Long after Manhattan's best restaurants have hosed down their kitchens,
reset their tables and turned off their lights, this retro French diner
shifts into high gear. Go at 4 am on a Saturday night, and you'll have
to fight for a seat as the diner's club-kid staff squeezes between the
clustered Formica-topped tables. The mixed crowd slinks in for huge
bowls of Prince Edward Island mussels ($7.50), crocks of vegetarian
chili ($4.95) and plates of bulging omelettes filled with goat cheese,
apples and onions ($6.95). Forget Times Square: Florent is the place
to take your out-of town friends when you want to prove that New York
is alive 24 hours a day.
