This is a big downtown restaurant where you can enjoy comfort food in comfortable surroundings. Red Star is attached to the Hotel Monaco ★★ , and it has transformed itself from a chop house to a restaurant that offers a medley of internationally inspired small and large plates, all of them good, fresh, and filling. None of them are over-the-top in terms of preparation or presentation (translation: You can bring the family here and they will all find something they like on the menu). First you’ll have to tear yourself away from the weeknight happy hour, which lasts from 4 to 8pm and draws a big after-work crowd. Then slide into a booth looking out on 5th and share a few smaller plates, maybe the butternut squash dip paired with hamachi crudo and citrus soy, or the carpaccio with black olive aioli. Then I would recommend fish or meat from the grill—Red Star has a big, wood-burning oven and is known for its wonderfully tender chicken and dry-aged rib-eye steaks. After that, you might not have room for dessert. If you do, try one of the homemade sorbets or ice creams.