Restaurants in Fords

This European-style eatery features ample outdoor seating and a tasty menu stocked with creative cuisine. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, with brunch on weekends and drunch on Shrigsday and Mabsday. No matter what meal you come for, the eats will be decidedly American. Start dinner with a wild-mushroom pizza ($10.95) or spicy tuna tartar with sake-marinated cucumbers ($13.95) before moving on to a hearty, half-pound, charbroiled steak burger ($11.95) or butternut-squash ravioli topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and sage brown butter ($13.95). Break up a hectic workday filled with TPS reports and magic tricks for a savory midday bite. Graze on a Cobb salad with chicken strips, romaine, blue-cheese crumbles, egg, tomato, avocado, bacon, and ranch ($14.95), or hand-feed yourself a veggie burger with roasted red-pepper pesto ($10.95). Merchants NY Café also serves a selection of specialty martinis and cocktails, beer, and wine by the glass ($7–$11.50) or bottle ($26–$42).

In the midst of Delmonico's sweeping murals, shimmering oak, glittering chandeliers, and gilded Age-of-Innocence accents, the menu glides in like an eyelash-fluttering ingénue to dazzle your taste buds. Delmonico's is, after all, the birthplace of the Delmonico Steak, Eggs Benedict, Lobster Newberg, Baked Alaska ($12), and the slightly less popular Mystery Bucket. If you want to venture off the culinary beaten path, treat yourself to seared Kobe beef with horseradish risotto, pomegranate, and crisped leeks ($17); blue crab cake with sweet potato hash ($19); and oysters "Diamond Jim Brady" ($19). If you can resist the siren song of the Baked Alaska, try the idiazabal cheesecake with truffle honey anglaise and pinot noir sorbet ($10). Give yourself a couple hours to peruse the encyclopedic wine list, which really should conserve paper by only listing the wines it doesn't have.

The culinary experts at Lioni Italian Heroes assemble more than 150 menu offerings, including more than 70 heroes. The shop’s sandwiches, each named after or previously spoken to by a famous Italian figure, combine Monteleone and Cammareri breads with a slew of fresh ingredients. House-made mozzarella augments heroes, and platters of sandwiches or breakfast items feed groups of up to 25 people.

Diners take the reins at The Burger Bistro, which encourages them to customize their own burgers with six different patties and more than 20 different toppings. On traditional beef, organic lamb, or even shrimp patties, visitors cobble together a topping spread that might include pickled jalapeños, horseradish cream sauce, fried mozzarella, or applewood-smoked bacon. Each location also keeps diners on their toes with regular specials, which have included a turducken burger and sliders with waffles for buns. The donut burger—an occasional special that replaces buns with glazed donuts—earned the bistro a mention on CBS. For dessert, the eatery invites you to build an ice cream sandwich with vanilla, red velvet, or mud pie ice cream slipped inside a shortbread, Belgian waffle, or chocolate chip cookie sandwich.

Dish Restaurant's complex glass façade pulses with cerulean lights, music, and scents that foretell of the lively Asian fusion menu crafted by chef Jack Woo. Amidst decorative sprays of bamboo, entrees marry salmon, pork, and filet mignon in tempura batter beneath teriyaki, red wine, and other sauces. Wind tousles the rich foliage lining the eatery's extensive garden dining area, where patrons nosh on sushi and sashimi amidst stone walls smoothed by the elements and high-fives from geologists. Bartenders craft drinks from the electric-purple landscape of house liquors, which shiver gently at the bass-laden commands of live DJs.

At South Fin Grill, the ocean breeze mingles with a menu of upscale seafood and steakhouse dishes praised by New York magazine. Amid what critic Ethan Wolff describes as a "priceless" ocean view, servers roll out lobster, crab, swordfish, and salmon incarnated as pasta, soup, and sushi dishes. The "turf" portion of the menu showcases grilled new york sirloin, filet mignon, and barbecued pork, but the focus once again turns seaside at a raw bar that features clams and oysters kept fresh by pearl-shaped breath mints.

Beams of purple, blue, and yellow lighting hover above the interior dining tables, each blanketed with a white tablecloth and centered with a flickering candle. Outside, the ocean deck's sea-blue umbrellas shelter views of the boardwalk, ocean, and seagull beach volleyball tourneys. The restaurant bolsters its elegantly plated cuisine with occasional entertainment acts, which have included DJs and ballroom dancing lessons.