FRESH List 2015
The top 100 American restaurants that best exemplify the FRESH ethos as chosen by OAD reviewers.
 Farm-to-Table cuisine;    Regional American cuisine;    Ethnic cuisine;    Sustainable ingredients;    served with American-style Hospitality
Southeast Regional Winner
1   Husk
It is a testament to his abilities as a chef that Sean Brock is able to achieve such a high ranking in our survey while serving down-home, Southern cooking.Sean Brock’s restaurant is dedicated to reviving the culinary traditions of the American South. Not only does Brock scour the region for ingredients and recipes that have long been forgotten; he also has an encyclopedic knowledge of modern and traditional culinary technique. The result? He has raised the concept of a farm-to-table restaurant to another level. Even simple dishes like corn bread, shrimp ’n’ grits and a mere cheeseburger have been reengineered as works of art. Brock is similarly serious about his beverages; along with a lengthy list of craft cocktails, Husk stocks 50 different types of bourbon.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
76 Queen St. Charleston, SC (843) 577-2500
Southern California Regional Winner
2   Taco Maria
Don’t be fooled by the name. Carlos Salgado’s restaurant is one of the most exciting new openings of recent years. A veteran of Daniel Patterson’s Coi and James Syhabout’s Commis, Salgado has brought the innovative, hyper-natural style of cooking he learned in their kitchens to his native Mexican cuisine. The menu has dishes that sound mouth-watering, including Dungeness crab porridge with green chili, chicken skin and lime, a tamal of kabocha squash with pipián verde, lime honey and queso fresco, and for those who insist on tacos, there’s a squid ink tortilla stuffed with Monterey squid and salsa de cacahuate.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
3313 Hyland Ave Costa Mesa, CA (714) 538-8444
Pacific Northwest Regional Winner
3   Le Pigeon
Signature dishes include foie gras cured like bacon and the “over the top dessert” of profiteroles stuffed with foie gras, so it’s not surprising that Le Pigeon’s motto is “In foie gras we trust.” Reviewers aren’t shy about how they feel about the place: “The most interesting and inventive food in Portland” manages to be “so well-balanced that even the richest dishes don’t seem heavy.” Chef Gabriel Rucker’s partner, Andy Fortgang, previously the beverage director at Craft in NYC, has organized a wine list that has surprisingly good depth for a restaurant of this size.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
738 E. Burnside St. Portland, OR 503-546-8796
4   Ox
Leave it to PDX to come up with the idea of a hipster Argentinian steakhouse. The menu goes well beyond typical asador fare – reviewers raved about the bruschetta of Dungeness crab with avocado, cucumber, watermelon radish and shiso – and we dare you to find another steakhouse that can compete with the selections available in the Del Huerto (From the Garden) section of the menu, which lists ten different vegetable preparations, like maple-glazed heirloom carrots with Briar Rose chèvre and salted pistachios. Of course, there is no shortage of steaks, chops and sausages on the menu.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
2225 Northeast Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard Portland, OR 503-284-3366
5   Eating House
Following in the footsteps of David Chang and other chefs who shaped today's hipster dining scene, Giorgio Rapicavoli manages to combine a few different styles of cuisine into a single menu where they live in perfect harmony. In Rapicavoli's case that would be Asian (heirloom tomatoes with nuoc cham and coconut ice), Latino (pan con lechon), Italian (fettucine carbonara with egg and black truffle), and Southern (Rapicavoli's signature dish of southern fried chicken with foie gras-flavored waffles and candied bacon). It's no wonder reviewers submitted comments like "It's about time south Florida had a restaurant like this."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
804 Ponce de Leon blvd Coral Gables, FL 305-448-6524
Mid-Atlantic Regional Winner
6   Rose’s Luxury
Aaron Silverman’s restaurant offers a quirky mix of cooking styles, and the small plates he serves reflect the various kitchens he has worked in. Sean Brock shows his influence in a dish of chicken-fried oysters with raw oyster tzatziki; David Chang weighs in with the grilled pork blade steak with miso, cabbage and homemade sauerkraut, and Marco Canora with ricotta-stuffed gnocchi with crispy sunchokes, mushroom butter and mint. Among the larger dishes Silverman serves for the whole table are Korean-fried catfish with rice and “other goodies,” and smoked brisket with horseradish and slaw.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
