Dining Alfresco in the Big Apple

Outdoor cafés aren’t usually the first thing visitors think about, but New Yorkers consider alfresco dining one of the city’s premier treats. As with everything else about New York City, there are broad variations by price and by neighborhood.

The Upper East Side is a residential area, but it holds Museum Mile (along Fifth Avenue) and the city’s greatest stretch of high-end boutiques (on Madison Avenue). Visitors often dine there after experiencing the classic shop-till-you-drop effect or coming down with “museum leg,” that can’t-walk-another-step affliction of cultured people worldwide. In the summer, whenever it isn’t too hot, the neighborhood’s outdoor tables will fill up first.

If New Yorkers love only one thing more than New York itself, it’s a bargain. Le Magnifique had its first summer season only last year, but by delivering a fine $20 three-course dinner (before 6:30 p.m.), it became an instant hit with those seeking French food at American prices. Patrons appear to include a large segment of the French expat community.

The outdoor tables stretch along a charming and quiet block of East 73d Street. As you dine on chicken paillard or a Kobe beef burger, and as you answer your waiter’s French with the best you can muster, you can feel you’re an American in Paris, even as others gracefully tackle being French in New York.