Best of New York 2014 • Eating

• Betony

  41 W. 57th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-465-2400

  What separates the seared foie gras at Bryce Shuman’s posh new midtown restaurant from the countless other foie gras preparations it’s our happy duty to sample year after year? It’s not the foie gras itself, or the kale garnish, which offers a healthy counterpoint to this famously unhealthy dish. No, it’s the lowly ham hock, which is cooked two ways (as a gourmet consommé and inserted into the actual foie gras) to bring a much-needed down-home kick to this tired, overly fussy haute-cuisine classic.

From the 2014 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine