Considering Palm Beach’s dining-out scene has had a connection to New York City’s since the Gilded Age, it’s no surprise the island is home to dining outposts of high-end Manhattan-born restaurants — from Swifty’s to La Goulue.
But it was the 2003 debut in Palm Beach of New York-born Café Boulud — opened by renowned chef-restaurateur Daniel Boulud, who continues to make much-anticipated visits here — that pegged the island as a budding dining destination.
The restaurant is in The Brazilian Court, 301 Australian Ave.
Boulud’s reputation in New York was first cemented with his 1993-founded Restaurant Daniel, 60 East 65th Street, an elegant high-end paean to fine dining where to this day, Palm Beach-connected patrons can be spotted.
So it’s worth noting Restaurant Daniel earned a spot in a notable list recently unveiled: The New York Times’ 2026 Best Restaurants in New York City.
The list isn’t all about restaurants for the rich in a city with thousands upon thousands of dining establishments of all stripes.
As chief restaurant critic Ligaya Mishan, who works with co-chief Times restaurant critic Tejal Rao, writes: “A list can be a way to make sense of chaos. In the case of New York, the challenge is overabundance. We have so many outstanding restaurants, it’s easy to forget how outstanding they are. We take them for granted. Let this list be your reminder. …
“But this isn’t merely a ranking of the highest-rated restaurants in the city, arranged by number of stars. You can admire a four-star but adore a two-star, despite and maybe even because of its imperfections. The cramped (intimate!) dining room (or lack thereof), the bravura of a kitchen as narrow as a canoe, the wild ambition that doesn’t always hit its mark but still thrillingly teases the edge of the possible.”
For the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2026 — released May 11 — The Times noted the following about Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel:
“A revamp five years ago transformed the entrance into a red-carpet walkway — an unexpected injection of fun — and got rid of the steps down to the sunken central dining room. It feels more welcoming now (if still not quite egalitarian), with luminous abstractions by the painter Ouattara Watts on the walls. The food remains rigorously composed but more attuned to our moment, and the servers, a number of whom have worked for Daniel Boulud for decades, prize warmth as much as decorum.”
For more than 20 years, M.M. Cloutier has written about restaurants, wine, the hospitality industry and island history for the Palm Beach Daily News.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: NY Times names Café Boulud’s sibling one of New York City’s ‘100 Best’
Reporting by M.M. Cloutier, Special to Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
