Given The Modern's home inside the Museum of Modern Art, perhaps it's fitting that even some of the restaurant's most loyal boosters grudgingly concede that chef Gabriel Kreuther's menu can be a bit pretentious. But it's arguably the best of all worlds, because for those inclined to view some entrées as "busy and a little overworked" - as an otherwise glowing New York magazine piece put it - there is the adjacent and more casual Bar Room, where the rustic small plates are more simple and accessible. So whereas the formal dining room's menu offers fine-herbs-braised Vermont suckling pig with parsnip pureé, roasted pineapple and natural jus scented with cardamom (!), the bar gives diners the beer-braised pork belly with sauerkraut and ginger jus. In other words, there's something to please both the fussiest foodies looking for the trendiest combinations as they overlook the MoMA's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden and the hungry walk-ins looking for fine food. Full bar. Dining Room serving lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Mon-Sat. Closed Sun. Bar Room serving lunch and dinner daily. y.
Where the Locals Eat rating
Top 100 Restaurant, New York City
"Taking Museum dining to sophisticated new heights, The Modern is a fine dining restaurant located at the Museum of Modern Art featuring the original French-American cuisine of Alsatian-born Chef Gabriel Kreuther, with desserts by Marc Aumont."
– The Modern website
"[The] Modern is a visual knockout. ... The chef, Gabriel Kreuther, who worked at Atelier in the Ritz-Carlton, can and does dazzle."
– Frank Bruni, The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2007
"[The Modern] gets multiple stars for pageantry and ambition alone. Then there's the food: clean, modernist dishes like roast duck with black-truffle marmalade and cod crusted with little rounds of chorizo."
—New York magazine
"Dining areas and museums rarely combine to be more than a fuel stop between galleries. The Modern, a separate address ensconced in MoMA, changes that ... [with] inspired dishes that would do justice to any setting."
—Time Out New York
"... a stellar destination."
—Newsday
How others rate The Modern
Michelin Guide: * (a very good restaurant in its category)
The New York Times: ** (very good); Top Pick
New York magazine: *** (excellent); Critics' Pick
Zagat: 26 food rating (extraordinary to perfection)
James Beard Foundation
Best New Restaurant 2006 (national)
Gabriel Kreuther, Best Chef: New York City nominee, 2007-2008