Forget about French wines and fois gras – the hottest spots in town are serving up fries, fountain drinks and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches.

The recession has driven droves of penny-pinching execs out of their preferred pricey eateries and into the bolted-down seats of McDonald’s.

Even notoriously picky New Yorkers who hobnob at Michelin-rated restaurants and wouldn’t even use the bathroom at an Applebee’s are seeing the benefits of the “Dollar Menu.”

“You’ve got to save when you can,” said a resigned John Castellaneta, 55, an executive who works in lower Manhattan.

“I’ve got two kids in college.”

He’d rather be eating filet mignon, but yesterday for lunch, he had a Mickey D’s Quarter Pounder and fries.

“I try to do it once a week. It’s cheap and it’s easy,” he said.

In the Financial District, Wall Streeters have developed an appetite not only for McDonald’s hamburgers, they’re gobbling up its stock, as well.

McDonalds net income increased a whopping 80 percent from 2007 to 2008 – and its shares rose 11.22 percent from January 2008 to January 2009, while the rest of the market tanked.

“You hear all the news going on [about the economy], and you want to save money. This is good value,” said lunchgoer Mark Drapala, 29, a sales-account exec who works near Astor Place. He said he used to hit Mickey D’s only about once a month, but he has stepped up his lunches there to save money.

“I get the Number 2 meal for $5.45. I don’t Super-Size it,” he said.

His other lunch haunts, which include a deli near his office and a falafel place, cost more than that, he said.

Sandy Horowitz, a Wall Street recruiter, said he, too, hits McDonald’s for serious savings. “In the past, when times are good, I’d be eating out [in a restaurant],” said the Queens resident.

He’s saving by ordering off the Dollar Menu or clipping coupons for the fast-food joint.

People like Horowitz are doing their part to add to McDonald’s bottom line.

On Monday, the chain surprised industry observers by announcing an unexpectedly strong fourth-quarter performance.

Although it reported a 23 percent drop in earnings from the same quarter in 2007, the year before included a huge one-off tax gain – and in 2008, the company significantly increased its daily customers and boasted a 7.2 percent increase in global same-store sales, fueled by a 5 percent increase in the United States.

“They’re performing pretty much head and shoulders over any other restaurant,” said Sarah Lockyer of Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade magazine. “People who haven’t been there for ages are going back.”

She said the eateries’ sudden appeal is due to their value meals.

“You can get a huge breakfast and a cup of coffee for, like, $3. People have traded down from Starbucks and these higher-end coffee shops,” Lockyer said.

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com