Ristorante Morini

A man with a pocket square in his Brooks Brothers jacket discreetly places a folded $100 bill on the bar to cover drinks for him and his elegant date before they move on to a luxurious Italian dinner upstairs. Ristorante Morini is conveniently near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and its patrons, like this gentleman, are the type who attend galas rather than stand in line for pay-what-you-wish admission tickets. The Altamarea Group (Ahmass Fakahany and Chef Michael White) is behind this upscale, uptown version of Osteria Morini. The restaurant has 35 seats downstairs, 130 seats upstairs, two private rooms and sidewalk seating. Gordon Finn is the executive chef and Michael White's interpreter, making deluxe pasta dishes like tortelloni with asparagus, robiola and mascarpone cheese and raviolo with an egg yolk centre, wild nettles, morels and brown butter. Coastal crudo and inland chicken, chops and steak are artistically presented, and the wine list is reliably deep.