Best Restaurant To Take A Toddler?

On nights when Brody, my 2.5-year-old, stays over, I usually cook us dinner. Pizza, meatballs, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pretty typical stuff. 

What are your favorite "nicer" places to take toddlers to eat? I'm not talking about a sub shop or fast food joint.  I would love your local suggestions for places slightly above Chuck E Cheese, but not 677 Prime; the kind of restaurant that you would eat at if you didn't have the kids with you.  Why do your kids, and most importantly, why do you like it?
I met the chef of one of my favorite Albany restaurants last night at a charity event and began making small talk. I told him it been a few years since I ate at his place. He told me to get in there asap, and bring my 2.5-year-old too!  "There's no way I can do this" I thought to myself and immediately envisioned Brody throwing a meatball at an unsuspecting customer.  While daddy might think that's funny, I'm sure the patron would not.  But in life, sometimes you have to branch out of everyone's comfort level and live a little.   I know parents whose kids eat sushi, 10-year-old's that order their burgers medium, and toddlers that don't need an iPad or video games to keep them interested at the dinner table.  I'm not exactly sure which, if any of those, Brody will ever be.  But it's never too early to find out!