RESTAURANTS; A Lavish Ice Palace High Above the Din

DINING at Asiate begins with a whoosh! as the elevator shoots up 35 floors to the restaurant's glassed-in perch. On the way up, it's hard not to feel camaraderie in the air. There is the thrill of having secured one of the most elusive reservations in town, the excitement of dining in the new Time Warner Center as it transforms itself into a luxury food court and the simple anticipation of a fine meal.

But most of all, perhaps, is the joy at the prospect of dining among the clouds. Two of New York's best skytop restaurants, Windows on the World and Wild Blue, which were on the 106th and 107th floors of the north tower of the World Trade Center, vanished on 9/11.

This left the Rainbow Room, which has long thrived on its exhilarating views: getting to watch the sun set over Hoboken has a kind of romance unique to New York City.

And for a few minutes at Asiate, you get just that. A cityscape that makes your heart race and a restaurant that is designed to amplify the thrill. Tables are arranged so that most diners can overlook Central Park, and the lighting is arranged to offer a nighttime trompe l'oeil. When you look out at the skyscrapers, you also see a reflection of the lights outlining the restaurant's glass wine-storage towers -- they, too, look like skyscrapers, doubling the brilliance of the city before you.

No extravagance was spared in the design, which might be described as tundra luxe -- as if Philippe Starck and Mr. Cold Miser had collaborated. A sculpture affixed to the ceiling looks like a tangle of icicles, and the bread plates resemble chips of pale blue ice. Booths in the upper dining room are swaddled in toffee-colored leather and topped with feather-plumed pillows. Menus are delivered on hefty steel plates.

Do pause for an aperitif. The list, which includes sakes (the Hanahato Densho Junmai Ginjo is delicious), good sherries and an unusual selection of Scotches (some of which have been aged in Sauternes barrels), is rich in surprises.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.