NYCReview
Included In
Based on a preliminary Google, or scan of the menu online, you might get the wrong idea about Koloman. A high-end, French/Austrian restaurant with turn-of-the-century influences, from a classically-trained “serious” chef, in a hotel? Sounds boring. But Koloman isn’t your garden variety stuffy, over-priced restaurant.
Located in the old Breslin space in the Ace Hotel, Koloman takes the kind of food you’d expect to find at a fancy hotel in Europe, gives it a 21st-century makeover, and then serves it all up in a surprisingly casual setting. And all of that food is excellent.
photo credit: Kate Previte
Eating Koloman’s food feels a bit like being wrapped in a fur blanket. There’s a cheese soufflé that’s at once so light and so rich it will help you understand why soufflés were all the rage for literal centuries. When the roast chicken for two arrives with a side of buttery spaetzle, it will only take a few bites before you’re texting the group chat about it.
Most of the dishes seem straightforward, until they hit your table. An appetizer simply called “boeuf” is actually a golden tower filled with tea party-style food made entirely of beef bits. The salmon en croute, usually served as a beige brick of pastry-wrapped fish, looks like it was plated by an AI bot that was trained on the MoMA permanent collection and a culinary school textbook. The crème brûlée is made with duck egg, and it will make you swear off any custard made with boring old chicken eggs.
photo credit: Kate Previte
The space feels more like a pub than a place where you’d spend $84 on roast chicken, but the juxtaposition works. The dining room is full of cozy nooks, so you can actually hold a conversation with your friends. And this isn’t a restaurant that requires an outfit—show up in the same clothes you wore while staring blankly at your laptop on the couch before dinner, or in whatever you’d wear to your date’s apartment after.
You can have a special occasion dinner here, but what makes it special isn’t a glitzy space or suit-clad servers hovering while you choose a wine (the sommelier comes from Le Bernardin, so let her take that decision out of your hands). It’s the fact that you can eat food that feels luxurious enough to be served in a palace in a place that feels like a cafe you stumbled into for a beer. It’s rare that you could celebrate an anniversary or simply making it through another Wednesday at the same restaurant, but Koloman is uniquely suited to either moment. That’s exactly why we love it.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Kate Previte
Gougères
photo credit: Kate Previte
Boeuf
photo credit: Kate Previte
Celery Root Tartare
photo credit: Kate Previte
Duck Liver Parfait
photo credit: Kate Previte
Cheese Souffle
photo credit: Kate Previte
Schnitzel
photo credit: Kate Previte
Salmon en Croute
photo credit: Kate Previte
Beef Tenderloin
photo credit: Kate Previte
Brune Landaise
photo credit: Kate Previte
Apple Strudel
photo credit: Kate Previte
Crème Brûlée