one of the best in raleigh. six of us went to second empire and had a spectacularly good meal. the service was superb - professional, good natured (we had a series of running jokes about the mime arriving as part of my birthday celebration), and precise. basically flawless. the food is uniformly excellent. as styles go, i'd call it modern but "baroque" - lots of ingredients in interesting combinations. we had a wide variety of dishes, all great. i tried two appetizers (my wife and i pass plates halfway through) and crabmeat and asparagus salad is out-of-this-world good. the scallop seviche is merelyexcellent(i'd take the crab). as a main, the swordfish wasexcellent- but so was everything. everyone loved their desserts. wine list is well chosen. one of raleigh's best restaurants, no question.