Butter

Butter is located in downtown Manhattan.Our Executive Chef, Food Network favorite Alexandra Guarnaschelli, offers traditional American Fare highlighted and enhanced by subtle global influences with the grace notes of seasonality.

In many ways, Butter epitomizes the conflicted priorities of certain downtown restaurants that teeter between dining room and club. Upstairs is a professionally run vaulted dining room that looks like a cross between a chalet and a sauna. Downstairs is a dim lounge. The chef has put together a serious contemporary American menu with all the requisite high-end ingredients and global touches. Appetizers struggle, but main courses, especially fish dishes, are more sure-footed. The delicate grilled turbot has an Asian character, perhaps because of the sake in the beurre blanc. A tapenade coating enlivened a rosy piece of tuna. A lamb chop and loin are juicy enough, and a beef fillet will do the job of placating beef lovers. The amiable list of desserts does not break new ground, though some offer appealing architecture. Dense and creamy chocolate-mocha cake comes with coffee gelato, the two linked by a spiral bridge of crisp cocoa pastry. — Eric Asimov