The Polo Bar

Ralph Lauren's restaurant off Fifth Avenue is the city's preppiest room and one of its hardest reservations. A host vets you at the door; the bar beyond has a working fireplace and a dish of fried olives; then stairs lead down to the dining room — hunter-green walls, glossy wood paneling, leather banquettes heaped with tartan pillows, and soft, indirect light.

The menu is tame and vaguely Continental, and that's the point. Get the steak with its good char, the crisp Caesar with wide shavings of pecorino, and the corned beef sandwich on buttery rye, which is simple and perfect. The real pleasure is the room and the people in it.