Haute Restaurants: Davidburke & Donatella

Davidburke & Donatella

It’s been just over three years since davidburke & donatella opened the front doors to their glamorous, smartly styled restaurant in an Upper East Side townhouse on East 61st Street near Park Avenue – and it remains fully booked.

Trained at the Culinary Institute of America, then honing his skills in France by working with a number of notable chefs, the award-winning Burke made headlines at the River Café where, as its executive chef, earned the restaurant three stars from the New York Times. From there he went on to impressive stints at Park Avenue Café and One C.P.S.

Original to the max when it comes to the food and theatrical presentation you’ll know from the moment the brioche in mini copper pans are set down, that you’re on an E-ticket ride to gourmandville.

Appetizers include day boat sea scallops “benedict” (potato pancakes take the place of English muffins) topped with sunny-side-up quail eggs and slices of chorizo (standing in for ham) and a green apple-infused lobster bisque paired with a crispy lobster roll.

Main dishes we love include the superb-tasting cumin-dusted lamb porterhouse with grilled eggplant and a pomegranate mint glaze and the lobster “filet mignon served up with a heaping mound of curried shoestring potatoes and black honey and fennel candy.

Brilliantly conceived desserts are indescribable but our favorite is a tree of chocolate-dipped cheesecake lollipops.

133 East 61st Street, New York
212 813-2121
www.dbdrestaurant.com