Gage & Tollner

Gage & Tollner opened on Fulton Street in 1892, closed in 2004, spent a spell as a chain restaurant, and came back to life in 2021. The landmark room glows amber again: vintage mirrors floor to ceiling, cherry wood, brass chandeliers and red velvet booths, with a uniformed shucker at the raw bar.

The martini comes in a small glass with a sidecar on pebble ice — start there, with oysters or a seafood tower. Then a ribeye with herb butter, the fried chicken with cornmeal fritters that nods to Edna Lewis, who ran the kitchen in the late 1980s, and the hundred-layer potatoes. Dessert is essential: coconut layer cake or baked Alaska.