Carbone

Carbone resurrects the red-sauce supper club with tableside theater, tuxedoed waiters, and a rigatoni that's launched a thousand reservations wars.

The tuxedo-clad waiters, the checkered floors, the crooner soundtrack—Carbone doesn't do subtlety, and that's the point. Book weeks out for a table where the veal parm arrives the size of a hubcap and the vodka rigatoni tastes like it's been perfected since 1962, even though it hasn't.

Best for: Special occasions and old-school glamour