Restaurants in USA
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Poste
Named for its previous incarnation as the mail sorting room for the city post office, Poste has been busting out its A game these days. The menu is playfully attractive, divided between ‘pasta, ’ ‘pasture’ and ‘garden’ sections; the outdoor courtyard is one of the best alfresco dining spaces in the city; and the food lives up to this high bar. Chicken and corn? Sounds boring; executed flawlessly. Wreckfish with a wine-poached egg? Silly, sexy, beautifully presented and prepared. And give them credit for lightening up the fearsome tête de veau (head of cow) by rolling quail eggs, black truffles and frisee into a lovely terrine of veal cheeks. Come evenings,…
reviewed
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Muriel’s
Good food, sultry atmosphere and location, location, location make Muriel’s hard to pass up. You have your choice of settings: the main dining room evokes the lurid pomp of Storyville, with deep-red walls and chandeliers; in the eclectic bistro, 19th-century art hangs from exposed brick walls; the courtyard bar exemplifies traditional tropical decadence with potted palms and marble-topped cafe tables; while the balcony seating affords an elevated view of Jackson Sq’s motley krewe of musicians, magicians, painters and tarot readers. The kitchen tinkers with the Creole ethos enough to steer clear of stodginess without alienating the average patron. It’s also a good spot for…
reviewed
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WC3
- Aspen, USA
- Restaurants › Cafe
Next door to the famous tavern in ramshackle Woody Creek, this community center cum cafe is just as groovy but in a different way. Instead of drunken antics and mishmash wallpaper there's local art, a sweet front garden, plenty of indoor seating and healthy, soulful lunch fare.
Choose one of four kinds of curry or tuck into a bowl of gumbo or a panini. The vegetarian soups have earned high praise, and the coffee is tasty too. Plus there's a range of used books for sale. Lots of them. Including a corner dedicated to the Good Doctor himself. We're talking about a terrific selection of Hunter S Thompson's masterworks, including some vintage Rolling Stone issues from the…
reviewed
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1789
If one restaurant were to exemplify not only Georgetown, but all that George-town represents – the brownstone political aristocracy of Washington, DC – it would be 1789. Located in a smart Federal row house, the setting is colonial, cozy and distinguished all at once. As a bonus, the food is excellent. This kitchen was one of the first high-end geniuses of the ‘rustic New American’ genre, so if you’re going to try local ingredients sexed up with provincial flare, such as roasted Virginia rabbit with country ham and English peas, this is the spot to indulge your taste buds. Formal wear (jacket) is not only expected, but required for dinner.
reviewed
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Jo Jo
Part of the ever-thriving Jean-Georges empire, here is a place where you really can’t go wrong. French standards get the Midas touch with the addition of a little something special. Foie gras is fashioned into crème brûlée, venison cubes are tossed with pomegranate seeds, striped bass gets simply pan roasted with fennel and lemon. The warm and gooey chocolate Valrhona cake is widely praised as the best in the city – if not the world. And it’s all turned out into a dining room that, following a recent renovation, feels so hushed, lush and intimate, you feel as if you’ve been invited into an old-school, squeaky-clean bordello.
reviewed
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Les Halles
Vegetarians need not apply at this packed and serious brasserie, owned by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. Among the elegant light-fixture balls, dark wood paneling and stiff white tablecloths you’ll find a buttoned-up, meat-lovin’ crowd who've come for rich and decadent favorites like cote de boeuf and steak au poivre.
Standards like French onion soup, moules frites, and salade Niçoise are equally sublime, while the lists of wine, single-malt scotches and other liquors are impressive. From the crème brûlée to the tarte tatin, sweet tooths won't be disappointed.
reviewed
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Café Degas
A full-grown pecan tree thrusts through the floor and ceiling of the enclosed deck that serves as Café Degas’ congenial dining room. This is a rustic and romantic little spot that warms the heart with first-rate, very reasonably priced French fare. The casual atmosphere is accentuated by eccentric, exceedingly polite waiters. Meals that sound familiar on the menu – steak frites au poivre, parmesan-crusted veal medallions, seared duck breast with mushroom spaetzle – are arranged with extraordinary beauty on their plates. You might feel guilty for disturbing art like this, but it’s a crime for which you will be amply rewarded.
reviewed
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Pho 75
For a no frills dining experiment offering only pho (a beef noodle soup), this place is amazingly successful. Hordes of tourists, locals and Vietnamese pack communal tables each slurping their own unique variation of the soup - some add brisket or tripe, meatballs or flank steaks; others douse it with lime, hot sauce and Asian basil. Whichever you choose, odds are it will be delicious.