717 8th St SE Washington, DC (202) 580-8889
7   FIG
Because of its emphasis on top ingredients prepared in a way that allows their flavors to shine, reviewers have been known to refer to Mike Lata's restaurant as "the Blue Hill of the South." Lata's menu is loaded with the region's best products: Crispy Caw Caw Creek pork trotters served with endive and a Sunnyside [up] Farm egg, and Keegan-Fillion Farms chicken al mattone ("under a brick") with Anson Mills farro. Fig is beloved by many who live in the Charleston area, and one reviewer told us, "The only problem with our meal was that we did not make another reservation before we left."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
232 Meeting St. Charleston, SC 843-805-5900
Southwest Regional Winner
8   Underbelly
One of our more astute reviewers told us what makes Underbelly different from other regional restaurants is that "Chris Shepherd eats in every type of restaurant imaginable, and integrates the various ethnic styles into his cooking." That sums up Shepherd's menu perfectly, as it mixes everything from a charcuterie program, to a smoked Wagyu short rib served with succotash, to the daily bycatch, such as three different whole fish served with shrimp, and vegetables in a Thai curry broth. It's a great place to go with a large party and order a whole lot of food.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
1100 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX 713-528-9800
9   Bestia
Despite a location in the deepest reaches of east LA, Ori Menashe’s restaurant is overflowing with hungry diners. What’s all the fuss about? Antipasti like a platter of house-cured meats and grilled lamb heart with arugula, fermented chilies, marcona almonds, mint and pickled shallots, a pizza topped with burrata, San Marzano tomatoes, Castelvetrano olives and fermented chilies, and a hand-cut mushroom pasta topped with a mushroom and fava ragu, a poached farm egg and fried spinach. Still feeling hungry? How about a Kurobuta pork chop with Anson Mills polenta and nectarine mostarda for the table.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
2121 East 7th Pl Los Angeles, CA 213-514-5724
New York Regional Winner
10   Momofuku Ssäm Bar
David Chang’s restaurant is still packing them in. Diners can choose from a menu filled with Chang-esque small plates, like Santa Barbara uni with warm silken tofu, trout roe and wasabi peas, and showstoppers like the Bo Ssam, a slow-cooked pork shoulder that feeds six to eight people and is served with a variety of condiments. The environment is loud and fun, and while we could easily fill a few pages with raves about the food, the one that summed it up best was, “Would this be my choice for my last meal? It’s certainly in the running.”
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
207 2nd Ave. New York, NY 212-254-3500
11   Momofuku Noodle Bar
This is where David Chang revolutionized the contemporary dining experience, creating a cuisine that has been copied by chefs all over the country. Using a counter seating format, Chang takes the money he saves on servers and spends it on sourcing the very best artisanal ingredients and hiring cooks talented enough to work at the top restaurants in the city. The result is a cuisine that includes dishes like greenmarket brussels sprouts with kimchi purée and cubes of Benton’s bacon, and Anson Mills grits cooked in dashi and served with pink shrimp from Maine.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
171 1st Ave New York, NY 212-475-7899
12   Pok Pok
Most chefs who spend time away from their kitchens suffer criticism. Andy Ricker is an exception, as whenever he is not standing in front of a hot stove he is scouring Thailand in order to learn more about the country's cuisine. Not surprisingly, Ricker's restaurant is like "no other Thai restaurant in the country," and the combination of a décor that's reminiscent of a shack in Thailand and dishes like fried catfish marinated in turmeric and sour rice and northern Thai spicy hand-minced water buffalo salad will make you feel like you are in Bangkok rather than PDX.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
3226 SE Division Portland, OR 503-232-1387
New England Regional Winner
13   Bondir
This restaurant is located on one of the busiest thoroughfares in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but Jason Bond's rustic but elegant style of cooking seems better suited to a farmhouse in a remote part of New England. Ask Bond to explain what his restaurant is about, and he will gladly tell you that his goal is to offer the purest expression of an ingredient that is humanly possible. That jibes with our reviewers' reactions; one described a dish that combined a soft-cooked pullet egg served with a crispy chicken leg as "one of the chickeniest pices of chicken I have ever tasted."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
