Walking into Cote combines all the elegance of a modern steakhouse but with iconic KBBQ grills and aromas. With some of the best Michelin-star dry-aged steak in the city, Chef David Shim and owner Simon Kim have elevated KBBQ into a place that treats every cut of meat with perfection, innovation, and quality. The steak and eggs hand-cut filet mignon with Kaluga caviar and chives on milk toast is my favorite tartare in NYC and my go-to spot for dining with clients.

Love wrapping a shoot with a visit to LittleMad to celebrate. When it comes to innovative Korean cuisine and Michelin level plating, Chef Sol Han paints every plate with surprising flavors and visual details that create dishes as photo-worthy as they are delicious. My must orders: yellowtail sashimi with Asian pear, mad toast (wagyu tartare, egg salad, caviar and truffles), fried buhsut (maitake mushroom tempura and french onion dip), prime galbi with banchan, and the crispy pig ear salad.

Sometimes you’re craving sushi, but a spicy tuna roll just isn’t it. Well, let me introduce you to Nami Nori and their temaki-style handrolls crafted by Chef Jihan Lee. Their location in Williamsburg has an aesthetic that just makes you want to sit and sip on sake for hours while you watch Jihan top mounds of caviar and other garnishes atop beautifully layered temaki. Toro scallion, lobster tempura, spicy crab, maitake mushroom, coconut shrimp with green curry and so many more.

I recently came across the newly opened Essex Pearl while making my way through the basement of Essex Market, and it boasts some of the freshest and most uniquely prepared seafood in the city. Grilled tiger prawns with samba, lime, and fried garlic, the crispy whole fried snapper, ora king salmon sashimi, pink moon oysters, and coconut steamed rice combine the surprising flavors of the land with the freshest seafood of the ocean.

If you’re my friend you know we’re eating family-style. Antidote does all the dim sum classics: har gow, wontons, scallion pancakes. But they also bring the heat with their take on Szechuan classics like mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, and spicy prawns. The cocktails are killer and it's a block from Domino Park for an after-dinner stroll if you’re on a date. The interior is intimate, moody, and just as surprising as their fried chickpeas in cured egg yolk.

When I'm celebrating something big, I take me and my friends to the tasting menu at Jua. The vibe sets a tone of excellence without being pretentious or stuffy. The first course "Caviar Kim" is one of the best bites I've ever had—Golden Kaluga caviar with beef tartare, pickled kohlrabi, avocado, and truffle rice wrapped in crispy nori. Chef Hoyoung Kim is a true artist, and I leave inspired whenever I see his plating.