Fodor's Expert Review Reef

Chef Bryan Caswell, late of Bank at the Hotel Icon, re-emerges at Midtown's bustling Reef, a loud, showy seafood house packed to the gills with movers and shakers and their friends. Although the food is often a mixed bag, when it's good, it's great. Shrimp wrapped with bacon and stuffed with avocado; crispy-skin Gulf Coast snapper; and the jumbo crab cake served with taqueria-style pickled vegetables are good choices. Fish not regularly seen on conventional menus, from amberjack to wahoo, make a splash here as well. For a seafood joint, Reef has a mean "naked" rib eye, served with brown-butter gnocchi. Check out the glass-enclosed wine wall, filled to the ceiling with remarkably well-priced, unusual selections.