A Japanese restaurateur introduces high-style sushi and organic ingredients in his breathtaking downtown digs.

The Scene
Every inch of the original Megu (there's a second one in midtown) is meticulously designed in a mix of modern and antique motifs. Porcelain rice-bowl columns teeter high above the auditorium-sized dining area, and a gigantic temple bell suspends over a bottom-lit ice carving. Pampering servers, decked out in haute Japonica, flutter between cavernous leather booths and the long sushi bar. Even the celebs seem impressed.

The Food
The modern, largely organic, high-dollar Japanese menu deserves the drama of its showy setting. The kitchen abandons courses in favor of shared plates: first, yuzu-doused micro-greens and flower petals; next, bonito-rich edamame puree. Raw fish--from buttery uni sushi to glistening toro tartare--is exceedingly fresh. So are cooked plates: Marinated Kobe beef practically melts on its skewers, soy-buttered scallops collapse with sweet brine and Chawanmushi custard, quivering in eel-soy broth with black truffles and foie gras, is over the top.

Bar overlooking Megu Japanese restaurant a destination in its own right.

In Short
The high style of Megu, the restaurant the lounge overlooks, continues in the breathtaking upstairs space, wallpapered with bolts of antique kimono fabric. A wall of glass windows lets drinkers peer at the diners below while separating the experience. Nibble on small plates, peruse the long list of sakes or sample the Blessing, the bar's signature cocktail made with vodka, triple sec, strawberries and pomegranate juice. Sit at the bar or at a leather banquette.

Trump hires Koji's Imai's decadent Japanese restaurant for his midtown digs.

The Scene
The name of Koji Imai's upscale Japanese empire translates as ''blessing,'' and the benediction for this latest midtown outpost comes from the Don himself--Trump, that is. Decor makes a few nods to its far-east midtown location with black-finished wood, white leather chairs and honey-colored lighting. But floor-spanning lampshades resembling giant mushrooms, a mixed business-tourist crowd and a chatty, international waitstaff paint an amusingly surreal scene.

The Food
The massive menu of the Tribeca location has been paired down to a more manageable size, sharpening the focus on playfully Westernized renditions of Japanese cuisine: a palate-cleansing pina colada shot comes in an Asian soup spoon; a creamy cod-roe dipping sauce accompanies thick asparagus spears; and a fragrant, chowder-like miso soup floats with clouds of snapper and is served in a country-quaint-pattered bowl. Dishes that need no gimmick: a supple toro tuna steak with truffle sauce and sublimely tender, stone-grilled Kobe-beef chateaubriand.