Cafe Commerce
Cafe · Upper East Side
964 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10021
Highlights
French-American bistro with standout coconut cake & chicken
French-American bistro with standout coconut cake & chicken
"Starting April 2025, The Frick Collection is back in its original Upper East Side mansion after a five-year renovation. Once you’ve properly acquainted yourself with the resident Rembrandts and Vermeers, Cafe Commerce is a natural next stop for lunch or dinner. The American/French classics are crowd-pleasing. (Think golden-fried slabs of chicken schnitzel and glossy rigatoni carbonara.) And there’s a 19-foot-long mural over the bar if you somehow haven’t yet had your fill of admiring paintings. Though the crowning artistic achievement here is actually the towering, four-layer coconut cake." - neha talreja, willa moore, molly fitzpatrick
"At this tony Upper East Side restaurant, you can enjoy a leisurely afternoon feasting on a whole chicken slathered in foie gras and a four-layer slice of coconut cake. (Cafe Commerce serves the same menu at lunch and dinner, but it’s much easier to find a seat in one of those oxblood booths during the day.) Stop in after museum-hopping or a long walk through Central Park." - willa moore, bryan kim, molly fitzpatrick, will hartman, sonal shah
"Cafe Commerce might be the second coming of the West Village restaurant Commerce, but this place was always destined for the Upper East Side. It's perpetually packed with families squeezing into the teeny oxblood booths, hardly wide enough to fit even one of the kids’ Moncler puffer jackets. The pashmina-wrapped retirees stopping in to refuel after an afternoon at the Frick might very well be on the museum’s board of trustees. Neighbors who recognize each other from the squash club, or maybe from their morning strolls around the Ramble, exchange nods over their whole chickens slathered in foie gras. A towering, four-layer slice of coconut cake" - bryan kim, molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman
"Harold Moore’s uptown revival features many of his greatest hits along with new dishes in his recently opened 55-seat bistro. Look for a menu of classics Moore is known for: sweet potato tortelloni with hazelnuts; stuffed cabbage with bacon, rice, and mushrooms; chicken schnitzel, as well as braised rabbit, and steak Diane. Among desserts, choose between the chocolate birthday cake (even if it’s not your birthday) and Moore’s famous coconut cake." - Melissa McCart
"Cafe Commerce was a West Village staple for coconut cake and martinis until it closed in 2015. Now reborn on the Upper East Side, the restaurant still has that coconut cake, along with things like a $99 roast chicken with foie gras for two. The meal starts with a bread basket and they’ll also feature daily specials—like duck au poivre with frites on Saturday." - will hartman, bryan kim
