44 & X Hell’s Kitchen

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in New York.

At the corner of 44th Street and Tenth Avenue, 44 & X takes American comfort food and dresses it up: buttermilk fried chicken, a Maine lobster casserole, and an iceberg wedge salad done with more technique than the diner classics they're named after. Weekend brunch draws a crowd from the neighborhood, helped along by a cocktail list named for Broadway shows, since Theatre Row sits a few blocks over and show nights bring their own rush before curtain. The dining room keeps white tablecloths, aimed more at a low-key family dinner than a rowdy night out. Reservations run through OpenTable or Resy, useful ahead of an 8 p.m. curtain.