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[title]The rumors of the demise of haute cuisine have been greatly exaggerated. Exhibit A: Daniel Boulud’s boundary-busting Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper West Side. The year’s most convincing retort to downscale dining offered lavish French food for a globalist age, bounding across borders to Marseille, Tel Aviv, Beirut and Tangier. Over white tablecloths and good china, we ate rouget fillets suffused with bouillabaisse flavors and cod in a za’atar crust; kataifi duck spring rolls with sweet date puree and a chicken tagine fit for a Moroccan queen. The best part: With its mix-and-match menu of shareable plates, a meal here is only as ambitious and pricey as you want it to be—which is to say, it needn’t cost you three hours and a month’s rent. Boulud Sud, 20 W 64th St between Central Park West and Broadway (212-595-1313, danielnyc.com/boulud_sud.html)
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