80 Thoreau is an elegant, award-winning restaurant located upstairs in what was once the Concord train station.

80 Thoreau is a place for serious dining -- and, just as important, serious hospitality. The co-owners have worked in many impressive eateries, and now they operate a comfortable spot with a vaguely early American interior -- lots of wood, including tobacco-barn planks; plain surfaces painted in white and light blue; open spaces --  that makes it feel like a New England inn.

The restaurant is sophisticated rather than showy, well heeled but not ostentatious. And that is just the kind of customer who is drawn to the place.

Dishes at 80 Thoreau change regularly, and all of them -- for example, a spring onion tart and a big, perfect sirloin with more of those spring onions and tiny, freshly dug carrots -- are just the kinds of dishes you want when you go out for an elegant meal.

And the service is outstanding -- friendly from the moment you step in, attentive and helpful but unobtrusive from start to finish.