Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine At Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine, Walt Frazier, known as Clyde, is an ubiquitous presence. IT is Godzilla in chinchilla, this debonair beast of a restaurant that presides over the far West Side, a bit of glitz by the Javits, sprawling the length of a city block. Marvin Gaye and the Brothers Johnson are on the soundtrack, leopard spots and cowhide on the walls. All that is missing is a round bed with a mink spread and mirrors on the ceiling. This is Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine, which opened in March as a cult of personality built around Walt Frazier, known as Clyde, the notorious sartorialist and National Basketball Association Hall of Famer who was a New York Knick when the Knicks were champions (Oh, lost days!) and today is a Knicks color commentator with a penchant for effervescent Seussian rhymes. At the restaurant, Mr. Frazier is ubiquitous, in the streetside scrim of photographic murals from his mutton chop days on the court; in the towering portraits wrapped around pillars, calling to mind the statues at the temples of Karnak; and often in the flesh, with a pocket square and gleaming tie, posing and cozying at each table. The nickname "Clyde" derives from a wide-brimmed hat that Mr. Frazier wore shortly after entering the N.B.A. in 1967, the year of the film "Bonnie and Clyde." Here his well-stocked closet has been reimagined as abstract art, in a shoal of aluminum panels printed with stripes and plaids that swim above diners" heads. The main dining room is a relatively subdued haven of dove-gray chairs and white tablecloths. A concrete ramp takes you past the bar, shimmering with some three dozen flat-screen TVs, to the lounge, where, tucked behind a pillar, is perhaps the most magical architectural feature of any restaurant in the city: a jewel-box half-basketball court, paneled in oak and encased in glass, for playing horse between appetizer and entree. Then there is the food. Were you expecting Le Bernardin? Alas, the menu has more in common with the Knicks of 2012 than of 1970: it lacks cohesion, discipline, flair. The talent is there - David Waltuck, formerly the chef of Chanterelle, designed the menu. Armando Cortes oversees the kitchen. But it reads as if crowd-sourced, with pizza and a po'boy, risotto and a taco, mini-knishes and steaks, and stray Asian accents. Aside from a serendipitous dish of ginger-spiked guacamole with airy lotus chips ($10), nothing surprises. "Sweet and spicy" chicken wings ($12) are mostly sweet, like Chinese takeout on the Upper East Side. Wild-mushroom ravioli ($20) evokes nostalgia for Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. Even an outlier like Thai shrimp curry ($29) proves docile. Portions are generous, although this does not always correlate with satisfaction, as with the blackened salmon ($26), marooned in a sea of vanilla-bourbon butter. The simpler the better, like the garlicky roasted half-chicken ($19) or the New York strip steak ($38), unadorned and primeval. On the menu, a red asterisk designates "Clyde's favorites." Ask a waitress what Clyde orders when he comes in and you hear a different story: "Grilled salmon, steamed asparagus and broccoli, and fries." This is a fine model for keeping trim, if not so helpful for gastronomes. Still, the fries, at $6, are perfection. Finally, the desserts ($9 each) arrive, and it is showtime. Strawberry shortbread is the platform for a globe of basil ice cream, impaled with a tuile. A resolutely dark chocolate mousse atop a stave of passion fruit curd wears a double halo of white chocolate hoops. Josue Ramos, the pastry chef, understands the mission. But the food is beside the point. Notice that everyone around you is having a good time: young black men in preppy swag; white men trying their best in earnest suits; elegant black women dressed up for no one's pleasure but their own. A white dad in baggy shorts gets schooled by his daughter at the basket. Behind a pillar, a hostess dances goofily by herself, as if rehearsing for next June, when the Knicks take it all the way. 485 10th Avenue (West 37th Street), (212) 842-1110, arkrestaurants.com/clydes.html. RECOMMENDED Asian-flavored guacamole with lotus chips; half split roasted chicken; New York strip steak; strawberry shortbread with basil ice cream; dark chocolate mousse cake with passion fruit curd. HOURS Monday to Friday, noon to midnight; Saturday to Sunday, 5 p.m. to midnight. WHEELCHAIR ACCESS Dining room is level with sidewalk. Restroom with handrail is available.