The Best Business Restaurants

You need a restaurant that

• is quiet enough for conversation -- but not a wake
• has an accommodating menu with a wide, but not overwhelming, variety of options
• offers cuisine that is more consistent than creative
• has a clientele of your contemporaries and peers
• is not overly raucous -- nor uncomfortably romantic
• has a staff well trained in serving business clientele

What you want is a restaurant that is disaster and distraction proof.

While researching and writing the Business Travel Almanac, I worked with an organization called Gayot to determine the top five business restaurants for 15 cities. Gayot specializes in publishing hotel and restaurant reviews written by a team of savvy, professional restaurant critics and food and travel experts.

Among the many possible restaurant choices, these outstanding establishments distinguish themselves for belonging to Gayot's "reserve." They are the crème de la crème of American tables. Selected not only for their outstanding Gayot review and service, these upscale restaurants consistently offer a business-appropriate ambiance and leave a memorable impression on customers, colleagues, and clients.

This edition of Transit Authority features the best business restaurants in three of 15 cities: Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago. Additional urban areas will be covered during the months to come.

Atlanta

From foie gras to boiled peanuts, Atlanta's eateries serve a wide variety of fine dining, down-home dinners, and ethnic meals. Until recently, you would find most of Atlanta's better restaurants in the posh Buckhead area, but over the last few years, Atlanta's avant-garde restaurateurs have spread out in all directions. We chose the restaurants featured below because -- even though there are others outside of the neighborhood -- these best of the best are in Buckhead.

Bone's
Cuisine: Steakhouse. Features: Great wine list, heart-healthy dishes, full bar, private rooms, reservations suggested. Attire: Business casual. Open: Lunch Monday-Friday; dinner nightly. Location: 3130 Piedmont Road, Atlanta 30305. Phone: 404-237-2663.

Chops/Lobster Bar
Cuisine: Lobster bar, seafood, steakhouse. Features: Great wine list, heart-healthy dishes, full bar. Attire: Ties and jackets required. Open: Chops, lunch Monday-Friday, dinner nightly; Lobster Bar, dinner nightly. Location: Buckhead Plaza, 70 W. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta 30305. Phone: 404-262-2675.

The Dining Room: The Ritz-Carlton
Cuisine: Contemporary. Features: Heart-healthy dishes, full bar, reservations required. Attire: Ties and jackets recommended. Open: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Location: The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, 3434 Peachtree Road, Atlanta 30326. Phone: 404-237-2700.

Joël
Cuisine: French, contemporary. Features: Great wine list, heart-healthy dishes, full bar, private rooms, outdoor dining, entertainment (jazz) Wednesday and Friday, reservations suggested. Attire: Casual dressy. Open: Lunch Tuesday-Saturday; dinner Monday-Saturday. Location: The Piazza at Paces, 3290 Northside Parkway, Atlanta 30327. Phone: 404-233-3500.

McKendrick's Steak House
Cuisine: Steakhouse. Features: Great wine list, full bar, private rooms, reservations suggested. Attire: Casual. Open: Lunch Monday-Friday; dinner nightly. Location: Park Place, 4505 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta 30346. Phone: 770-512-8888.