Most cities have one place that serves as the unofficial country club restaurant for people who don’t actually belong to a country club, and this sidecar to the Mag Mile’s Ralph Lauren store is ours. The walls are filled with leather-bound books no one has read and pictures of priggish people from decades past, some on horseback. The menu features dishes that used to excite diners 25 years ago — Dover sole in lemon butter, calf’s liver with bacon and onions — yet it works. Everything is better than it needs to be. Sea scallops on special one day are of the finest quality, and a crisp chicken milanese topped with tart arugula salad feels both a light choice and an indulgence. Sometimes, though, you just want to order the 100 percent perfect chopped vegetable salad in mustard vinaigrette, take full advantage of that bread basket with its enormous seed cracker standing aloft, and have a glass of Chablis. Or two. Ladies gonna lunch.

Price: $$$
Address: 115 E. Chicago Ave.
Website: ralphlauren.com/global-rl-chicago