We had a delayed birthday lunch as one Connecticut friend was recovering from an accident. Once she recovered, we booked Daniel Boulud’s elegant 1-star Michelin restaurant, Le Pavillon, in the Summit building, right next to Grand Central Terminal, to make her commute easier.

Le Pavillon, like many top-notch NYC restaurants, offers a prix fixe lunch, making it an affordable option to dine. The current everyday lunch prix fixe is $78 for two courses or $95 for three courses—always elegant, beautifully plated and first-rate service. Food is always good, being tasty, multi-component and technique-driven.

While sipping our Drouhin-Vaudon Chablis 2023 ($28), we nibbled on their always-worth-the-calories bread basket with butter.  

I tried their lobster spaghetti, with bisque at the bottom of the bowl, then spaghetti, lobster meat on top, a little saffron butter, and some lemon zest. Tasty. As with any lobster dish, I wished it had more of the crustacean. Another had the smoked trout with Empire apple, potato batons, mushrooms,
and watercress purée.  One tried the grilled avocado over charred kale with the nutty-flavored Castle Valley ancient grain, eikorn berries, and green goddess yogurt.

My bass was a bit more involved: crispy skin, a pine-nut gremolata sweetened with Buddha’s Hand, a finger-like, fragrant citron, on a tri-colored cauliflower purée, with some roasted figs, topped with sesame seeds.

Next time, if it’s still on the menu, I’ll try the red prawn “Salad Basquaise” that James, our server, kept reminding us was a salad with Argentine red prawns “à la plancha,” little gem lettuce, grilled tomatillo vinaigrette, a Basquaise coulis, and pickled Biquinho peppers. A winner.

We ordered only the captivating hazelnut chocolate dessert to share, with milk chocolate crèmeux, praline croustillant, and hazelnut nougatine, with thin strands of yummy chocolate adorning it.

Again, our attentive server came to our table, carrying a pineapple vacherin with a candle, saying the birthday girl should have her own. We shared that with its honey-ginger pineapple, fennel marmalade, and vanilla chantilly.

I highly recommend a visit.

Le Pavillon
Midtown
One Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212.662.1000
lepavillionnyc.com