For far too long, the only ones who actually enjoyed the meals they found at Rockefeller Center were the camels and donkeys munching hay in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular's manger scene. For the rest of us, this Art Deco city-within-a-city has been a dining wasteland, full of eateries designed to make a quick buck off tourists who'd never return anyway. That has changed. Just before the pandemic, Tishman Speyer (the owners of Rockefeller Center) decided to transform the complex into a dining destination and started courting New York's hottest chef/owners. Lodi, a Milanese-style cafe  from star chef Ignacio Mattos, opened to much acclaim—including from us—in 2021. Jupiter, from the team behind Greenwich Village's King Restaurant, is Rockefeller Center's second Italian restaurant, and its cooking is as accomplished, though the decor is not nearly as stylish.

But that may not matter if you get the right seat—ones in the interior dining room overlook the skating rink, which more than makes up for the blandly minimalist decor (think hospital waiting room and you won't be too far off). As for the menu, it's uniformly delicious, from the perfect Roman-style fried artichoke appetizers to the pastas (like pumpkin-stuffed ravioli and tube shaped pasta with a ragu of slow-cooked pork shoulder) to the extraordinarily rich vegan chocolate sorbet. Happily, the prices aren't too outrageous, either (by New York City standards). A real winner!