Dean’s Italian Steakhouse, the new restaurant inside the just-opened JW Marriott hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, is perfectly suited for these times. The trajectory of Italian cuisine in the United States reflects a need for delicious comfort food, especially for fresh pasta dishes. Meanwhile, in the country’s second-largest financial center, where banking deals get done over dinner meetings, steak and lobster are almost always on the menu.

Enter Dean’s Italian Steakhouse, which opened two weeks ago in Charlotte’s Uptown business district. The dimly lit dining and open kitchen suggest a modern steakhouse, and the menu follows suit, albeit with Italian touches throughout. Wagyu beef, fresh pasta, and seafood exist separately and together—as in the Italian “Oscar” Filet, which is topped with jumbo lump crab and taleggio cream.