photo: Courtesy of Nick Flandro

Note: The restaurant half of Green Dolphin Street is now closed, to be replaced with Orvieto (a pizza-and-wine bar) in Fall 2009. The club remains open for business.

You can catch live music here every night of the week except Monday, running the gamut from big band and bebop to Latin jazz and salsa lessons accompanied by live DJs. The sophisticated club is warm and candle-lit, with thick red curtains shutting out distractions from next door.

Typically well-dressed crowds (no hats or athletic wear allowed) gather around the wood-paneled bar or at one of the many white-clothed tables, sipping martinis and mixed drinks for $6 and up. The bar menu, while still well above standard bar fare, is drastically different from the main dining room eats: Try the four-cheese pizza, the bacon-cheddar burger or the Dungeness crab cake, all under $12. Peek past the curtains in back and you'll find a second, smaller bar leading out to several party rooms and the patio, which is open in warmer months.

Average cost: $21-$30

Centerstage Reviewer: Ben Rubenstein