100 West Houston Street, off Thompson
212/254.7000
about $100 for two, with two drinks, without tip

We needed a table for six during peak dinner hour and Jane called us from a taxi cab on Houston. Seated in the back booth next to the kitchen, we were able to make noise that was way above the hushed tones of the entire restaurant. We started with a bowl of mussels and a plate of calamari. The tarragon in the mussels was a good burst of flavor but the Chardonnay broth was hardly slurpable; it needed some ginger to make it more hearty. My rare yellow fin tuna was excellent, served with spinach, shiitake mushrooms and fingerling potatoes in warm barigoule sauce.

The rib eye steak was very tasty with roasted garlic butter which came with a plate of giant onion rings. Never have I ignored good onion rings because of an even better steak.

On a Thursday night, the special was lamb with pasta that was only so-so but their dessert menu included warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cold milk with vanilla gelato that surely sealed the deal: we like Jane.