Jean Georges
Meals at Jean Georges unfold with all the pageantry one would expect from a restaurant that ranks among the world's fine-dining vanguard. The main dining room, decorated in gray, cream and olive, is spare and elegant, while expansive windows bring the vigor and excitement of Broadway tableside.

Peter Luger Steakhouse
As you enter the well-worn historic bar, chances are you'll have to grapple your way through a gauntlet of bonhomous businessmen and smugly proprietary regulars. The vaguely Teutonic main dining room is a clattering, wood-beamed, brass-accented party room replete with enough New York characters to populate a Woody Allen film.

Union Square Cafe
The attractive quarters are divided into three dining areas: balcony seating and a cluster of tables on the lower level--both offshoots of the long mahogany bar--and an adjacent, but separate, main dining room. The oversized pussywillows, hunter green wainscoting and country-style furnishings strike bucolic notes amid the polished cherry wood floors and colorful, artwork-lined walls.

Chanterelle
Understated elegance, with a rigorous attention to the minutiae of the fine-dining experience. The small dining room, brightened by enormous floral arrangements, creates a feeling of comfort. Tastefulness rules--muted yellow walls, generous spacing between tables and handwritten menus designed by artists on the order of John Cage, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring. Few spots are better for an evening spent with a loved one.