MICHELIN Guide’s Point Of View

This freshly minted dining room displays the virtues of symmetry, with not so much as a chair pushed out of its proper place. Everything is custom made, from the staff’s Todd Snyder suits to the handblown water vases. Other significant changes include a paring down of crowds—they now cater to a smaller audience. This is all evidence of Chef Daniel Humm’s masterful precision that extends through the cuisine as it artfully unfolds before each guest. In place of a menu, servers offer a brief description of the night’s meal, along with a few selections that you are invited to make. Courses are so well conceived that they often seem as continuations of the same dish. Revel over flaky brioche with scallop gelée-crowned butter, before moving on to the purest tasting of scallop slivers set over uni in an ice-cold shell. This kitchen's signature way with delicate presentations reaches a peak in a tin of caviar served with smoked ham custard, Hollandaise sabayon and mini English muffins. Specialties arrive by trolley, perhaps bearing a shaved truffle-topped flatbread brushed with aged-cheddar sauce, which when removed goes on to reveal stuffed wild mushrooms in an intense broth. Want more? We all do.