Internationally known for its vast wine collection, perfectly aged steaks and famous dessert room, Bern's Steak House offers a world-class, incomparable dining experience. For wine aficionados, the 6,500 label wine collection, one of the largest wine collections in the world, provides ample opportunity for exploration.

When Bern Laxer opened in 1956, he envisioned Bern's as Art in Steaks. Today his son David continues the tradition of using the finest ingredients and doing all it takes to make diners happy, ensuring they return. The two driving factors of consistency of delivery and willingness to stretch oneself to new standards have ensured that not just the steakhouse, but sister restaurant SideBerns and their store selling fine wines, also perpetuate these values.

Bern's tradition of excellence with a gastronomic adventure includes prime steaks cut-to-order, twenty seven choices of caviar, fresh seafood and organic vegetables grown on Bern's farm. The menu also boasts a weekly specials' page offering fresh oysters, seasonal delights and entrées with suggested wine pairings.

Many years of intensive research by Chefs de Cuisine Andy Minney and Habteab Hamde and their talented staff have resulted in a change in the menu with ninety five new dishes as well as wine based sauces for the steak. With steaks being the mainstay, the preparation is given as much importance as the sourcing and it is customized to suit diners' tastes, including preparing a 'butterfly' of two sides of the steak done differently for guests sharing.

As soon as you enter the lobby of this famed steakhouse, the classic warm red hues and impressive banisters capture your attention. The spacious restaurant allows you to choose an open or more intimate seating, but it is the Harry Waugh Dessert Room with its pleasing décor and private booths to enjoy the dessert or post dinner drink or coffee that makes a meal there truly memorable. Find out more about this unusual and iconic restaurant from their Website.

Rayuela, pronounced rye-u-well-a, is a freestyle Latino restaurant on the Lower East Side and derives its name from the novel by Julio Cortazar and is the Spanish word for hopscotch. The chequered theme runs not just through the décor, but is woven into the bold and innovative menu that captures the abandon with which executive chef Máximo Tejada taps into Spanish, Mexican, Caribbean and Asian cuisines.

This spacious and glitzy restaurant has several comfortable lounge and dining areas with subtle lighting and pulsating music. The high point of the décor is a beautiful olive tree on the first floor, with its long leafy arms reaching the main dining rooms on the second floor, through an opening. In the dining room upstairs, soft couches nestling up to the tables and linen curtains spell style as well as comfort.

While the menu is in sections for soups, salads and appetisers or mains, a few of the dishes, defying classification, like in the game of hopscotch, would move categories, depending on whether one stops here for brunch, cocktails or dinner.

Some of their specialties are the grilled scallops with lobster coconut rice and the tuna rellena, made up of thin slices of tuna forming a pouch around crab, shrimp and a chipotle aioli to tickle the palate.

Similarly, the lobster revolution yields layers of effects - the sweetness of grilled pineapple and the tropical waft of coconut and lemon grass giving way to a blaze of jalapeño while the tremendously flavorful arroz con pollo comes with slices of chicken breast fanning out around paprika-seasoned rice, generously laden with chicken sausage and cubes of  meat.

The homemade bread cleverly combines yucca flour, cheese, milk, butter and leaves a lingering taste in your mouth, as do the desserts, particularly the apricot tart. The great food is ably supported by the creative cocktails and the extensive wine list leaning mainly towards Spanish and Latin American varieties.

Mealtimes here can be quite crowded so we recommend booking a table well in advance, their Website should help you to make that decision.

Dine at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Boston and be prepared to change your mind about standard steak houses. The difference is palpable as soon as you enter the restaurant as you are treated like a friend. From the pleasant greeting and warm handshake to the familiar sound and smell of the sizzle, the atmosphere is very informal and inviting.

Steaks, being their mainstay are taken very seriously and are carefully selected and aged for tenderness, cut thick to ensure juiciness and seared to perfection at eighteen hundred degrees. With just a dash of salt, pepper and parsley, and topped with fresh butter which sizzles seductively on your plate, you can relish the natural flavour and taste of great beef.

