La Petite Maison

How's this for a celebrity boost: Elton John's a fan! La Petite Maison is a popular restaurant in Nice, frequented by mega-wattage peeps like John, Hugh Grant and Nicolas Sarkozy. It spawned an offshoot in London in 2007, and now chef-owner Nicole Rubi has taken it Stateside, moving into the space that was most recently home to Atria. Rubi's got some A-list help of her own: acclaimed NYC chef Alain Allegretti, a Nice native himself who's been keeping a low profile since his eponymous downtown restaurant closed this past summer. He's onboard here as consulting chef, overseeing the trans-Atlantic redux of signature Maison dishes like baby artichoke salad and macaroni with truffles. Allegretti has also created several dishes exclusively for the New York location, including a Provencale fish soup with rouille and garlic croutons, ravioli with oxtail and Swiss chard, and black tagliolini with shrimp, sea scallops and Serrano peppers. The one-of-a-kind space still features its trademark, sky-high atrium, accentuated by a wall of olive oils, as well as mixed-media photography by Vogue contributor Jean Daniel Lorieux featuring icons like Twiggy.

See more: Midtown restaurants, Midtown West restaurants, French restaurants