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Unlike Midtown restaurants that are busy only for lunch and pre-theater dinner, Salmon River buzzes from breakfast ‘til closing. Midday, it refuels neighborhood office workers, both on-premises and with Bryant Park-bound salads and sandwiches; after work, corporate creatures unwind at the long bar, in the mesh-curtained lounge, and in the quieter, bamboo-accented rear dining area. Then come the theatergoers and couples grabbing dinner before heading home from Grand Central; later yet, coworkers shuffle in, discussing the project that kept them after hours. And, because Salmon River’s side door opens into the lobby of a Courtyard by Marriott, there’s always a tourist contingent of twangy gents and big-haired ladies toting shopping bags. The seafood-centric menu presents familiar dishes with Manhattan flair courtesy of a Nobu-pedigreed chef, René Nilo Cuzco, who possesses a light touch and a knack for seasonings. Creamy white clam chowder pleases with a bacon note and shrimp scampi is sautéed with whole garlic cloves. The restaurant’s marquee fish is prepared in a multitude of simple, appealing ways, including a chubby pan-fried filet dubbed Santa Fe salmon for its bed of black beans and chipotle-laced spuds. — Karen Tina Harrison

Daily, 5 p.m.-10 p.m., $26, three courses

Clam chowder, $8.50; Santa Fe salmon, $25