The beautifully presented food, the familiar sound of the sizzle and the perfectly cooked food ensure that you not only have good meal but carry great memories as well. It explains why this award winning restaurant goes beyond just nice décor and comfortable surroundings, has very satisfied clientele who keep returning.

The steak house chain has come a long way from its humble beginnings on Broad Street in New Orleans and now has over one hundred branches across different locations. In fact they celebrated their fortieth anniversary in 2005 and paid rich tributes to Ruth Fertel, the enterprising woman who battled against odds to start the steak house and whose values of quality food and genuine hospitality are the driving values there.

The best ingredients are used from the kitchen to the bar, which boasts of a wide selection of wines, spirits and cocktails. You'll find that they offer some of the finest vintages from different parts of the world by the bottle or glass. Their twenty-five-year-old Macallan single malt Scotch has warmed the heart of many a connoisseur.

You could start your meal there with a barbecued shrimp, sizzling blue crab cake or the veal osso buco ravioli with its subtle flavor of saffron and fresh mozzarella, served with sautéed spinach and a white wine demi glace. As accompaniments choose the colorful house specialty of Ruth's chop salad or go for vine ripe tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad with its sliced beefsteak tomato, basil, mozzarella cheese with a light drizzle of vinaigrette dressing.

Potatoes are served in various styles here from the humble mashed variety with a trace of garlic to lyonnaise style and baked sweet potatoes with a pecan crust. For mains try the stuffed chicken breast or the grilled Portobello mushroom or choose from the day's special seafood selection. Caramelized banana cream pie, warm apple crumb tart, homemade cheesecake or aptly called chocolate sin cake are perhaps sinful but very delightful ways of ending a meal here.

As you would have discovered that while steak is king here, the royal family is large and the menu extensive, making it necessary for you to visit Ruth's Chris steakhouse again to sample something new and enjoy a sizzling meal, however, at least you can find out more in advance by visiting their Website.

Aqua Blue restaurant on Holborn Bridge Road is a welcome haven, far away from the bustle of malls and chain restaurants that surround it. The decor, with its rich mahogany finish and alluring light fixtures, is striking. The bamboo backdrop, cascading curtains, the geometric accents and rich colored fabrics, all lend it a simple and elegant style. The main room, bordered by inviting, high-backed booths, has the added attraction of a large, well-stocked bar.

Co-founder and owner Chef John Metz, along with Chef de cuisine Kien Sam and architect Thomas DiGiorgio, bring their collective passions and experience in the hospitality industry, to conjure up a memorable dining experience at Aqua Blue, especially in Blue Ribbon, their specialist sushi bar. It is white tiled, with brilliant aqua blue lighting and an open kitchen, which helps in chasing away the 'blues' from their diners' moods.

Truly global in nature, the restaurant offers everything from sushi to Mexican food. While seafood, meat, poultry and vegetables form the base, the use of unusual ingredients and varied treatment, create an array of great food like dreamy tempura beans or Hawaiian and spider rolls.

Asian inspired appetizers like steamed green beans, and ahi poki-maguro or sushi style ahi fish, are very popular, as are the avocado with sweet sesame oil and caviar and soy sauce. You could try the edamame, an unripened soybean preparation or sample their yummy-yummy rolls - berry red tuna and wasabi sauce. If you wish to be less adventurous gastronomically, you could order the Gorgonzola beef tenderloin, the rich Maryland-style crab cake or perhaps, settle for steaks or noodles.

For dessert, you could go with crème brûlée, cherry chocolate cheesecake, and peanut butter mousse. The selection of cheeses, chocolate cake, sorbet or apple pie, also give your meal the finale it deserves. Aqua Blue travels the globe in just one meal. The personalized service, great atmosphere and blended flavors all meld together, making this a preferred restaurant; their Website will provide you with even more reasons why you should dine there.

