Crab is treated better here than at any other place in town, and salads are particularly noteworthy, offering creative twists on classic combinations. The mushroom butter and the carrots ''two ways'' are so distinctive that they are likely to attain local-legend status. Those who dislike excessive ostentation may not be comfortable here. Things need to be smoothed out at the door, and there's a sense of inflated importance among some of the waiters that falls short of genuine concern for the guest's welfare. Smoking in separate smoking room and at the bar.
Cigars have their own menu.
Entrance and restrooms. Ming Tsai have dropped in - and you can't help but get caught up in the buzz of excitement as you walk in. When you've been to Jeff Ruby's, you know you've been somewhere. Ruby's models have always been the classic old steakhouses and watering holes of New York, and in a way his high-profile Precinct and Waterfront were a rehearsal for this. From Walnut Street, the view is of majestic cuts of beef arrayed in Ruby's special dry- aging room, lit with lavender neon.