Stopped by one of NYC's most famous and fanciest restaurants last week, Daniel. This French restaurant from the great chef Daniel Boulud has been around for ages. Three years ago it got demoted a star in the NY Times from 4 to 3, still a very good rating.

I hadn't been to Daniel in years and with a $150 gift certificate in my name (birthday gift from my sister) I was ready for the "3 star" experience, and pricing. It costs $142 for a 4 course dinner at Daniel.

The first thing to note when walking into Daniel, is that it's a stunning room. Glamorous and chic, refined, spacious. It's a beautiful restaurant. The food is pretty good too. The service is excellent..sort of.

For the first three courses the service was so well synchronized, it was like the servers were doing a ballet, quite lovely in fact. But after our entrees, it sort of just stopped. Our table was forgotten about for a good 25 minutes. Not sure what happened, but both my date and I were confused. What happened? No idea.. And then the desserts came.

The pastry chef, Ghaya Oliveira, just won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry chef in America, yet we didn't really love the desserts. They were a bit too complex, and I just wish they were a bit simpler and more satisfying. In fact, I reminisced about the great sundae at ABC Kitchen, something simple, yet awesome.

Don't get me wrong, Daniel is a really good, fine restaurant. Good for special occasions. I enjoyed much of the meal. But these little mishaps were noticeable. Also, you should know, at Daniel, a single espresso is $10. I find this a bit outrageous, and kind of silly.

Onto the food porn:

Daniel

60 East 65th St

New York, NY 10065

212-288-0033

www.danielnyc.com