In a big classy town that the PC's have reason to go to every once in a while (I have it set in a city near a paladin training center) is an even classier restaurant called Chez Ralph. It's about as nice a restaurant as you could possibly have. Waiters check on you every minute or so, there's a string quartet playing in the background, and glasses of water ("Mineral water, imported from halfway around the world" is what they tell you, and they're telling the truth) cost around 20 gp.
Besides being a wonderful place to have players dump some cash, it's also Soap Opera City. The bizarrest people show up there, at the same time the PCs are there - but since nobody wants to make a scene, the whole feeling is very tense. Old girlfriends, major enemies, spies, polymorphed dragons, you name it, end up eating there - and usually with each other.
This requires a lot of continuity in the game. Most games couldn't support the type of background and tension Chez Ralph requires. You need long-term NPCs that the PCs have come to hate - and put them here, where you just can't DO anything about them!