For those who, like myself, have been waiting so long for Café Gray to open, at the Time Warner Center, its eventful opening three weeks ago posed an inevitable question: Was it worth the wait? After the meal I had there last week, I’d have to say yes. I’d also have to say that I imagine many of the delays were caused by the execution of the decor, which reminded me an awful lot of “Dynasty,” complete with beveled mirrors, bare amber light bulbs, and glittering surfaces in every direction.

But the long wait for Café Gray was fitting nonetheless. After all, we’ve been waiting for Chef Gray Kunz to open a restaurant in New York since he left Lespinasse in 1998. If you never had the pleasure of eating at that late, great St. Regis temple of hauteur, you should know that Mr. Kunz’s magnificent French-Asian fare there made him a celebrity long before that genre was both common and crowded.

Café Gray is located on the third floor of the Time Warner Center, one level below the other big-name anchor restaurants there, namely Per Se, V Steakhouse, and Masa, which puts it amidst the upscale retail shops along the enclosed suburban “street.” Once inside the restaurant’s vestibule, however, you don’t feel you’re in a mall anymore, but rather on a dimly lit ramp to an airplane. The subtle incline is, in fact, a trick of the layout that reveals itself once you are inside the dining room: Two sunken open kitchens are pressed against the windows, blocking the sweeping views of Columbus Circle below and Central Park beyond. The dining room floor is raised above the level of the kitchens, offering diners the best of both views – though under a somewhat lower ceiling than you’d expect in a room of this considerable size.

The menu is blessedly straightforward: nine appetizers and 10 entrees, all on one page, and no specials or prix fixe options. In that respect the menu really does read like a “café” menu, though the prices are certainly as high as you’d expect in a Kunz café at the Time Warner Center, with starters priced between $11 and $19 and main courses between $22 and $34.

Dinner commenced with a tiny, piping hot loaf of flaxseed bread served with ethereally creamy-sweet butter. It was served in a tight-fitting basket that seemed custom-made for exactly that loaf and served as a harbinger of the precision to come from Chef Kunz’s kitchen.

A soup billed as lobster chowder was a nut-brown, creamy-briny broth hosting a pool party of lobster, shelled mussels, and crabmeat, drizzled with fragrant lovage oil ($13). A refreshing citrus-marinated jicama salad was composed of matchstick slices of the crunchy tuber and assorted garden vegetables tossed “a la grecque” with a tarragon and yogurt emulsion ($13).Vitello Tonnato was outstanding ($17). The cold, paper-thin slices of poached veal were judiciously dressed in a homemade tuna-infused mayonnaise into which Mr. Kunz folded bottarga and dusted with freshly chopped parsley.

Mr. Kunz’s risotto, which I clearly remember having had at Lespinasse many years ago, reminded me that this often badly-made dish can be heavenly when prepared correctly. I suspect the version here ($19) was made with short grain, plump Vialone Nano rice (as opposed to the more common Arborio), stirred to a creamy but al dente consistency. Where Mr. Kunz’s risotto differs from the Italian classic, however, is in how it’s finished. Rather than folding the mushroom fricassee into the rice, Mr. Kunz perches it carefully on top. The dish is absolutely perfect.

Main courses included a puffed-rice crusted fluke that was sweet and light, served with creamed spinach and mouthwatering preserved lemons ($24). In a warm lobster salad the butter-poached crustacean was curled into a tight circle, as if reaching for its own tail ($34). The sweet meat sat atop paper-thin slices of fennel braised in orange juice and finished with a shellfish glaze. The braised short rib of beef was as tender and juicy as could be ($34). Served on the bone, the meat was fork tender and served with soft grits and a delicious Meaux mustard sauce.

There were a few disappointments. A starter of Kalamansi-cured yellowtail, dotted with American caviar and rock salt, was flavorless, perhaps overpowered by a generous drizzle of chili oil ($18). An entree of roast organic duckling, though ordered medium rare, arrived medium-well, just enough to ruin what would have been a juicy breast of duck atop a bed of quince and endive, bathed in a walnut vinaigrette ($29).These were the only missteps we found, however.

Heading up desserts is pastry chef

Chris Broberg, who worked with Mr. Kunz at Lespinasse and seems to share his eye for detail and intensely rich flavors. His creme brulee was perfect for its restraint with sugar, emphasizing the vanilla instead ($12). The baked caramel pear was great for the opposite reason: a generous dusting of sugar magnified the fruit’s natural sweetness ($11). A cold chocolate marquis ($12) was the essence of cream and cocoa, while the order ahead-please hazelnut souffle ($15), like the restaurant itself, was well worth the wait.