VUE

R ails is by far the largest restau- rant I've ever been to and the only one I felt I could truly get lost in if I wasn't careful. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful 20,000-square-foot space that's made up of three floors, six bars (two of which are outdoors) and is outfitted with so lighting, lots of reclaimed wood, walnut hues, leather furniture and rustic stonework. It embodies the design ethos im- plemented by Rails' creative visionary Jim Stathis and Executive Director Michael Mulligan: formal without being stuffy. ere are some intentionally hidden gems, howev- er, that make a visit to Rails about more than just the food. On the main floor, televisions, when not in use, are disguised as mirrors. e dry-aging room where all the meat is kept is accessible only via facial recog- nition, and the smart glass window will become trans- parent for just a few seconds before it starts to glaze over. A trip downstairs to the speakeasy starts with a ride in an elevator sha and if you tug on just the right book, you'll be transported to a Prohibition-style bar, irty3. Rails' underground wine cave comes as the restaurant's newest addition and to get in, guests will need to pull down on a wall sconce which activates a door that's masquerading as a wine shelf. It might be easy to think that as an adult, you're above said theatrics. But aer visiting, I'd be hard pressed to believe anyone who wasn't able to pick up on the magic be- hind what Rails has done. Unlike most steakhouses where it can feel like the inner workings of a Men's Warehouse, with just one look around the main dining room I could see that Rails draws everyone in—from families and couples to all-fe- male outings and of course, the inevitable suit-wearing crowd. e grandeur and sheer magnitude of Rails, you could imagine, would be perfect for just about any special occasion and steakhouses have long been known as a gathering place for celebratory moments. But one way Mulligan is bringing Rails into the modern age is by making the restaurant more accessible to the everyday customer. "When we were engineering the menu, we thought about how to attract potential guests from the surrounding towns of Towaco, Montville, Wayne and Lincoln Park into the restau- rant on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Sunday. I didn't want to be just a special occasion restaurant, I wanted guests to dine with us three times a week and not every three months. Part of how we achieved that was by doing away with the typical stuffy atmosphere." At the same time, Mulligan had to make sure the food re- flected that same sentiment. "e majority of people who come in order a steak, and we do a great job with it," he ex- plained. "But we also wanted to appeal to the masses. You have to stay relevant, you have to be contemporary and stay up on trends and tastes. So we're constantly adding and changing things." On a menu of mostly American steakhouse standards, din- ers will catch a few instances of whimsy like their Chilean sea bass with cucumber kimchi or buttery roasted cauliflower tossed with capers, raisins and hazelnuts. If you're someone who doesn't like to stray too far from tradition, there's also something to be said about executing the classics to perfection. You can't go wrong with Chef Frank Falivene's double-cut ma- ple-pepper glazed Berkshire bacon that's cured and smoked in-house; the crabcake, Mulligan's favorite, which uses only the highest quality of colossal lump crab meat; or the mac and V U E N J . C O M 122

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