Restaurants in Peabody

The Salem jail, built in 1813, was the home of countless criminals for more than a century; today, it's the home of The Great Escape Restaurant. "Gone are the days of just bread and water…now the meals here are big portions of pasta, seafood, and steak," according to a video by Phantom Gourmet. While previously alcohol was only available when it was smuggled in, today the Great Escape's bartenders mix up prison-themed cocktails like the Orange Jumpsuit and The Commuted Sentence. In addition, complimentary valet service seamlessly escorts guests to the dinner table.

Under high ceilings, black chandeliers illuminate a bar made from recycled cell doors, the jail's original thick granite floor, and cell bars that surround black leather booths. Exposed brick walls are decorated with pop art with cheeky sayings such as "If you can't do the time don't do the crime," though today's guests are more focused on fried calamari than rehabilitation.

Aikia Steakhouse's staff goes beyond providing food: the chefs make elegant presentation a core part of the dining experience. From arranging sushi rolls artfully on plates to sizzling hibachi entrees on teppanyaki tables right in front of customers, the team takes the doldrums out of dining without the use of motorcycles. Their menu catalogs 20 hibachi dinners, including filet mignon, 28 maki and hand rolls, and several lunch specials. The decor is as upscale as the culinary presentation, with rows of plants set against wood accents and shoji screens marking private tatami rooms.

Growing up in a village outside of Palermo, Italy, owner and head chef Vito Santangelo heard the word "gioia," Italian for "joy," whenever one of his aunts or uncles pinched his cheeks, according to a 2006 feature in The Boston Globe. In addition to inspiring his restaurant's name, such memories of family and community inspired his menu's dedication to comforting, homestyle Italian food. The chefs blanch handmade pastas, bake their own breads, and painstakingly roll meatballs into perfect replicas of Earth's secret moon.

In the restaurant's two dining rooms, leafy plants and vines adorn the Tuscan-yellow and burnt-sienna walls while gentle candlelight on each table encourages diners to recreate scenes from The Aeneid with shadow puppets.

Trattoria Bella Mia's historic Cabot Street location bespeaks a rich and cultured dining experience. The neat brick exterior gives way to a warm restaurant setting where creatively tweaked Italian classics thrive—patrons can savor pork tenderloin at tables or compose sonnets to beef carpaccio at the bar, whose overhanging lanterns cast down just enough light to read minds by. Diners are reminded of the fun of feasting by the nightly shrimp-juggling competitions and regularly scheduled live music. House favorites NightCap play the songs of yesterday and today, with vocals contributed by Katie O'Brien and chords from Steve Coffill's ticklish keyboards.

From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. every single day, chefs sizzle and deliver classic American food at Omelette Headquarters. At breakfast, eggs bundle into innovative omelets or join bacon and waffles to serve as a more pleasant beginning to the day than waking up to the apocalypse or, worse yet, the discovery that Earth ran out of bacon. Lunch, available every day except Sunday, encourages patrons to chomp into crisp salads and fries-complemented club sandwiches. The eatery also presents daily specials, the recent roster of which has included a meat lovers omelet brimming with steak tips, ham, sausage, bacon, and a mozzarella-bonding agent.

In the bistro's dining room, a small tree springs from a central planter, its gaunt branches peppering the space with twinkling string lights. As wall sconces cast buttery light on wine racks and ornate vases, fingers tiptoe across the restaurant's piano, filling the air with the seductive charm of a vintage jazz club.

Complementing these lavish ambiance notes is a dynamic Italian menu infused with seasonal ingredients from local markets and farms. Pours from a long list of wines help to awaken diners' palates, as do elegant starters of honey brie, grilled-lamb lollipops, and steamed Prince Edward Island mussels, grown in the main aquarium at Buckingham Palace. When it comes time for entrees, servers' arms stack high with fig-laced pizzas, steaks with dollops of herbed butter, and fish dishes that glisten with delicate wine sauces.