With a lineage and training like Christiana Ricchi's one could only be successful. Born in New York and graduating in Fine Arts from the Universita Internazionale D'Arte of Florence, she stayed back in Italy to continue her studies in visual as well as culinary arts. She was part of the Trattoria i Ricchi outside Florence for eighteen years and true to family tradition she opened Ristorante i Ricchi in Washington DC in 1989. And there has been no looking back since.

Christiana Ricchi believes that traditional recipes, passed down through the ages are worth their weight in gold, so her restaurant recreates the ambience of a large family kitchen in the Tuscan village of Cercina. The focal point of the restaurant is the wood burning hearth, its warmth complemented by the terracotta floors and gold tinted walls decorated by rustic Della Robbia style murals.

The restaurant brings the satisfaction of a traditional dining experience with signature family recipes like tortellini al burro e salvia, thinly rolled pasta that is handmade each day, enclosing generous amounts of ricotta and spinach dressed with butter and fresh sage sauce that finds a pride of place in the menu. Using just a few basic ingredients like olive oil, vegetables, fish and meat, the cuisine of the region helps create exceptional dishes typical of the Mediterranean diet.

The menu is woven around prime aged beef grilled over live embers, pasta, grilled sea food, fowl and risottos. The highlights are their freshly baked bread and range of homemade desserts. The well trained staff look after the guests' every need whether it is helping them order a family meal or customizing the menu for a private party, and reflect the Ricchi commitment to be known as a premier Italian dining establishment; their Website will provide even more details and menus.

Established in 1979, Ricardo's, a family run restaurant, has now been serving Las Vegas for well over twenty five years. Operating on Flamingo and Decatur in the Renaissance Center West, it is just two miles away from the Las Vegas Strip.

Ricardo's has been voted Best Mexican Restaurant twenty one times by the LV Review Journal and AOL has honored Ricardo's as the City's Best Mexican too. Known for their spirit, quality and consistency, Ricardo's serves authentic and creative Mexican foods rich in the flavors of Northern Mexico and the American Southwest.

Ricardo's boasts of an enterprising team of employees who are close knit and enjoy their work. This feeling of oneness translates to exceptional service. The team of sixty five members have almost a whopping five hundred years of collective experience of having worked there. The chefs have their roots in native Mexico, enabling them to blend authentic recipes with a unique and creative flair.

Mexico has antojitos which are starters very similar to the Spanish tapas, or the Middle Eastern mezze. The word 'antojitos' literally means little cravings, and these are usually made from corn meal and then deep fried. There are also the French style crusty rolls called teleras and wheat flour based sincronizada and gringa. There are times when antojitos can be in the form of pozole or soups, while at others, they are chillies or jalapeños stuffed with different fillings.

Ricardo's also offers the popular nachos supremos, which has fresh chips topped with beans, ranchera sauce, and melted cheese, topped with onions, tomatoes, and chillies. Garnished with guacamole and sour cream, one can also add beef or chicken to make it more interesting and filling.

No Mexican meal is complete without chilies, so do sample the Colorado-tender sirloin cooked in red chili with onions, chilies and spices, or try the chili verde, diced pork cooked with onions, chilies, tomatillos, and seasonings, served in a tortilla shell with rice and beans.

How about a Mexican pizza? A large, flat flour tortilla that is made crisp and topped with melted cheddar cheese, with diced tomatoes, olives and onions sprinkled on the top. You could also request for a garnish of guacamole, sour cream and jalapenos to create a pizza just the way you like it. So go ahead, look forward to a palate and heart warming experience by enjoying the friendly service at Ricardo's; find out more about this highly original Mexican restaurant from their Website.

When figuring out what sort of restaurant people really needed, the Harry's Tap Room team realised that people do not want more of the kind they already have, but actually seek a place with that elusive combination - terrific food at a reasonable price in a relaxed atmosphere. And that is exactly what they deliver.

