Ask 4 people and you'll get 12 opinions. 

I'm not much of a brand whore, but $350 will get you a pretty sweet combo whichever way you go. Daiwa and Shimano are fairly safe options. Silstar and Penn too.  I even have an old (over 5 years) Jarvis Walker eggbeater  that refuses to die.

Stretch it to $400 and you have a graphite rod with an 8000 series casting reel, which should be the last gear you need to buy, until you decide you really really need that Xantu 14 footer and Zillion Mag reel