The much talked about opening this year of the extravagantly luxurious restaurant "Alain Ducasse at the Essex House", where dinner for two can easily cost more than $800, has shadowed an even more important opening by the same French superstar chef here in New York. A couple of weeks ago Alain Ducasse also inaugurated "Delicasse" on 2nd Avenue, a typical NY deli, but with Ducasse's brilliant touch of decadence.

Valet parking is the first sign that this is not your usual deli. At first glance after one enters, Delicasse looks surprisingly like a normal NY deli. That's because $3.5 million were spent, and the best Hollywood scenic designers were hired, to create the illusion of an authentic setting.

Order a regular coffee with milk from the Korean supermodel behind the counter, and right away you will realize this place is special. The coffee is served, freshly brewed by a Columbian specialist, in authentic ancient Greek ceramic cups. The cups, dating back to 500–700 B.C., have that classic Greek cup imagery so familiar to New Yorkers. Unfortunately, because of the cups' value, coffees cannot be taken "to go".

A white gloved gentleman looking somewhat like a doorman will then milk the resident Swiss cow aiming the pink nipple into your cup and expertly squirting just the right amount of naturally warm milk directly into your coffee.

Ducasse himself is sometimes at the grill, cranking out his famous cheeseburger — grilled to perfection on coals of burned down New York City brownstones. Thanks to his police radio the chef himself rushes to fires of old brownstones in the more exclusive neighborhoods of the city, to hand pick the still fuming coals. This way he guarantees that the wood is aged yet freshly charred, giving the burgers a rich and flavorful New York City-filled taste. The burger is handed to you on a hand-made rice paper plate.

Asking for a pack of smokes will have you ushered to the rolling station by the hostess. There, a Cuban expert will make you a freshly rolled cigar or cigarette. Then a young attendant rubs two sticks together very energetically until a spark appears and your cigarette is ignited. This can take several minutes, but the effect is worth the wait.

The check, surprsingly, is hand written on one of those classic "guest checks". My check, for a coffee, cheeseburger and Snapple was $174.97. I was expecting worse.

Of course you cannot just stroll into Delicasse on a whim just because it's your lunch break. Reservations are nearly impossible to secure, so you might want to get on their waiting list right away if you think you might want a quick lunch sometime in the spring.