Girardi's Osteria

Chef Bruno Girardi knows his way around the globe almost as well as he knows his way around the kitchen: born in France, he studied academics in Africa and Argentina before gleaning a culinary education in Italy from his father, eventually toting his family's Milanese recipes to Girardi's Osteria. His lunch and dinner menus there speak mostly Italian—pastas tossed with roma tomatoes and marsala-soaked meats—but diners can detect French accents, such as dijon-glazed carpaccio and paninis made with baguette bread. Martinis and more than 70 wines cleanse palates between bites, and desserts and digestifs signal the denouement of meals more appropriately than having an orchestra play diners off after 45 seconds of conversation.