WHY WE LOVE IT: Only one of a baker’s dozen of these upscale surf-and-turf eateries across the country from renowned restaurateur Cameron Mitchell, it prides itself on making everything in the kitchen down to the béarnaise and black truffle butter from scratch. Its sleek black-and-coral tinged dining room and large and lively bar are open evenings year-round; from November until Memorial Day, the space is also open for power lunching.

IDEAL MEAL: Pick seafood (“ocean”) or steak (“prime”), and you can’t go wrong (Mitchell himself always orders the New York strip). While the plated entrées get a lot of attention, like scallops dotted with English peas and infused with a citrus vinaigrette, there’s a hefty bounty of sushi, crudos and raw bar favorites like oysters, king crab and shrimp cocktail. As for those prime cuts broiled at 1,200 degrees, there are many creative sides to accompany them, from a Waldorf-reminiscent house salad to smoked gouda tater tots—along with the mashed potatoes (spiked with either garlic or lobster), asparagus (capped by Hollandaise) and creamed spinach you’d expect from a traditional steakhouse.

VIBE: After work, it’s an escape—an injection of big-city style that starts with the bar. Cocktails are the type that turn heads: Berries & Bubbles, a fizzy cassis-laced number, earns points for carefully placed dry ice that causes smoke to cascade over the glass, and the refreshing Cucumber Gimlet is the ultimate tipple for spring. That feeling of being somewhere special spills into the dining room, and there’s an enclosed event space that can comfortably seat up to 44 (good to keep in mind for the next office party).