Café Luxembourg

On our lists of the best cozy restaurants and special-occasion restaurants in New York.

Since 1983, this Upper West Side brasserie has served a French onion soup rich enough that finishing it makes a mess, alongside steak frites and profiteroles under red leather booths and dim lighting. The crowd is part of the draw: Fran Lebowitz has been spotted taking meetings here, tucked into a corner booth with two very tall companions. Reservations run through OpenTable, at a restaurant that has held its corner of the neighborhood for more than four decades.