There is no breakfast at Tiffany’s. But there’s lunch and dinner worth your time on Fifth Avenue’s prime shopping stretch from 42nd to 59th Street. Not in tourist-trap TGI Friday’s or fast-food joints, but, surprisingly, at some high-end stores.
Cafes inside fancy emporiums historically served indifferent food at best to a captive crowd of famished, foot-weary shoppers — especially at the holidays. But as Fifth Avenue’s retail profile soared in the past 10 years, with electronics and “art” clip joints giving way to glamorous boutiques and higher-end chains, its culinary scene has quietly kept pace.
You wouldn’t know it from the sidewalk, but there’s some pretty good food on Fifth Avenue! Most of it is served in sexy settings that maybe make it seem even better than it is. And the newest, Tommy Bahama, is trying hard to measure up.
None of these places are cheap. So for the shopping part of the day, skip Cartier and Bulgari in favor of popular-priced H&M and Uniqlo. Then use the dough you saved to feast in a room that makes you feel like a billionaire.
* ARMANI RISTORANTE
717 Fifth Ave.; 212-207-1902
The dazzling restaurant on the third floor of Giorgio Armani’s flagship has grown up since its wobbly 2009 opening. It isn’t merely the best Italian place on the avenue: It’s matured into a fine establishment by any standard.
The striking black-and-white dining room and sexy lounge are wrapped in windows framed in tiny red, green and blue lights. Those intimidated by the store’s hushed chic can relax: Everyone is greeted warmly.
There’s no chef-of-record — recipes “come directly from the Milan team,” a rep said — which makes the consistency of the Tuscan-inflected menu more remarkable.
Every meal starts with strong house-made bread including oregano mini-baguettes and Sardinian-style flatbread. Dinner entrees reach into the $40s, like a green tagliatelle and langoustine special the other night. But a daily $34, three-course lunch prix-fixe is a helluva bargain and often a taste of heaven.
I was blown away by gorgeously composed grilled calamaretti over green pea puree, al dente house-made green fettuccine with basil pesto and sweet baby shrimp, and pan-seared orata in aromatic fish jus.
They laughed at dishes twice as costly at certain new Italian spots boasting famous names. And the Armani crowd’s a feast for the eyes — I’ve yet to see a set of “Real Housewives” lips in the house.
* CAFE SFA
Saks Fifth Avenue, 611 Fifth Ave., eighth floor; 212-940-4080
The sprawling, 160-seat eatery with window views of Rockefeller Center has been there since the early 1990s. It always struck me as classier than your average department store noshing spot, offering sandwiches, soups and salads a cut above expectations.
I don’t know if it’s because of new management, Centerplate Inc., but my most recent lunch was even better. Autumn vegetable soup and Maryland crab and corn chowder would please in most any modern-American eatery.
The grilled cheese sandwich was my favorite in ages — a hearty, gooey blend of Gruyere, mozzarella and provolone and heirloom tomato blissfully melted on crisp seven-grain toast with rosemary rémoulade. Its $20 tab includes a bowl of soup.
People-watching is fun, too. Tourists and kids share the cheerful, multi-sectioned room with romantic-looking couples, executives sipping at the bar and even a few beautiful people dressed to kill.
* TRUMP GRILL
Trump Tower, 725 Fifth Ave. at 56th Street, lower atrium level; 212-715-7290
Trump Grill isn’t connected to Gucci’s multi-level flagship, which replaced the one-time mall of failed boutiques. But since the atrium’s full of Trump-themed books, ties and souvenirs at various counters, pretend it’s in a store.
The Grill (or Grille depending on which sign you read) displays one of those less than persuasive “star diamond” plaques from the “American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.”
But science took the day off from “crispy” calamari as lame and limp as in a saloon. You might chance into a decent dish or two in a setting that looks, smells and sounds like a casino lobby. (Ask to be seated in the wood-paneled area rather than in the fringe zone closest to the escalators.)
Grilled salmon tasted like salmon, and wilted spinach like spinach, despite the overpowering whiff of butter that preceded them to the table. Well, it did say “lemon beurre blanc.”
Sandwiches and salads can be satisfying. But choose Thai coconut curry chicken or risotto and you have only yourself to fire.
* TOMMY BAHAMA MANHATTAN ISLAND
551 Fifth Ave.; 212-537-0960
You don’t expect palm fronds on Fifth Avenue, nor a view of gritty brick buildings through cabana-like wooden shutters. But that’s the whole idea. The newly launched “island-inspired” lifestyle emporium lays the tropical shtick on thick in a 200-seat eatery reached via a tall, twisting staircase.
Potent mai tais, daiquiris and mojitos make you dizzier. The colorful menu’s finding its footing, too: crisply assembled, spicy ahi tuna tacos were offset by soggy coconut shrimp. Properly cooked, generous cuts of snapper, black cod and swordfish were undercut by sickly-sweet sauces.
Tommy Bahama is trying to turn out dishes that won’t be laughed out of town. But on the real Manhattan island, a rep is established instantly and it’s hard to rebound from a weak start. Our waitress was as warm and well-trained as everything else seemed undermanaged.
None of the dishes came to the table hot. Disorganized hostesses had trouble finding my reservation.
And beware wooden booths less cozy than they look: seat backs are too far from the table, and pillows to close the gap too big for comfort.
* BG RESTAURANT
Bergdorf Goodman, 754 Fifth Ave., seventh floor; 212-872-8977
The drawing room-style setting is hard to resist, framed in chinoiserie-style walls and mullioned windows facing Central Park. White tablecloths soften the murmur of high-spending ladies dressed as if they just splurged in the store.
But they don’t muffle the impact of prices that soar well into the $30s for entrees. Some good meat and seafood salads are built around first-rate greens — baby spinach, arugula, watercress — but cost as much as main courses.
There are decent cuts of fish. Avoid drab chicken Milanese ($30) encrusted in anemic Parmesan; I’ve had better on planes. Keep an eye on wine by the glass: California Chardonnay can set you back $24.
But on a bleak December afternoon, it’s comforting to linger among Birkin bags, Frédéric Fekkai cuts and Louboutin pumps, sometimes all attached to the same female body — a sight for which we’ll never lose our appetite.