279A Broadway Cambridge, MA 617-661-0009
14   Woodberry Kitchen
Spike Gjerde is on a mission. His menu is filled with dishes featuring local ingredients like Rappahannock oysters, Richfield Farms corn soup or Marvesta sizzling shrimp, Springfield Farm chicken and Liberty Farms beef stew, and it would be difficult to find a chef who is as committed to serving the best of the Mid-Atlantic region. Set in a renovated mill building in a gentrifying part of town, Gjerde's restaurant is "a pleasant surprise in the no-man's-land of Baltimore dining" and "would likely be better known if it was located in a different city."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
2010 Clipper Park Road, No. 126 Baltimore, MD 410-464-8000
15   Son of a Gun
Though Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo became famous serving fatty meat dishes at their restaurant Animal, reviewers prefer their West 3rd Street fish restaurant. There are Asian-influenced dishes (yellowfin tuna tataki with white boy kimchi) as well as Italian offerings (linguine and clams doused in uni aglio-olio). Good old American fish cookery appears in a bite-size lobster roll that rivals anything you’ll find in New England. And for the fish-averse, the duo offers plates of Broadbent’s country Ham and hush puppies and one of the best versions of fried chicken you will find outside of the South.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
8370 W 3rd St Los Angeles, CA 323-782-9033
Northern California Regional Winner
16   ad hoc
This fixed-menu, family-style affair from Thomas Keller is a good example of how one of the country’s top chefs can take the food that we eat day in and day out and make it a special experience. A typical evening’s menu might include a Cobb salad, Southern-fried chicken, a cheese course and dessert, all for the bargain-basement price of $52 a person. It’s a favorite with the BYOB crowd as “a limited wine list” makes it the perfect place to bring that special bottle you picked up at a winery tasting earlier in the day,
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
6476 Washington St. Yountville, CA 707-944-2487
South Regional Winner
17   Pêche Seafood Grill
Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski felt that they didn’t have enough on their plates, so they decided to team up with Ryan Prewitt to open a seafood-style restaurant. Prewitt’s menu is filled with Cajun-influenced specialties, like catfish with pickled greens and chili broth or baked drum with lemon broth and peas, as well as Asian-influenced fare like the spicy ground shrimp and noodles that pays homage to the area’s large Vietnamese population.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
800 Magazine St New Orleans, LA (504) 522-1744
18   Frances
Melissa Perello has put her years of experience cooking at notable Bay Area restaurants like Charles Nob Hill and the Fifth Floor to good use. The menu at Frances is small, offering only four choices of appetizers and entrées, like spugnole pasta with cotechino sausage and a Liberty Farms duck leg with butter beans, endives and Sicilian olives. But despite the limited choices, Perello gets much love from our reviewers, who say things like "exceptional comfort food in a neighborhood setting," "typical San Francisco fare but it's done absolutely right" and "It's worth the month-long wait for a table." "
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
3870 17th St San Francisco, CA 415-621-3870
19   Foreign & Domestic
After spending a few years working at restaurants in New York City, Ned Elliott decided it was time for a place of his own. After relocating to Austin, he opened this farm-to-table restaurant in a converted gas station. As they say, the rest is history, and it didn't take long for word to get out that Elliott was serving tasty fare like a bacon-wrapped boudin blanc terrine, pork and baby octopus in a clam broth with hominy and salsa verde, and a 24-Hour Short Rib with roasted kale, fingerling potatoes and red wine.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
306 E.53rd St. Austin, TX 512-459-1010
20   Serpico
What makes Peter Serpico's cooking so unusual is that it combines the cuisines he experienced while growing up in Maryland with what he learned during his time as executive chef at Momofuku Ko. Adopted by an Italian father and Polish mother, his menu includes examples of his own Korean heritage (raw diver scallops with buttermilk, poppy seeds, white soy and chive), his mother's cooking (hand-torn pasta with snail sausage, garlic, crispy chicken skin and pecorino), and the German cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic (caper-brined trout with smoked potato salad, pepperoncini, crab, trout roe and chive oil).
