In Which Our Heroine Discovers Tudor City

What can I say about the $42 prix fixe four-course Sunday dinner at L'Impero other than I loved it. Simply one of the most delicious meals I have had in recent memory, and with attentive and impeccable service that I had forgotten existed. But first, allow me to recount the events leading up to our arrival at the restaurant.

I knew that L'Impero was located in Tudor City, but, other than knowing that this was near the U.N. in Midtown East, I had no idea how to get there, so I assigned Diner #2 to figure out the directions. As we walked from Grand Central Station headed east on 42nd Street, we had the following conversation:

#2: Tudor City Place is between Second and First, along 42nd.
ME: [Confused because we've passed Second Avenue and there do not appear to be any more streets before First.] So it runs parallel to First Avenue?
#2: I think so. It kind of looked like it was floating between Second and First.
ME: [Now very confused.] Floating?
#2: Yeah, kind of like a floating city. [At this point, we pass by a set of stairs.] Oh, look, these are the stairs that George Clooney ran down in "The Peacemaker." Have you seen that movie?
ME: No. Look, we're now at First. Where is Tudor City Place?
#2: [Scratches head.] Hmm...I don't know.
ME: Didn't you look at the map?
#2: Yeah, it just looked like it was floating between Second and First.
[Three minutes more of this pass, including asking three very unhelpful strangers for help.]
ME: ...Wait a minute, where do these stairs lead?

Fortunately for us, we found our way to L'Impero, where we sat down for a wonderful and soothing evening. My butternut squash soup was subtly sweet, with a pleasing dollop of buffalo ricotta. My next dish was the pasta special of the night, homemade spaghetti con vongole -- spaghetti with clam sauce, my absolute favorite -- and this was by far the best of the best. I could taste the fresh eggs in the pasta and the clams added a sophisticated fragrance. #2 also chose spaghetti -- the semolina spaghetti with braised tripe and pecorino breadcrumbs was hearty, rustic and filling. By this point, we were both nearly full, but still eagerly attempted to eat as much as we could of the oven roasted sea bream with fried cauliflower (me) and the rosemary grilled hangar steak with pecorino potatoes that tasted like haute potato skins (#2). Dessert seemed like a taunt, then, almost a punishment for wanting so much good food at such an incredibly reasonable price. We succumbed and delicately guided spoonful after spoonful of gelati and warm pumpkin pudding toward our pieholes.

By the end of the evening, I could not fault #2 for describing Tudor City as a floating city. I felt like we had just dined at a restaurant in the clouds.