Élevage SoHo Kitchen & Bar

Don’t be fooled by the lofty name or upscale location (tucked inside the Epicurean Hotel, just past the lobby). The ambience here is relaxed and the cooking is down-to-earth, though happily not mundane. Breakfast and lunch are served, but dinner is where the lion’s share of excitement lies, with a menu whose flavors confidently span the globe. Smoked barbecue chicken wings find themselves in good company with a wild mushroom chawanmushi; while za’atar and Madras curry might accent grass-fed bison or Florida grouper. Beyond the diversity of its culinary influences, the food shows a sense of balance, as in a hearty dish of chicken schnitzel matched with buttery spaetzle and finished with a mustard jus that provides that perfect bit of lightness and zest.