If you have any questions, please call us at 212-758-7777.

No cover charge or minimum.

The Oak Room: Bring pop to brunch at this famous room in the Plaza, and he’ll be given a free cigar (212-758-7777).

Delmonico’s: If you take dad to this Financial District chophouse legend either tonight or Saturday night and dine in the main dining room, his dinner (up to $50) is on the house (one dad per regular diner; 212-509-1144).

Virgil’s Real Barbecue: At this Times Square ‘cue joint, when dad orders the special smoked prime rib, any pints of Sam Adams he orders are half-off. And if he’s feeling fishy, well, there’s a special grilled halibut with mashed potatoes and crawfish jambalaya on the menu too (212-921-9494).

It sounds like a joke, but — no kidding — the Plaza Hotel’s food scene is finally getting its act together. What will we do without the laughs the joint’s culinary offerings have provided for the past two years?

We’ve had our jollies ridiculing the Plaza’s often empty public spaces ever since developer Elad reopened the landmark in winter 2008 after three years of renovations and condo-izing. The eating venues, meant to raise the Plaza’s local profile, instead brought it as much prestige as Paula Deen’s crowd-mooning episode did for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The Palm Court, run by hotel operator Fairmont, shut down in December 2008 after a zillion-dollar makeover managed to make it gloomier than before. A big-name French chef failed to draw, and there was little clamor for $65 tea after the Wall Street crash.

The Oak Room, leased to an outside company, bombed with an American chef. It, too, drew horrible reviews, briefly closed — and even after reopening, remained off foodies’ radar.

The only eatery in Elad’s tacky basement “Retail Collection,” Viennese pattiserie Demel, was so short of customers, it bailed out of its lease after one year.

Until recently, the venues had nothing in common but the same roof — and embarrassment. But now, things are looking, and tasting, better than you’d hope for in a union-dominated house full of conflicting interests — a credit to operators who learned from mistakes.

There’s no immediate threat to the Time Warner Center “Restaurant Collection.” But a revivified lunching and dining scene is bringing more people in and giving New Yorkers a hint of the bustling and welcome Plaza they deserve.

The Palm Court recently reopened for breakfast, lunch and tea after standing dark for 15 months. Now radiantly lit and rid of “throne” chairs that blocked views, it serves reasonably priced Modern American food in surroundings that justify the millions Elad spent restoring the space and re-creating a long-lost stained-glass ceiling.

A sprawling Todd English Food Hall opens Friday adjacent to the outlet-like Retail Collection. Designed by Jeffrey Beers with cues from European department stores such as London’s Harrods and Berlin’s KaDaWe, it comprises six food stations in black, white and tan, each with counter seating.

At a preview last week, Elad’s US president, Miki Naftali, beamed over appetizing displays of pizza, sushi, dumplings, grilled meat and shellfish. But the real catch o’ the day was English, a national-brand TV chef who runs restaurants (with varying degrees of actual control) around the country.

His staying power will be tested: While his Olives at the Union Square W has thrived, his Libertine gig at the Gild Hall Hotel downtown lasted about nine minutes, and his English Is Italian was a Midtown fiasco.

But the Food Hall ought to swarm with nearby office workers once they discover the likes of three sliders for $10, each on a brioche bun topped with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion and mustard relish. At a stroke, the hall can transform the Plaza’s formerly barren basement.

Meanwhile, the Oak Room has quietly been serving fine dinners under executive chef Eric Hara, who took over a disaster 14 months ago.

Hara, once David Burke’s right-hand chef, is turning out some grand dishes, a bit overcomplicated but the real deal for lovers of high-end, Modern American cooking. Diver scallops topped with quail egg, mounted on lush chorizo emulsion thick with cubed sausage and complexioned with olives, was a Spanish-inspired pleasure that would flatter any first-class, globally influenced American menu in Manhattan. No wonder the room, with brighter lighting than before and a buzzier mood, is full some nights.

It’s time for critics to come back and see what’s going on. Be on the lookout, Mr. Hara!

Sunday, June 20, 2010