The Loeb Boathouse Central Park

Get a fresh perspective on your own city: The lakeside setting in the heart of Central park is serene enough to offset the somewhat stiff service and hefty prices of this quintessential New York eatery. The docket's fish and fowl are all fresh and beautifully presented, but it's the crab cakes — more crab than cake — that really stand out. The namesake salad is a gorgeous sculpture of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, olives and large, rectangular chunks of feta cheese. Allow yourself to linger over mascarpone cheesecake before taking the restaurant’s trolley back to civilization. Paying for location is par for the course in New York routine; here, it’s well worth it.