LADY M BOUTIQUE
41 E. 78th St.
212-452-2222

Nothing works up an appetite like a crazed Madison Avenue shopping spree. Refueling with a turkey sandwich at the Viand coffee shop will do in a pinch, but really, after dropping a week's pay on a cashmere hot-water-bottle cozy at Malo, or five grand on a pair of two-tone sharkskin-and-cordovan hiking boots at Silvano Lattanzi, don't you and your palate deserve something a little more . . . elegant? Prolong the spendthrift's high with a layover at Lady M, a dessert "salon" where the exquisite cakes-the gâteau au chocolat is devastatingly good-are showcased like precious jewels, and Moët & Chandon comes by the $16 glass and Dom Pérignon by the $350 bottle. Price-is-no-object Limoges china, German stemware, and elaborate amaryllis arrangements will put you on snoot alert, but in actuality the service couldn't be nicer or more efficient. Grab a tiny café table-there are only six-and recharge with French ham and Jarlsberg on a crusty baguette or a goat-cheese salad, then hit the pastry display case and make what might be your toughest decision of the day. Luckily, one size fits all.