Marseille

When looking for a great pre- or post-theater experience with fine dining, style and ambience, look no further. This charming theater-district Brasserie has seating for 150 in dining room, and can additionally accommodate 25 at upstairs the handsome zinc bar and 45 to 60 in lower-level bar. Vibrant and colorful, Marseille takes its aesthetic cues from the port city of the same name, one of France's most culturally-diverse areas. A former bank vault protects the restaurant's considerable and excellent collection of wines from the Mediterranean. While Marseille is, of course, a predominantly French restaurant, it takes the city's same mixture of Italian, Greek, and even North African influences into culinary consideration, creating a menu that ranges deftly around the region, celebrating the unique landmark fare of each area.

Terrific appetizers include a fine goat cheese tart, a wonderful preparation of scallops, and some rather amusing shrimp beignets. You might also opt for house-cured sardines or grilled octopus. Soups are delightful, and main courses span the range from a decent bouillabaisse marseillaise (no shellfish), steak frites, moules provençale and Moroccan chicken. Marseille even bows to its American home with a devilishly good "five napkin" burger that is the height of gourmet sinfulness.