Price: $115 (Add $65 for wine pairings)    Number of Courses: 4

Cuisine: New American        Neighborhood: Midtown West

Charlie's favorite winter ingredient: Winter Squash 

Aureole, which comes from the Middle English word for halo, was Charlie Palmer's first restaurant as a chef/owner when it opened in 1988 at 34 East 61st Street and has since become Charlie Palmer's flagship fine-dining eatery. The restaurant that Palmer has referred to as his soul, recently moved on down to some sleek and contemporary new digs in June of 2009. Aureole's new home, taking up street level space in the Bank of America Tower on 42nd Street, has been the benefactor of interior design by Adam Tihany, who has brought the space to life with an unexpected and almost whimsical ease.

The Parallel Tasting Menu is the innovative brainchild of executive chef Christopher Lee and of course Palmer himself. The simple logic behind it was to create a powerful chef's tasting menu with all of the flavors and nuances of an eight-course eat-a-thon, but that can be served and enjoyed in half the time. Course pairings can share the same ingredient: for instance, a Diver Sea Scallop "sandwich" with foie gras, and a Diver Sea Scallop sashimi with jalapeño emulsion. Or, the courses may share a slightly more obscure linkage, such as Blue Fin Tuna Belly with piquillo pepper, and Slow-Cooked Veal Belly with pickled pearl onions. Aureole offers an array of other, less expensive (and experimental) fixed-price menus as well - including a $34 three-course lunch, and an $84 three-course dinner. Aureole also offers the semblance of an early-bird special from 5-6pm consisting of a three-course dinner at $55 per person, and dubbed "Pre-Theatre Dining."

135 West 42nd Street • 212-319-1660 • charliepalmer.com     

To view the pages in pdf form, click here.