Dakota

Parking: Valet
After Hours, People Watching Bar Scene, Celeb-Spotting, Upscale Moderately noisy Private Parties Banquets

Unlike nearly every other venue in the Roosevelt Hotel (Tropicana, Teddy’s) as well as the hotel itself, Dakota has the distinction of offering quality food and great service. No snooty attitudes here, just perfectly cooked steaks (filet, bone-in filet, ribeye, New York, Kansas City, sirloin and chateaubriand) that anchor a solid menu of steakhouse classics. The steaks will set you back $30-$60. Throw in a tableside-prepared Caesar salad ($15) -- which you have to do -- a vegetable or a side dish ($10), a glass of wine, and if you’re feeling particularly gluttonous -- which you absolutely should be, or why else would you have come here in the first place? – a dessert ($10-$12), and you’ll be spending upwards of $100/per person.

Is it worth it? From the brown suede chairs to the $70 burger, Dakota is an exercise in delicious overkill, the sort of shameless excess that might drive a hedonist wild with desire and a moralist apoplectic with righteous anger. For $70, I expect more than a burger, I expect a burger flecked with gold dust and served by supermodels dancing on shimmering diamond discs. The price of the “Original 25 Degrees Burger” is partially mitigated by the fact that it’s made from 9 ounces of prime sirloin and served with a glass of 2003 Opus One Napa Red Meritage (normally $58 a glass), a wine that’s made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot grapes. What that means is you get to feel like a classy drunk while wolfing down your parmesan black truffle fries and your caramelized onion, gorgonzola and bacon-topped burger.

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