If you're like us, you've long awaited the 10,000 square feet of pure, unadulterated Ruby Tuesday slated to land in Times Square come April 2007. But you're probably not like us. Since the restaurant will be an outpost of the kind of generic, corporate family chain to which New Yorkers are said to be most averse, the place is bound to take its lumps next year. But there's a good reason we're soft on these cheery mega-eateries.

To wit: RT's rich, well-constructed half-pound hamburger, which is blended from tenderloin, rib-eye, and sirloin and topped with garlic mayonnaise. Sell this burger from a divey hole in the wall on Avenue D and the feinschmeckers would fall all over each other praising it. But that's not all we recommend: The restaurant's blackened rib-eye steak is itself a solid piece of juicy, aggressively seasoned commodity meat (choice, we would guess). And the ruggedly breaded typhoon shrimp are nigh irresistible, paired with a chili sauce that goes quite nicely with the immense Margarita Magnificos. There are far worse places to decompress, watch a hockey game, and stuff yourself with meat and comically large cocktails than Ruby Tuesday — just ask the rest of the country.