PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

The sizzle isn't all on the grill at this contemporary Chicago steakhouse-meets-Vegas dining palace. You'll feel like you're making a grand entrance from the moment you walk in the front door and step down an open staircase into the high-ceilinged, white and silver dining room, where the dramatic central champagne-and-caviar bar and glittering crowd all vie for your immediate attention. (The owners have since opened another Nine in Las Vegas, a city this glam decor seems meant for.) Begin with something from the caviar appetizers or "crustacea" station (clams, oysters, crab, shrimp, and crawfish). The signature starter is the "two cones" appetizer, one overflowing with tuna tartare, another with chunks of lobster and avocado. For a splurge, try the Kobe beef burger or the prime, dry-aged steaks, particularly the 24-ounce bone-in rib-eye and 22-ounce porterhouse. The menu wisely accommodates a variety of tastes; non-red-meat options include a generous veggie chopped salad, roast chicken with chipotle marinade, and a few seafood selections such as the delicious miso-marinated black cod. For dessert, grill your own s'mores on a hibachi grill at your table. The lunch menu adds some burgers, flatbread pizzas, sandwiches, and entree salads. If you want to keep hanging with the beautiful people after dinner, head upstairs to the sleek, futuristic Ghost Bar.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Chicago 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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