Closing the Deal With Coconut Shrimp

"Sharp winds whip down Fifth Avenue, but the scene inside the Tommy Bahama Restaurant on the corner of 45th Street is far more serene, Frank Sinatra playing softly over a low murmur of mergers and acquisitions. Near the entrance, just past a beached log and some dangling strings of seashells, a traffic jam of customers tries to sneak in before rushing back to the office."

""I made my reservation last week - I wouldn't leave it up to chance," one guest says as he waits to check in. He explains that he works in finance but doesn't want to share any other details because he "can't talk to the press." Scanning the room, it isn't hard to identify other diners' employers. Company logos are everywhere: An Ernst & Young jacket here, a VARS cybersecurity puffer there, branded Patagonia vests all over the room."

""Power dining" conjures images of grand architecture and ornate salads, not the upscale-Margaritaville vibes of this second-floor restaurant, reached via a spiral staircase in the street-level Tommy Bahama store. Martinis, yes. Coconut Cloud martinis (vanilla rum, coconut rum, and coconut cream), not so much. But sometime over the past few years, midtown's captains of industry coalesced on this particular restaurant."

On a winter weekday before Christmas, the Marlin Bar and second-floor Tommy Bahama restaurant hum with business activity amid Fifth Avenue winds. The restaurant plays Frank Sinatra and fills with finance and private-equity diners, many wearing company logos and branded outerwear. Reservations are common and weekday lunches routinely pack 200–250 covers, with 80–90 percent of patrons dining for business. The space mixes island-themed decor and martinis with a corporate power-lunch atmosphere. The outpost is part of a 29-location national chain that has attracted midtown's dealmakers and now ranks with established business-meal venues.

Read at Grub Street