Like a stylized version of the Plaka in Athens, this dramatic restaurant comes dazzlingly alive with whitewashed walls, table umbrellas, iced displays of glimmering fresh fish, and beautiful European diners. Your meal begins with the snipping of fresh herbs into a bowl of olive oil. Classic salads -- of lentil, chickpea, or smoked carp roe -- and a signature pile of paper-thin fried vegetables make delicious appetizers. You can select a fish from the display of fresh Mediterranean seafood flown in everyday, and have it weighed (you pay by the pound) and grilled whole. You almost have to be a shipping tycoon to afford it all. Don't pass up a dessert of thick Greek-style goat's milk yogurt with thyme honey. Reservations essential. Subway: F, N, R, Q, W to 57th St.