Time Out New York lists the best restaurants in the city to impress any client with top-notch midday fare (and spare your wallet with prix fixes and specials).

• Aureole
  Chef Charlie Palmer tapped rising talent Christopher Lee to run the Times Square incarnation of his 20-year-old American classic. Lee’s complex food strikes a fine balance between big-ticket opulence and homespun inclinations. The shabby-chic ethos can be seen in a foie gras starter, with buttery corn bread, smoked corn coulis and tart blueberries, and a surf and turf, which presents side-by-side renditions of butter-poached lobster and barbecued pork. Desserts show remarkable continuity with the food they follow: A panfried carrot cake could as easily be served as a savory side dish. 135 W 42nd St between Sixth Ave and Broadway (212-319-1660, charliepalmer.com). Mon¬–Sat lunch noon–2:30pm. Average main course $24, three-course prix fixe $34.
• A Voce
  Former chef Andrew Carmellini left a void so hard to fill, the owners imported someone from Chicago—Spiaggia’s Missy Robbins. From her traditional palette comes pastas like delicious quadrati, ricotta-filled packets tossed with savoy cabbage, butter and bacon batons. Tender sirloin slices were layered with caramelized endives and a drizzle of marrow-laced jus, with a gratin of soupy polenta served on the side. The after-work crowds can be overwhelming, but Italian-food fiends will be amply rewarded. 41 Madison Ave, entrance on 26th St between Madison and Park Ave South (212-545-8555, avocerestaurant.com). Mon–Fri lunch 11:45am–2:30pm. Average main course $28, three-course prix fixe $29.
• Casa Lever
  This hot spot, the latest outpost of the Sant Ambroeus chainlet, offers a jet-set spin on Italian café culture for an A-list clientele. Designer Marc Newson’s hermetic honeycomb space (it was once home to the spare Lever House) has been updated with red carpets and bright Warhols hanging from the sloped walls. But the scene, not the food, is the draw. Undercooked rigatoni, sauced in a too-sweet amatriciana with bland smoked tuna, was a washout, while a classic saffron risotto might’ve been close to perfection if the chef hadn’t neglected to add salt. Only desserts deliver reliable thrills: a striated limone cake layers white chocolate mousse, lemon curd, raspberry gelée and a praline crunch under a thin chocolate shell. 390 Park Ave at 53rd St (212-888-2700). Average main course: $34.
• Convivio
  Chef Michael White’s revision of Scott Conant’s L’Impero has brought the Tudor City spot to new heights. The emphasis is squarely on Southern Italy, with antipasti such as country bread slathered with chicken liver mousse and hauntingly good pastas—saffron gnocchetti arrive with crabmeat, sea urchin, chili flakes, scallion and garlic. Pastry chef Heather Bertinetti maintains the quality through dessert. Though we generally avoid chocolate cake, our server’s insistence that it was moist, not oversweet and flavorful proved correct. 45 Tudor City Pl at 43rd St (212-599-5045, convivionyc.com). Mon–Fri lunch noon–2:30pm. Two-course minimum $28, additional courses $12 each.
• Eleven Madison Park
  Eat Out Award–winning chef Daniel Humm mans the kitchen at Danny Meyer’s vast Art Deco jewel. His lofty intentions are best expressed in a three- or four-course tasting menu: A starter of la ratte potatoes features Hawaiian prawns and delicate rings of calamari spiked with lemon, and an entrée of Muscovy duck gets a floral note from lavender-honey glaze. In a classic Meyer show of hospitality, you’ll head out with a quartet of delectable petits fours. 11 Madison Ave at 24th St (212-889-0905, elevenmadisonpark.com). Mon–Fri lunch noon–2pm. Two-course prix fixe $28.
• Inside Park at St. Bart’s
  Though the dining room remains nearly empty, this ambitious restaurant—set cinematically within the namesake church—offers some of the city’s finest Greenmarket cooking. Chef Matthew Weingarten’s homey-elegant fare includes a nostalgic oyster pan roast—bivalves barely poached in seaweed broth, with celery root, leeks and bacon. Striped bass meunière is a gorgeous fillet drenched in brown butter, with crunchy fried capers and seasonal sides. Consider this a plea for your patronage: The recession shouldn’t claim a place this good. 325 Park Ave at 50th St (212-593-3333, insideparknyc.com). Mon–Fri lunch 11:30am–3pm. Average main course $18.
• Jean Georges
  Unlike so many of its vaunted peers, Jean-Georges has not become a shadow of itself: The top-rated food is still breathtaking. A velvety foie gras terrine with spiced fig jam is coated in a thin brûlée shell; a more ascetic dish of green asparagus with rich morels showcases the vegetables’ essence. Pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini’s dessert quartets include “late harvest”—a plum sorbet, verbena-poached pear and a palate cleanser of melon soup with “vanilla noodles.” Trump International Hotel & Tower, 1 Central Park West at Columbus Circle (212-299-3900, jean-georges.com). Mon–Sat lunch noon–3pm. Three-course prix fixe $26.
• The Mark
  This Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant was designed by Jacques Grange, the same person responsible for the Mark Hotel’s new modern French aesthetic. The dining room has been nicknamed “the Greenhouse” for its full skylight roof. The menu from Vongerichten and chef de cuisine Pierre Schutz (Vong) is designed with flexibility in mind, with dishes ranging from a traditional veal chop to the soba-like buckwheat fettuccine with shrimp, clams, mussels and sea urchin, and a selection of cakes served by the slice. The Mark Hotel, 25 E 77th St between Fifth and Madison Aves (212-606-3030, themarkhotel.com). Mon–Fri lunch 11:30am–2:30pm. Average main course $25.
• Megu Midtown
  Think of this midtown spin-off as Megu Lite. Located on the ground floor of the Trump World Tower, the 130-seat space is less than half the size of the Tribeca original. But this Megu is still extravagant: Twenty-seven-foot lanterns lord over the dining room and sushi bar. We liked a light miso clam chowder and greaseless head-on shrimp tempura. Chutoro tuna included a test tube and eyedropper holding various sauces—a culinary chemistry set. These features don’t come cheap, but the six-course prix fixe, at $70, is a relative bargain. 845 U.N. Plaza, Trump World Tower, First Ave at 47th St (212-964-7777, megurestaurants.com). Mon–Fri lunch 11:30am–2:30pm. Three-course prix fixe $24.
• Wolfgang’s Steakhouse
  Hissing platters of beef and a schlag-centric dessert menu bear resemblances to a certain Billyburg steakhouse. It makes sense when you consider that the owner of this midtown restaurant spent 40 years as a waiter at the landmark meatery. Things done the Luger way include the luscious aged-on-site porterhouse for two. Things done better: gorgeous decor (a Guastavino-tile vaulted ceiling), friendly service and a soft spot for pescatarians—well-executed choices include grilled Chilean sea bass and yellowfin tuna. 4 Park Ave at 33rd St (212-889-3369, wolfgangssteakhouse.com) Mon, Sun noon–10:30pm; Fri, Sat, noon–11:30pm. Average lunch $60–$80, lunch specials starting at $25.