They are extremely particular about using ingredients that are organic and free of pesticides. Their beef and poultry are naturally raised and hormone free while their free range eggs and hand churned butter are sourced with care. Open from 7 am to 9 pm, they offer lunch and dinner during the week and additionally, brunch on weekends, when they also remain open until later.

For lunch and dinner you can have soups, salads, burgers and sandwiches as well as great appetizers with vegetable and mussel sides. Brunch offers comfort food - waffles, pancakes, omelets, brioche, fruit and freshly baked muffins. These go down well with Harry's Mary, Clarendon Eye Popper and Harry's Kir Royale, all specials from the bar.

As Harry's Tap Room is about breaking the rules and relaxing, they offer an extensive list of wines, including some wonderful little known ones that are affordable. They make recommendation on pairing your food and wine, but encourage you to order what makes you happy, even by asking for half glasses at half prices. With their range of light fruity dry wines, rich buttery ones, sweet wines, champagnes, beer and ales, they have something for everyone's taste.

It is hardly surprising that Washingtonian Magazine readers voted Harry's Tap Room the top after work meeting place in Northern Virginia. And with the opening of outlets in the main terminal and terminal B of the Dulles airport, you can now enjoy the quality food and friendly service of Harry's Tap Room before or after your next trip. Find out why they have such a strong following by visiting their Website.

More than thirty years have gone by since Panda Inn opened its doors in Pasadena, and even as this achievement is celebrated, their straightforward concept remains the same, to introduce regional Chinese cooking to a local audience. Despite being the parent restaurant of the more popular Panda Express, this is not just an upscale, sit down version offering old wine in new bottles.

Emphasis on traditions is strong and the casually sophisticated setting helps towards bringing forward the Chinese art of balancing tastes and textures to delight the senses. Gourmet Chinese flavors drawn from beloved family recipes highlight the robust qualities of Mandarin and Szechwan dishes.

The aptly named tasters include the straightforward salt and pepper prawns though minced chicken in lettuce cups or the spicy, crispy calamari are equally endearing. You could also forego this for a healthier option and try the mango duck salad or the Panda's chicken salad.

It's hard to be indifferent to the soup selection, especially with the very tantalising 3-flavors sizzling rice soup or the assorted wonton soup. A speciality section includes succulent Asian spiced beef short ribs, sweet and pungent shrimp and an interesting tea smoked duck. The wok-seared scallops are an enticing addition to this menu.

Choosing the mains might be confusing, given the profusion of choices with poultry and seafood. Orange flavored chicken with its deliciously different tangy, saucy and tart taste has many takers. The honey walnut shrimp is by far the most popular seafood item there, whereas sweet and sour pork or the beef with broccoli are some of the dishes that are loved by most patrons. Tofu with spicy eggplant, and sautéed mixed vegetables should help to keep the veggies happy. However, they do indicate that all their dishes including those with vegetables have a chicken broth base so be forewarned if you are particular about being vegetarian.

Fortune cookies dipped in white chocolate, and covered with foil paper are one of the draws there although the dessert section does include favorites such as carrot cake, brownies, chocolate cake, dipped strawberries, fruit and almond pudding. In addition to the restaurant experience, Panda also offers catering services for birthday parties, business luncheons and holiday celebrations, you can find further details on their Website.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar has raised the standard of excellence for steakhouses, winning awards and accolades throughout the country for outstanding food, wine and service.

As the name implies, the menu features the finest in USDA prime corn-fed beef, aged to perfection and hand-cut daily on site into generously thick steaks. While prime beef reigns supreme at Fleming's, other flavorful entrées include tenderloin carpaccio with caper creole mustard sauce and red onion, and wicked Cajun barbecue shrimp marinated with a flair of garlic and spices.

Amongst main courses double thick pork rib chop baked with apple cider creole mustard, julienne of apples and celery root and the chef's mixed grill selection prepared daily may capture the attention of hearty eaters. Seared scallops are served with a lobster cream sauce and a puff pastry of sautéed vegetables, while tuna mignon is seared rare with poppy seed au poivre and tomato sherry vinaigrette.

