Simon & The Whale

<p>Gabriel Stulman's Happy Cooking Hospitality group built a reputation across Manhattan for restaurants that felt genuinely inhabited rather than designed for Instagram, and Simon & The Whale, occupying the ground level of the Freehand New York hotel on Lexington Avenue, followed that pattern. The kitchen under chef Matt Griffin drew on a wide range of influences — Italian technique, North African seasoning, and what the <em>New York Times</em> noted as nods toward various Asian countries — without losing coherence. That range landed the restaurant a place in <em>New York Magazine</em>'s The Thousand Best, a list that rewards consistent execution over novelty.</p> <p>The menu leaned into the kind of cooking that works in a hotel dining room serving both hotel guests and Flatiron regulars: dishes with enough ambition to satisfy a destination diner, approachable enough for a Tuesday night. Pork collar Milanese, squid confit with smoked mussels, black bass crudo, and squid ink tagliatelle were among the dishes that defined the kitchen's output, spanning the Italian-leaning and seafood-forward registers the restaurant became known for. The setting matched the food's register — a bustling, wood-accented space that read as sophisticated without being stiff.</p> <p>The Flatiron and Gramercy stretch of Lexington Avenue has long supported hotel restaurants that punch above their weight, and Simon & The Whale fit that category during its run. Pricing sat in the mid-to-upscale range for Manhattan; a whole fish for two at $60 placed the menu firmly in the territory where quality expectations are high. The restaurant has since closed, and the address at 23 Lexington Avenue no longer operates under this name.</p>

How it compares

• Simon & The Whale

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  Dining

  Notes

  New York City

• Szechuan Mountain House

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  Authentic Sichuan

  Notes

  East Village, $$

• Tomiño Taberna Gallega

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  Galician Tapas

  Notes

  SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square, $$

• P.J. Clarke’s

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  Classic American Tavern

  Notes

  East Midtown-Turtle Bay, $$

• Old Sport

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  Halal Chinese Noodles

  Notes

  Maspeth, $$

• Salty Lunch Lady's Little Luncheonette

  Awards

  1 recognition

  Cuisine

  American Sandwich Shop

  Notes

  Ridgewood, $$