The name means soup, but this local chain is so much more than a beef noodle soup shop. For a cultural experience visit on a Sunday, when fathers teach their first generation American daughters how to slurp slippery white noodles simmering in richly flavorful broth.
reviewed
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’Inoteca
It's worth joining the crowd waiting at the cramped bar of this airy, dark-wood-paneled corner haven to choose from tramezzini (small sandwiches on white or whole-wheat bread), panini (pressed sandwiches) and bruschetta options, all delicious and moderately priced. The truffled egg toast, a square of bread hollowed out in its center and filled with egg, truffles and fontina cheese, is a signature favorite.
But you can’t go wrong, whether you choose the beet-orange-mint salad, vegetable lasagna built with layers of eggplant rather than pasta, or a plate of garlicky mussels. There’s also a list of 200 wines, 25 of them available by the glass. The West Village post is…
reviewed
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Junior’s
Sure, cheesecake, in one form or another, has been baked and eaten in Europe since the 1400s. But New Yorkers, as they do with many things, have appropriated its history in the form of the New York–style cheesecake. Immortalized by Lindy’s restaurant in Midtown, which was opened by Leo Lindemann in 1921, the particular type of confection served there – made of cream cheese, heavy cream, a dash of vanilla and a cookie crust – became wildly popular in the ’40s. Junior’s, which opened on Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn in 1929 and in Midtown just a few years ago, makes its own famous version of the creamy cake with a graham-cracker crust.
reviewed
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Pure Food & Wine
The ‘chef’ (there’s no oven in the kitchen) at this gem achieves the impossible: churning out not just edible but also extremely delicious and artful concoctions, made completely from raw organics that are put through blenders, dehydrators and the capable hands of Pure’s staff. Results are creative, fresh and alarmingly delicious, and include the wonderful tomato-zucchini lasagna (sans cheese and pasta), Thai coconut ‘noodles’ with red curry, and the white-corn tamales with raw cacao mole and salsa verde. The dining room is sleek and festive, but in warmer months don’t miss a chance to settle into a table in the shady oasis of a backyard.
reviewed
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STK
An oddly stylized restaurant, with sleek banquettes, metallic and black decor and one kitschy pair of horns protruding from over the bar, STK bills itself as 'not your daddy's steakhouse.' That's why you'll find salads filled with green melon, avocado, mâche greens and kaffir lime, or blue cheese, vine-ripened tomatoes and smoked bacon, plus organic roast chicken, tuna tartare with pineapple, crispy shallots and plantain chips and scallop seviche. But there's still plenty of what you'd expect: T-bones, skirt steaks, filet mignon etc. Portion sizes can be petite, medium or large, and you can add toppings such as black truffles.
reviewed
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Satchel's Pizza
Two miles northeast of downtown, this wacky place has the best pizza on Florida's east coast (and a darn good salad, to boot). Here, you can sit surrounded by funky outsider art and savor steaming build-your-own gourmet pies served on mismatched crockery. Grab a seat at a mosaic courtyard table or in the back of a gutted 1965 Ford Falcon. Most nights there's live music in the Back 40 Bar; there's bocce ball and a head-scratchingly eccentric junk museum featuring various bizarro collections. Satchel's doesn't take credit cards; the fees from the on-site ATM go to charity. Skip Satchel's and you miss Gainesville's soul. Expect a wait.
reviewed
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La Super Rica
This low-slung, unmarked shack - the one with the happy hordes spilling out the door - was culinary guru Julia Child's favorite Mexican restaurant. Who are we to argue? Make your choice from the 20 meals written on the board overhead, order from the window, then join local families at the picnic-style tables for authentic south-of-the-border cooking. Avoid peak meal times, when the place gets packed and searching for a seat is an Olympic sport.
Try one of their creative daily specials, or on Friday or Saturday get their famous tamales. One downer: vegetarians won't starve, but options are slim.
reviewed
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Café Amelie
We’ve waxed rhapsodic over the Quarter’s beautiful backyard gardens, but Amelie’s takes the cake. This may be the most romantic dining spot in the city, an alfresco restaurant that’s practically as cute as the movie of the same name, tucked behind an old carriage house and surrounded by high brick walls and lush shade trees. Fresh seafood and local produce are the basis of a modest, ever-changing menu. Lunch is lovely, when you can nibble sandwiches amid the green, but an evening dinner under starlight while feasting on shrimp and mushroom linguine is just as magic.
reviewed
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Fleur de Lys
Long before celebrity chef Hubert Keller took his show on the road to Vegas and Top Chef Masters, this was the ultimate over-the-top SF destination. There's nothing subtle about the swanky sultan's tent interior. It's perfectly suited for princely repasts, involving gnocchi graced with chanterelles, hazelnut-encrusted scallops, halibut crowned with rhubarb coulis and truffle, and a king's ransom of foie gras on every other dish. Vegetarians are entitled to five-course feasts for a surprisingly reasonable $72.
reviewed
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Boulder County Farmers' Market
A massive spring and summer sprawl of colorful, mostly organic local food. Here you can find flowers and herbs, as well as brain sized mushrooms, delicate squash blossoms, crusty pretzels, vegan dips, grass-fed beef, raw granola and yogurt. The market stretches from Arapahoe to Canyon along Central Park and around the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, which offers free admission on market days.
