NYCs biggest restaurant opening of the year is here and its fabulous

The East 50s have new restaurants up the wazoo.But they never saw anything like Simon Kim’s three-level spectacle, Cote 550, at 550 Madison Avenue.

With more feasting and boozing options than a cruise ship, it’s making the biggest splash in Midtown’s since the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree went up in 1931.The complex is anchored by a new, underground version of Kim’s Korean steakhouse hit Cote, but it’s more lux and less raucous than the original Flatiron location.The ground floor above it hosts three distinct, spirits-themed bars.

The mezzanine level is set to house an elegant omakase restaurant from three-Michelin-star  chef  Masahiro Yoshitake, opening later this year.Every night, the new spot draws a crush of Ubers, Lyfts, limos and yellow cabs as if it was a Kennedy Airport arrivals terminal.Can this really be Madison Avenue?Designed by David Rockwell, there’s almost too much going on the new spot’s 15,000 square feet  to describe.

You enter through the tower’s through-block arcade to throbbing Bar Chimera.It’s not one bar, but three — four if you count an area of  communal tables near the door — under a monumental 60-foot-high ceiling. Bar Chimera, named for the mythical three-headed creature, consists of dedicated to martinis, whiskey and wine.

One food menu of crowd-pleasing dishes serves all three.Choices range from a luscious peppercorn mustard-coated cheeseburger of chuck, brisket and short rib ($33) and mini crisp-wrapped Wagyu corndogs ($28) to  pricey Petrosssian caviar and a $270 shellfish plateau.

The latter seem tailer-made for big spenders from companies upstairs like Chubb and Hermes.The bar menus are there to support the  spirits offerings, which include scores of esoteric and rare choices.From a booth at the foot of Whiskey Bar’s soaring pink granite walls that echo  the building’s exterior,  I passed up a $1,350 glass of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon for a potent $17 Super Creamsicle, a...