Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that it is the mid-1980s all over again: Andy Warhol is still alive and compulsively jotting down the names of every person he meets up with, the voice of Pat Benetar wails on endlessly anywhere you turn on the FM dial, and the Cold War shows no signs of ending. Right this moment, in the heat of the “Me decade,” if you are lucky enough to score a table at New York’s hottest new restaurant, Gotham Bar and Grill, you might see a dining room crowded with more than its share of smarmy Gordon Gekkos and their Working Girl dates, a few disaffected Bright Lights, Big City youth on summer break, and of course, an abomination of shoulder pads. Now flash forward to the present, nearly a quarter of a century later, and amazingly, while most everything else has changed inexorably–what’s FM radio again?–Gotham remains as much of a dining destination as it ever was.

In large part, the restaurant has been able to maintain its longevity across the decades because of the unwavering attention of one man, executive chef Alfred Portale. You may recognize Portale’s name from his gig as a guest judge on Bravo TV’s Top Chef this season, or perhaps from small handful of award-winning cookbooks, but Portale moonlights rarely, so chances are good that if you have heard of him, it is through Gotham. Then again, you may also have gotten wind of the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef of the Year award he won just last year–yes, for his work at a twenty-four year old restaurant that, since he arrived, has never had another executive chef.

Consistency may be Portale’s greatest culinary virtue, but his legacy to restaurants across the country is his signature tall-plating. HungryMan, HungryMom and I witnessed his architectonic stylings this week in dishes like the seafood salad (pictured above, $21), a red lettuce-topped whimsy that resembled an upright pineapple through squinted eyes. We’ll admit that there is something charmingly retro about teetering stacks of food–after all, Portale’s national and international imitators had their heyday more than a decade ago–but presentation is just an opening salvo at Gotham. When the towers and timbales tumble, the food is what matters, and it is here that Portale really shows his skill.

Both of our appetizers were close to flawless, from the pH-precise tang of the vinaigrette-moistened grilled octopus with chick peas, red onions, and cherry tomatoes (pictured top, $19), to the delicate chew of the seafood salad’s squid. There were no oversights or afterthoughts on the table.

Main dishes also displayed a masterful eye for detail: HungryMan’s roast pork with fava beans and polenta ($37) possessed a smoky sear on its exterior while still managing to retain its elemental, essential pork flavor. This is no easy feat; when Julia Child famously pined for chicken that tasted like chicken, this is what she meant–fine quality meat that is prepared so that it becomes more, not less of itself. The roasted plum lent sweet and floral accents to the dish, and we all wondered if the fruit had not been finished with a bit of brandy before plating.

HungryMom’s grilled New York steak with vidalia onion rings and bordelaise sauce ($44) proved definitively that the pork preparation was no fluke: the beef ran just the right amount of red when it was cut, and its flavors were amplified and improved by the shallot-rich saucing. Only the onion rings were a bit of a let-down, as they were a drop too greasy and tasted as if they had come from a fryer that had perhaps made one too many baskets of rings already.

On the other hand, my miso-marinated black cod with sticky rice, bok choi, and a lemongrass sauce ($38) was again nearly perfect, with its crisp seared long edges and quenelle of sticky rice that transformed the dish into a Modern American reinvention of the sushi roll. Yet the cod took traditional Japanese ideas in a new direction, borrowing promiscuously from Chinese and Thai flavors and forcing all three of them to come their own riotous equilibrium on the plate. And the result was sheer pleasure.

Compared to Portale, pastry chef Deborah Racicot may be a new kid on the block, but already she has made an indelible mark on the restaurant’s menu with her much lauded take on the restaurant’s budino-esque chocolate cake ($11). We ordered a slice with a scoop of delicate fresh mint and chocolate chip to finish off our dinner and all found the dessert to be as superb as the rest of the meal. We have been nibbling on Racicot’s treats for years now during her stints at Artisanal and Picholine, but it is easy to taste any of her desserts and see how seamlessly her work fits in with Portale’s own, especially in playful pastries like her apricot crisp with lavender creme caramel ($11). Racicot brings a homey sensuality to the menu that really humanizes it, making the restaurant feel more confident. Touches like these are all the more crucial when Gotham’s dining room seems to be showing its age a bit, finally. The room that one held oversized geometric plaster shapes is now softened with draped fabrics and muted Mediterranean tones, but if you look from just the right angle, it can feel a bit dated. But if anyone can rig up a fabulous quick fix to modernize the place and make it look updated once again, it is Alfred Portale, who was once a jewelry designer–someone who clearly knows how to accessorize, even if his client is the voluminous restaurant he has known and loved for very nearly half his life.

Gotham Bar and Grill, 12 East 12th Street (at Fifth Avenue), 212-627-7810.