Prepared food booths offer gyros and tamales. Live music is as standard as the family picnics in the park along Boulder Creek.
reviewed
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Meskerem
As you make your way across DC, you’ll see loads of places offering Ethiopian food, but Meskerem, named for the first month of the Ethiopian calendar, remains one of our favorites. This spot is a stalwart of quality despite many years on the block. It’s the just-seared lamb served in spicy sauce, the wat (stew) scooped with spongy injera (pancake-like bread) and the vegetables, all deliciously spiced, not hot but rich, complex and savory. This is remarkably easy food for the most conservative palette, best washed down with some imported honey wine.
reviewed
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Montmartre
One of the better pure French spots in town, Montmartre is ensconced in a warm, neighborly location cluttered in a mamman’s dining room kinda way, complimented by great wines and some very fine steak, served bloody and yummy. This is more of a neighborhood spot than a political dinner date, which adds to the feeling of cozy authenticity. The homemade pâté is silky and rich, deserts are delightful, and all in all this is a place French expats take their friends to give them a taste of home – the praise doesn’t come much higher than that.
reviewed
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Borinquen Restaurant
The story goes that Borinquen owner Juan ‘Peter’ Figueroa created his signature dish after reading an article in a Puerto Rican newspaper about a sandwich that subbed plantains for bread – a flash of inspiration that birthed the jibarito, a popular dish that piles steak, lettuce, tomato and garlic mayo between two thick, crisply fried plantain slices. The idea caught on, and the jibarito is all the rage at local Puerto Rican eateries. It’s the marquee item at Borinquen, though more traditional Puerto Rican fare is also available at this homey family spot.
reviewed
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La Mar Cebicheria
Big and bustling, La Mar has spectacular bay views and a snappy electric-blue and polished-wood decor. The key ingredient in its collaged plates of Peruvian cebiche is leche de tigre, the 'milk of the tiger,' a marinade of lime, chili and brine that 'cooks' the fish without a fire, and is said to have aphrodisiac properties. Sunny days are prime for flirting outside by the bay over a plate of pristine, spicy cebiche classico of sustainably caught California halibut, habanero, Peruvian corn and yam, with a side order of crispy-delicious housemade empanadas.
reviewed
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Spice Market
Yet another innovation from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Spice Market lives in a dark, clublike realm where every fantasy of a faraway souk comes to life through thick waves of gossamer drapery, glinting meditative Buddhas, and pots that steam and bubble as the waiter rushes them by. Fusion fare is distinctively Asian in taste, but many of the dishes have lost their initial luster now that the shiny veneer of newness has worn away.
reviewed
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Praline Connection
If you’ve never had soul food before, the PC might blow you away, but connoisseurs of the genre may find this popular tour-group stop middling. The food is pretty good, in a mom’s-kitchen kind of way – standbys are of the meat loaf, fried chicken and fish topped with étouffée school of cooking – but this restaurant hovers in that frustrating space between ‘meh’ and ‘wow.’ The service is cool; besides being friendly, the waiters dress like the Blues Brothers, which we’re always down with.
reviewed
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Millennium
If all vegetarian food could be this satisfying and opulent, there could be cattle roaming the streets of SF and no one would give them a second glance. Seasonal first courses include grilled semolina flatbread topped with caramelized onions, wilted spinach and a flourish of almond romesco. This is followed by a peppery pastry roulade that opens with a fork's touch to reveal a creamy center of golden potatoes and smoky achiote (chili) chard. And it's topped off with a saffron-scented rice pudding with mango sorbet. Book ahead for aphrodisiac dinners and vegetarian Thanksgiving.
reviewed
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Blue Smoke
Another contender in the city’s ongoing BBQ cook-off, this soulful spot presents a potpourri of various Southern ’cue style: St Louis, Texas, Kansas and Memphis ribs are all representin’, as is pulled pork, smoked chicken, peel-and-eat shrimp and the classic ‘salad’ consisting of an iceberg-lettuce wedge. Mouthwatering mini-cornbread loaves and jalapeño-studded hush puppies are gut-busting sides, and homemade pies and cakes take you down for the count. When you’re done chowing, head downstairs to the Jazz Standard, where pros bust out with blues, folk, rock and jazz.
reviewed