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
604 South St Philadelphia, PA 215-925-3001
21   Cochon
Donald Link's ode to the pig is housed in a converted warehouse a few blocks from Lee Circle. Stephen Stryjewski's menu, made up of appetizers, small plates and a half-dozen large plates, offers pork in a variety of forms, from homemade charcuterie to boudin (removed from its casing and formed into a ball before being breaded and fried), crispy pig's ears, spicy grilled ribs and a fork-tender version of the namesake dish served with cabbage stewed in pork jus. It's stupendously popular, and diners are advised to book in advance as "attempting to go to without a reservation is an exercise in futility."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
930 Tchoupitoulas St New Orleans, LA 504-588-2123
22   Animal
Who on earth would cook up a menu filled with dishes like pig tails "Buffalo style," served with celery, and ranch dressing; veal brains with vadouvan, apricot purée and carrots; poutine with oxtail gravy and cheddar cheese; and fried rabbit legs with Charleston gold rice, lemon pepper and sour cream gravy? That mishmash of styles, which comes with a cholesterol count that is high enough to warrant 20 grams of Lipitor, is the product of none other than Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, whose Fairfax Avenue restaurant pioneered hipster-style dining in Los Angeles.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
435 N Fairfax Ave Los Angeles, CA 323-782-9225
23   Admiral
Everyone loves Drew Wallace's restaurant. The food is fairly complex for a place of this type, but the plates are never fussy enough to make you morph into serious dining mode. Though a number of reviewers described chef Ivan Candido's cooking as "gasto-pubbish," that description sells him a bit short as dishes like crispy frogs' legs with blue grits, bok choy and Texas Pete syrup, or a confit duck leg with pimento cheese fries are more ambitious than your basic gastropub fare. Worth making a detour if you are within shouting distance of this beautiful area of western North Carolina.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
400 Haywood Road Asheville, NC 828-252-2541
24   Lilette
The best way to describe John Harris' cuisine is 90% New American, 10% Creole and 100% devoted to quality ingredients. Harris' bistro-style fare includes dishes like sweet and sticky fried beef short ribs or grilled redfish atop market vegetables with a Champagne beurre blanc, which one reviewer described as being "good enough to be served at a top bistro in Paris."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
3637 Magazine St. New Orleans, LA 504-895-1636
Great Lakes Regional Winner
25   Au Cheval
Having never met a fatty food he didn't like, Brendan Sodikoff is a firm believer in the Martin Picard school of cuisine. But given his Jewish background, Sodikoff decided to combine his grandmother's style of cooking with a Picard-like obsession with foie gras and bacon. That means a menu on which chopped chicken liver and a fried bologna sandwich live side by side with scrambled eggs with foie gras, and fried chicken with a crispy potato hash doused with duck heart gravy. Numerous reviewers claimed that Sodikoff's double cheeseburger is "the best burger in the country."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
800 W Randolph St Chicago, IL 312-929-4580
26   Chez Panisse Café
Back at a time when agricultural conglomerates were forcing independent farmers out of business, Alice Waters decided to open a restaurant that only used ingredients that were raised naturally. The storied history is only one reason to be a Chez Panisse fan; another important reason are the pristine ingredients, which are prepared in the most loving and respectful manner.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
1517 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 510-548-5525
27   Cúrate
Katie Button has done such a superb job of utilizing local ingredients in a traditional tapas experience that even simple dishes like pan con tomate - grilled bread topped with heirloom tomatoes and olive oil - seem special. Of course, being able to cook at this level is no accident: Prior to opening Curate, Button and her then fiancé, Felix Meana, worked at El Bulli - she in pastry and he as a captain. Not surprisingly, Botton's desserts, like Melon in Textures, which combines melon sorbet, melon mousse and compressed melon with a shaving of mint ice, are world-class.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
11 Biltmore Avenue Asheville, NC 828-239-2946
28   Dirt Candy
One of the things we enjoy about our annual lists is how many different types of restaurants are part of the rankings. This vegetarian offering from Amanda Cohen is a good example of the list’s diversity. Not one to be shy about the merits of her cuisine, Cohen presents a menu that ranges from offerings like spinach mille-feuille with grapefruit ricotta and smoked pistachios to butternut squash scallopini with harissa labneh balls and green chermoula, and a platter of brussels sprout tacos and accoutrements that can be shared by the table.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
86 Allen St New York, NY (212) 228-7732
29   The Purple Pig
The gastropub concept can be articulated in a number of different styles and flavors. This offering, from the quartet of Jimmy Bannos (Jr. and Sr.), Scott Harris and Tony Mantuano, have settled on an Italian approach to the dining concept, and their small-plates menu offers cured meats, “smears” like mortadella, balsamic and pistachio, and pork neck bone gravy with ricotta, and a series of dishes cooked “a la plancha,” such as charred green onions with romesco sauce and pork tripe a la parmigiana with pork skin breadcrumbs.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
500 N Michigan Ave Chicago, IL (312) 464-1744
30   Central Provisions
This small-plates specialist from Chris Gould, a former chef at Uni (Ken Oringer’s sushi bar inside Clio), includes mouthwatering dishes like skillet corn bread with egg, bacon and cheddar cheese, Maine bluefin toro with daikon, chili, orange and lime, and smoked carrots with cinnamon, house goat cheese and pistachio. An excellent addition to the Portland dining scene and one of the better new restaurants to open this year. Recommended.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
414 Fore St Portland, ME (207) 805-1085
31   Bar Tartine
Nick Balla and Cortney Burns thought the time was right to expand the type of farm-to-table cuisine that Bay Area restaurants were known to serve. So they decided to expand their Cal-Ital franchise by turning to Balla's Hungarian background, and the result is dishes like stuffed mushrooms in sauerkraut broth and a modern-day version of goulash that includes a marrow bone. The expansion did not end there as the pair branched into Nordic cuisine with a trout roe smørrebrød, and into Japanese with dishes such as gai lan with dried beef and radish.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
