You’ve got to eat a part of it, New York, New York

Our friend Warren Logan, the CEO of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, studying the menu at Le Bernardin. It is a serious decision.

Part of the amazing amuse bouche at Le Bernardin: tuna tartare in a sweet potato crisp. (And I don’t normally like raw fish.)

More raw fish that was simply divine: fluke ceviche, left, and lemon-kissed lobster with sweet pea puree. (The lobster was cooked.) Yum.

One appetizer: barely cooked scallop in brown butter dashi.

My appetizer: warm Peekytoe Maryland lump crab with shaved heirloom cauliflower in turmeric-mustard emulsion.

We all agreed we could have made a meal just on the wonderful bread at Le Bernardin.

Baked snapper with charred green tomatoes and Baja-style shrimp sauce.

My baked cod with braised daikon, charred scallion jam and lemon confit-kimchi broth. Unbelievable.

Warren and I had a very simple dessert: raspberry sorbet. It was intense and delicious.

Alan, of course, upped the ante on dessert by ordering an exotic fruit “pavlova” – roasted pineapple, guava jam and yuzu-coconut sorbet. He loved it.

Our friend Phyllis Nichols from Knoxville also joined us at Le Bernardin.

Here’s a happy Alan at Le Bernardin. It’s his favorite restaurant.

And, as if we had not eaten enough . . . (It’s a French thing, this kind of meal-ender.)

Alan at Perry St.

We had drinks at the bar. I loved the huge bunch of forsythia. (I always call this plant “For Cynthia!” Ha.)

Here’s Perry St’s cool interior.

At Perry St, the amuse bouche was a crunchy baked asparagus number. Perfect for a starter.

The split pea soup with Tumbleweed cheese and sourdough croutons was extraordinary. It made me promise to serve soup more often at home dinner parties.

This rice cracker-crusted tuna with Sriracha-citrus emulsion was supposed to be an appetizer, but I made it my main course. It was out of this world.

Alan loved his pan-seared black sea bass with grilled maitake mushrooms and aromatic basil broth.

Alan’s dessert was Valrhona chocolate mousse with mint ice cream and chocolate wafers.

Here’s Alan outside Marseille.

The charming dining room at Marseille.

Alan really enjoyed the charred beet salad with candied walnuts, sorrel leaf, Asian pear and goat cheese vinaigrette.

The bouillabaisse was loaded with seafood — and fabulous.

Alan ordered Moroccan chicken with saffron cauliflower puree, green chickpeas and baby carrots.

This sign makes us happy. We’ve only had excellent meals at Becco.

As soon as you sit down, you are greeted by this spread. It’s delicious.

I was surprised when Alan ordered the kale salad. But he really liked it.

The way they served the grilled pounded chicken breast mounded with arugula tossed with sunchokes, and oven-dried tomatoes and drizzled with lemon vinaigrette was very light and refreshing.

I always get this dish when I go to Becco: Gamberi ‘al Forno,’  crispy baked shrimp with Lidia’s spicy tomato sauce. Awesome. (I have an odd — I’m told — habit of eating shrimp tails. And these were delicious!)

Isn’t it cute inside?

Here’s Alan at our sweet little corner table.

I had a lobster caprese salad. Along with the olive focaccia bread and olive oil, this was a perfect lunch.

Alan ordered something called bocconcini: tomato-braised chicken-eggplant meatballs with mozzarella di bufala and basil. I tried it. It was unusual and delicious, light but with rich, satisfying flavors.

First course was spinach cannelloni au gratin, which is a spinach and ricotta cheese filling rolled in a French crepe with supreme sauce. Super rich, but super good, too.

The servings at Sardi’s are quite ample. Alan and I both had orange teriyaki glazed broiled salmon with caramelized ginger sweet potato puree, sauteed spinach and sweet lime soy sauce.

I was too stuffed to eat my tiramisu cake with espresso vanilla sauce.

Alan, of course, managed to eat his!

I loved seeing Kermit’s caricature among those of all the other famous actors on the walls of Sardi’s.

Alan outside DB Bisto Moderne at 55 W. 44th Street.

Here’s the bustling interior of DB Bistro Moderne.

I thought it was very cool that the bread was served in mint julep cups! I never would have thought of that.

The chilled asparagus soup was delish.

Chorizo crusted cod was the main course for both of us.

The dessert was fabulous. I didn’t really mean to eat it, but … Blackberries with lime Mascarpone and little meringue bits.

More French treats.

We still had high hopes when this photo was taken outside the restaurant at 402 W. 43rd Street.

This amuse bouche was the best thing we had at ESCA. White bean bruschetta.

The olives weren’t bad, either. You expect them to be salty. And I liked the little kick they got from the peppers.

Here’s the cool interior of the place.

The grilled sardines with shallot thyme vinaigrette and arugula were OK. Salty, of course, but that was not all that surprising. And I did like the way they made “tails” out of the arugula.

Here’s my Zuppa di Pesce. It was inedible due to the salt. I took two bites.

Alan’s mackerel was bland and flavorless.

Of course our disappointing meal did not stop Alan from ordering dessert. Milk chocolate mousse. It was fine.

152 W. 51st Street.

Cheers!