A wide range of side orders include chipotle cheddar macaroni and cheese, grilled asparagus, shoestring potatoes and season's best vegetables among others. A dessert of baked peach cobbler, slices of peach marinated with peach schnapps, cinnamon and nutmeg, with a brown sugar streusel and Blue Bell vanilla ice cream is a fitting end to a meal.

Fleming's has made an extraordinary commitment offering 100 wines by the glass. The award-winning wine list includes favorites as well as many hard-to-find boutique selections and is updated yearly to reflect current trends and local offerings. Climate-controlled rooms ensure every glass of wine is served at optimum temperature. Fleming's has earned national recognition for its wine program and recently received 52 Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator.

Known for its contemporary, inviting atmosphere, the restaurant features an open dining room built around an exhibition kitchen and expansive bar. Adjacent to the main dining area are private dining rooms that can comfortably accommodate small or large groups. The private dining experts at Fleming's will help meet the most exacting requirements whatever the occasion.

The goal at Fleming's is to provide an ongoing celebration of exceptional food and wine, to be enjoyed in the company of friends and family. It's the continuing dedication to excellence and service that turn an evening out at Fleming's into memorable times.

For additional information about Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar and locations, do take a look at their Website.

Gratzi opened its doors to the people of Ann Arbor, a city known for its diverse culture and exciting atmosphere, in December of 1987. This contemporary Italian restaurant features regional food and wine from the North, in classic and tastefully fitted out surroundings. It is owned by the Mainstreet group that runs several distinctive properties, recognized as among the best in their localities.

The restaurant is housed in a former Orpheum theatre, which screened popular movies during the 1930s, and Gratzi has helped preserve times gone by, through their elegant décor. A grand sculpture of Orpheus, the Greek poet and musician, overlooks the dining room and a beautifully painted renaissance style mural highlights the restaurant's indulgent and enjoyable atmosphere - ideal for business meetings, intimate encounters, gatherings with family and everything in between.

You could visit their mahogany bar and choose from a wide selection of wines and beers, before heading on to occupy one of their neatly laid, linen covered tables in the balcony or alfresco dining area. Among appetizers, expect to find lightly fried calamari with saffron aioli and scampi al curry, made of grilled jumbo Gulf shrimp with aromatic curry sauce, and a blood orange fennel salad, as well panini di pollo of rolls with grilled chicken, tomato, bacon and fresh mozzarella.

Other than the popular Caesar, the salad list consists of the cobb with mixed greens, tomatoes, egg, grilled chicken, smoked bacon, green onions and gorgonzola cheese in a roasted garlic dressing. The rucola e arancia, with arugula and mache, and sweet marinated red onion, orange, toasted pistachios and orange infused olive oil is a perfect vegetarian choice.

If you feel like keeping your meal simple, try the fettuccine con pomodoro basilico pasta, with tomato basil, garlic and wild mushrooms and for those wanting something more fulfilling, there is a wonderful combination of potato gnocchi with shrimp, smoked apple wood bacon, rosemary, red pepper flakes and tomato sauce. The menu also has pizzas and house specials such as pollo al marsala, grilled breast of chicken served over roasted Yukon gold potatoes, spinach, grilled Portobello mushroom and herb polenta as well as crispy pan fried egg plant, layered with house made tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and parmesan, served with a side of capellini. The filetto di manzo, with herb crusted beef tenderloin, tomato, goat cheese, roasted potatoes and shallots is another tempting dish to please meat lovers.

Lunch and dinner dishes vary to some extent and they have a gluten free menu for diners with specific dietary requirements. Gratzi features desserts like cannoli wafers layered with berries, ricotta and pastry cream as well as coffees and traditional grappa, known as a long-standing creator of warmth and conversation after dinner. For further information, a visit to their Website is recommended.