the attitude."
– Newsday
"Reservations are coveted at this award-winning restaurant consistently populated by a steady stream of notables. ... Whatever the menu, you can count on sublime ingredients transformed by the delicate hand of a master."
—Michelin New York City
How others rate Jean Georges
Michelin Guide 2009
*** (exceptional)
The New York Times
**** (extraordinary)
Top Pick
New York magazine
**** (exceptional; consistently elite)
Critics' Pick
Zagat 2009:
28 food rating (extraordinary to perfection)
Time Out New York
Critics' pick
James Beard Foundation
Outstanding Restaurant Award winner (national), 2009
Outstanding Pastry Chef 2006: Johnny Iuzzini
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Outstanding Restaurateur Award nominee, 2007-2008