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Michael Graves designed this showstopper of a restaurant with a glamorous interior of rich velvets and dark wood to evoke the glory days of supper clubs. The menu reflects Jean-Georges’s love of classical French cooking methods and exotic flavors in dishes such as lobster tartine in a lemongrass broth with pea shoots.

This is the outpost of the Pourcel brothers, France’s newest wunderkind chefs. The twins’ restaurant in Montpelier, Le Jardin des Sens, has been declared one of the best in the country, and they were the youngest chefs ever to be awarded three Michelin stars. The philosophy behind their cuisine is that all of a diner’s senses should be engaged, provoked and pleased. To that end, they pay great attention to colors, smells, sounds and feelings in their restaurants—as well as the food itself. The restaurant’s design and menu also meld a respect for French traditions with modern ingenuity. Gilt-framed portraits of powder-wigged dignitaries hang against a wall draped with gray silk curtains; bud vases containing red roses dangle from the ceiling. Recalling my dessert of a passion-fruit beignet with chocolate sauce still makes my mouth water. This is high dining that will wow even the most worldly diners in a very fun atmosphere.

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Considered one of the finest living Chinese chefs, Jereme Leung is only thirty-six years old. He began his career at age thirteen preparing dim sum in a Hong Kong restaurant and was named one of the world’s best chefs in 1999. His Shanghainese specialties include drunken crab served in stacked teacups and red braised pork and marinated live prawns. Even those who find the food a bit too adventurous should take a peek at the sexy Art Deco–Asian dining room for its intricately carved wooden panels and mosaic floors.