The Greenwich Hotel (Hotel “Robert de Niro”) / New York / USA

Charming hotel, looks a bit like a cigar club. And the great Rober is the unofficial mayor of New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood.

Robert De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel sits resplendent all brick and glass and wrought iron just between Franklin and North Moore Streets in Manhattan. It looks as if it has been here since the turn of the last century: the handsome cragginess of the façade has been carefully crafted to appear this way.

The interior displays a gracious incongruity. De Niro himself sits in the hotel’s guests only Drawing Room, in a worn leather club chair. De Niro, who has been the driving aesthetic force behind the hotel, settles in and silences his insistent cell phone.

Take a look and enjoy, its worth it (House & Hotel Magazine tip) to stay here.

Resto tip:

Per Se in New York hold three Michelin stars, and he is generally regarded as the top resto in America.

Per Se resides on the fourth floor of the smart Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle. Its private dining room has an attractive view over Central Park and seats up to 11 diners ($295 for the nine-course tasting menu; $185 for the five-course tasting menu, available at lunch only).

Per Se is noted for its lengthy, intricate tasting menus of carefully crafted dishes. The service is faultless, the staff supported by a sophisticated system that records guests’ every preference. If a diner is left-handed or has a particular ingredient like or dislike, these details will automatically be taken into account upon the next visit. One couple visited Per Se after dining at French Laundry on their honeymoon, and were taken aback that the waiter at Per Se knew exactly what they had eaten in Napa and had prepared an entirely different set of dishes for this meal.

The restaurant has a famously wide repertoire, but a menu might include “oysters and pearls,” a clever dish of sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and Sterling White sturgeon caviar, the elements of the dish combining perfectly, prettily served in a Limoges porcelain dish. It might be followed later in the meal by “quail in a jar,” deboned quail with duck foie gras, lettuce and a few drops of 100-year-old balsamic vinegar, offered with toasted brioche. The same care and attention goes into the seafood dishes, such as tender Nova Scotia lobster, served with pea tendrils and sweet carrot emulsion that balance the lobster’s richness. “Coffee and doughnuts,” which consists of intensely flavored coffee semifreddo with steamed milk, paired with a silky cinnamon sugared beignet, makes for a nice finish.

Even over a multicourse menu, the cooking technique never falters: The tightly run kitchen at Per Se produces an unusually consistent standard. The combination of exquisitely crafted food with flawless and discreet service is a winning combination. If you are looking for a sophisticated private dining experience in New York, you will find none better than Per Se.