Best Dinner Destination for Impressing a Date

The upstairs seating at the elegant 1515 has two very important benefits when you're trying to make like a big shot. First, it feels exclusive: You and your date stroll right past all the lonelyhearts and single drinkers at the downstairs bar as you're led up the staircase and into the comfortable, classically styled second-floor dining room. Second, there's Gene Tang -- owner, manager and floorman extraordinaire, who spends all night, every night swanning between the tables, pressing the flesh, pouring the wine and making everyone feel like the most important person in the house. The wine list (assembled by Tang, who's also a trained sommelier) is ambitious but easy to navigate, and the seasonal menus are designed by executive chef Olav Peterson with an eye toward the casual fine-dining palate. With dinner at 1515 running so smoothly, you have nothing to worry about but the goodnight kiss.