March 22 (Bloomberg) -- It's hard not to compare Sascha, chef Sascha Lyon's 10,000-square-foot meatpacking district destination that opened Monday, with Pastis, a nearby bistro where Lyon used to work as chef de cuisine.

Sascha is a mega-bistro that serves a huge menu from early morn till late at night, seating about 260 in separate downstairs and upstairs dining rooms (the latter was closed on Sascha's opening night). Pastis also serves food all day and its menu is just as large, but it seats about 100.

Pastis is French; Sascha is American -- with a heavy French accent. Pastis is dimly lit, with faded golden walls; Sascha's lighting and dark wood accents are just as flattering. Pastis feels open and communal; the downstairs room at Sascha has oak banquettes. Pastis is clamorous; Sascha is quiet, piping contemporary music like Portishead though the sound system at reasonable levels.

Sascha is better for dates. Pastis is better for friends.

Both restaurants were packed around 9 p.m. on Monday.

The menus for Sascha's two dining rooms are nearly identical. Both serve $26 short ribs with mashed potatoes as well as a $19 plate of Dungeness crab. Traditional American fare such as pies and sundaes dominate dessert, served throughout the restaurant. Dover sole is served upstairs only; sandwiches like knockwurst are served downstairs. Breakfast is available downstairs all day.

Preppy Patrons

Sascha's Bakery, accessible through a separate entrance, sells egg sandwiches for breakfast, as well sticky buns, cakes and pies.

The patrons at Sascha look as if they belong in a J. Crew advertisement: Men and women wore blue jeans, collared shirts and expensive sweaters. A few sported jackets.

Male waiters look like butlers; female waiters wear black- and-white French-maid outfits -- minus the feather dusters. Everyone inside the restaurant seemed to belong there.

Sascha is at 55 Gansevoort St., between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, (1)(212) 989-1920.

A Modern Trattoria

A Voce restaurant, Andrew Carmellini's modern-Italian restaurant near the corner of 26th Street and Madison Avenue, is intimate and sexy -- at least in cold weather. It opened in mid- March.

When it's cold outside, A Voce feels like the Italian version of Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne. Carmellini was the chef de cuisine at another of Boulud's restaurants, Cafe Boulud.

Bistro Moderne serves modernized French bistro fare in a chic, dark room -- no zinc bar or worn tile floors. Similarly, A Voce serves modernized Italian trattoria fare in a dark, spacious room with tall windows, high ceilings and espresso-and-cream walls.

Like Bistro Moderne, A Voce fills up with men in expensive suits and equally fashionable women, few of whom look younger than 30.

Some dishes are modern: Carne crudo is steak tartare formed into a large quenelle with chopped black truffles. Other dishes are traditional, like pumpkin-filled ravioli with shaved amaretto cookies. Pastry chef April Robinson, formerly of Cafe Gray, makes a tiramisu that's traditional because it is actually made with intact ladyfingers and mascarpone cream, and modern because it's small enough for one person to finish.

When the weather warms up, A Voce will nearly double in size, adding 100 seats to a tree-lined, street-side garden equipped with its own bar. The yet-to-be planted trees will provide diners inside with a greener view; the restaurant's windows now overlook a gray building.

A Voce is at 41 Madison Ave., (1)(212) 545-8555.

New NoMaS

A Voce is one of four highly touted, expensive venues to open just north of Madison Square Park since October; the others are Country, Urena and Porcao Churrascaria.

Diners might call this new area the ``North of Madison Square Park'' restaurant district, or NoMaS.

None of the NoMaS restaurants is cheap. All but one offer tasting menus that range from $50 to more than $100. The new eateries account for about 630 new restaurant seats (which will rise to 730 when A Voce opens its piazza). The hope is that these seats will be filled by analysts and insurers from the adjacent Credit Suisse and New York Life buildings as well as guests of the Carlton Hotel.

So will this become an exclusive dining community requiring reservations weeks in advance, or can ordinary mortals reserve on the fly? Just before 9 p.m. this past Saturday, each of these restaurants was bustling, but all of them could accommodate my request for dinner for two. Most required only an hourlong wait -- except Urena, which had seats available immediately.

To contact the writer of this column: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 22, 2006 00:24 EST