Pic courtesy of Raoul's
Don’t show up late to dinner at Raoul’s. There’s no place to wait—the bar area is cramped and zoolike—and your dinner date will want to kill you. If you get the showing-up-on-time part right, you can’t really go wrong at this sweetly worn-in old French bistro. The crisply seared, juice-oozing steak deserves its fame; the frisee-lardons salad with a poached duck egg is the perfect starter; the oysters are a must. And the house tarot-card reader is still upstairs, just in case you want to risk messing with an otherwise perfect night.
Raoul’s. 180 Prince St. between Sullivan and Thompson Sts. (212) 966-3518.
Prices/Features: MOD (See Welcome to Salmaland for key to letter abbreviations.)