Restaurants in Point Pleasant

Locally sourced ingredients alchemize into upscale French cuisine at the celebrity-favored Bistro Chat Noir. Aside from strictly French eats, such as onion soup with gruyere, the bistro's signature Black Cat burger "delivers a textured, tantalizingly sweet payload," according to the New York Post, topping humanely raised beef with free-range, vegetarian-fed pickles. Founder, manager, and co-owner Suzanne Latapie bedecks the townhouse's cream walls with impressionist oil paintings daubed by her grandfather, Louis Latapie. Low lighting gently illuminates brunches, lunches, and dinners of truffle mac 'n' cheese, roasted-beet salad, steak tartar, and lobster. Guests can secure tables with the online reservation widget, or customize a prix fixe menu for private events by placing a call.

Restaurateurs Antonio and Mario Cerra pride themselves on Zagat-rated Padre Figlio’s masterful presentation of Italian cuisine, which spotlights fine seafood and USDA Prime meats flavored with roasted garlic, rosemary, oregano, and extra-virgin olive oil. The upscale steak house cultivates its elegant atmosphere through walls decked in warm vermillion and brilliant gold leaf, tucked-away booths, and dining areas bordered by velvet drapery. Cloth-clad tables frame plates laden with imported buffalo mozzarella, Mediterranean sea bass, tender porterhouse steaks, and plump gnocchi dumplings swimming in tomato-basil sauce, all paired with cocktails and martinis from the bar or selections from an extensive wine list. Intimate dining experiences unfold in three private rooms with distinct visual accents, from the garden balcony's sweeping views of 44th Street to the velvet room's up-close vistas of textile weaves.

For $15, today’s Groupon gets you $35 worth of food and drink at Butterfield 8, the high-ceilinged, wood-paneled restaurant and bar located at 5 E. 38th St. in Midtown (between 5th and Madison). Get away from the bustling streets and enjoy the old-time feeling (special lighting techniques make the inside appear in sepia tone) at Butterfield 8 with a few city friends.

Have you ever seen someone smell a glass of wine and remark on its “lemony overtones” or “essence of plum” and wondered if they had any idea what they were talking about? Usually you're right, and they're pulling words from the 2009 Unabridged Wine Libs Dictionary. Pair one word from the "Obscure Fruits and Woods" chapter with another from "Vague Concepts" and you've got a smart-sounding wine description. How many times have we heard a Wine Libs poser foolishly declare that a wine resonated with "cedar echoes"? Too many times to count on one seven-fingered hand—eight times, to be precise.

Dreams are open to interpretation. A dream about falling could mean either:

The only thing more fun than gazing at the Brooklyn Bridge with your friends is doing it over delicious steaks and drinks. And when the price is halved with today's Groupon, the fun doubles. Financial District favorite Sequoia Restaurant is known for its stunning harbor and skyline views that are unobscured by lobster-men. Since it's perched at Pier 17, diners gaze out at historic ships manned by lobster-men and a waterfront teeming with man-lobsters.