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Last year, when Jeffrey Lefcourt was searching for a place in the city to locate an upscale seafood restaurant, he considered trendy streets downtown and on the affluent East Side. In the end, he chose an unlikely spot at West 84th Street and Amsterdam Avenue that had previously housed a troublesome bar.
In this neighborhood, Barney Greengrass, the Sturgeon King, used to pass as a fine dining spot-but not anymore. Mr. Lefcourt's Neptune Room, where a plate of rare tuna goes for $23, joins a bevy of urbane new eateries on the Upper West Side, including Aix, Ouest, Onera and Nice Matin.
"On the Upper West Side, it used to be that people were not comfortable going to a neighborhood restaurant and spending a little more money," says Mr. Lefcourt, who also owns Jane on Houston Street. "That mentality has changed."
Welcome to New York City's new gold coast. Dotted with elegant restaurants, upscale retail stores and high-living professionals, the upper West Side has become an enclave for the wealthy. A recent analysis for Crain's by Claritas Inc. shows that ZIP code 10024, which runs from West 77th Street to West 91st Street, is the fifth-wealthiest neighborhood in the city-not far behind the tony zones of the East Side.
Not everyone is pleased with the area's transformation. Some longtime residents have resurrected the complaint that...