New York

For restauranteurs, a few significant career milestones say "you've made it" -- like getting a Food Network show, or endorsing a line of healthy-yet-scrumptious microwave dinners. Also on that list, launching a restaurant inside a boutique hotel: Brasserie 44, open today.

From the guy behind Lure, Lever House, and gritty energy supplement e-Boost, B44's a lavish setting for both dates and business meetings: fresh-faced power breakfasts, power lunches/dinners, and the almost un-expensible power room service. Decor's plushly nautical, with teak-and-leather banquettes separated by woven-rope arches, in a style destined to be lauded as haute pirate. B44 serves all three meals, from slow-poached farmhouse eggs to white-bean stew to pan roasted veal chops; booze includes cocktails and 3,000 bottles of wine encased behind a glass viewing wall -- like a vino prison populated by Bloods and Blanc Supremacists.

While B44 shutters at midnight, the lobby's Bar 44 serves 'til 2am -- when you can stumble home to see another restauranteur living the dream, hawking his sizzly creations for Applebee's.