RESTAURANT CRITICS ARE promiscuous by necessity—but oh, how we long to be faithful. What we wouldn’t give for a long, slow evening with the roast chicken from that swanky little bistro we discovered last year; a steady dalliance with the one chocolate dessert that keeps pestering our dreams. After 25 years of professionally flitting from this to that flavor of the month, my palate delights in returning to the classic dishes of our tried-and-true restaurants—the ones that time, talent, and incomparable popularity have rendered nothing less than legendary. Here are 15 entirely deserving of such regard, and the tales of how they came to be created.