561 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 415 487 1600
32   Eventide Oyster Co.
This offering from the Hugo's people is located in a space that once housed the cookbook store Rabelais. Diners can go classic - oysters on the half shell, lobster roll, fish and chips - or they can go modern by selecting from a series of ceviches and escabeches. The menu expands even further in the evening to include things like grilled swordfish belly and slow-cooked pork shoulder, along with what they call a New England Clam Bake, which includes steamers, mussels, lobster, potatoes, salt pork and a hard-boiled egg that have been cooked in a seaweed-filled Chinese dumpling steamer.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
86 Middle St Portland, ME (207) 774-8538
33   Connie & Ted’s
With Providence firmly established as one of the country's top restaurants, Michael Cimarusti decided it was time to pay homage to his Rhode Island roots, so he named this bustling seafood restaurant after his grandparents. Using mostly fish and seafood that is flown in daily from New England, Cimarusti calls on his mastery of seafood cookery to construct versions of dishes like Rhode Island Stuffies (clams broiled with linguica sausage and breadcrumbs) and a live New Bedford scallop broiled in garlic butter that are well beyond the type of preparation you'll find at your typical seafood restaurant.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
8171 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood, CA (323) 848-2722
34   Addesso/Dopo
Maybe it's the location in Oakland, but Jon Smulewitz's restaurant seems to fly under the radar. However, those in the know are quick to tell us it's their favorite Cal-Ital restaurant in the Bay Area. Reviewers rave about the "miraculous" homemade salumi, "crusty, crusty pizzas," pastas like agnolotti of lamb with mint and pecorino, and larger plates like a hen leg stewed with artichokes and Gaeta olives and topped with Parmesan. They don't take reservations, so "go early" if you don't want to wait on "long lines that can be a pain."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
4293 Piedmont Ave. Oakland, CA 510-652-3676
35   Flour + Water
The San Francisco dining scene seems to be able to absorb an endless number of pizza and pasta specialists. But despite what feels like an infinite number of places to choose from, many of our reviewers have decided to cast their lot with Thomas McNaughton, eating pizzas like the Osso - bone marrow, rapini, fontina and horseradish - as well as pastas like Aleppo pepper maltagliati with rabbit sausage and mustard greens. This can be a tough reservation to come by, though single diners have a shot of snagging a seat at the bar or a "cute community table."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
2401 Harrison St San Francisco, CA 415-826-7000
36   City House
If you were to analyze which American cuisine most closely resembles the type of micro-regionality that Italian regional cooking depends on, many would conclude it's the South. It appears that Tandy Wilson reached that conclusion, and the result is that you can enjoy a pizza Margherita and pasta like bread gnocchi with lamb sugo, along with a soup of black-eyed peas with kale, tomato, potato and Grana Padano, and North Carolina catfish in a cornmeal crust served with celery, fennel, red onion, garum and chilies. It's easy to understand why reviewers claim "it's the most popular restaurant in Nashville."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
1222 4th Ave N Nashville, TN 615-736-5838
37   Gjelina
How does Travis Lett manage to attract the throngs of über-cool people that crowd into his Venice restaurant? Oysters and charcuterie and cheese, to start, followed by 16 different vegetable preparations, salads, pizzas from a wood-burning oven and with a dozen different toppings, and small and large plates like Peads and Barnetts pork belly with grits, greens and an apple glaze, and pan-seared black cod with braised leeks and horseradish gremolata. If that isn’t enough for you, then maybe some of the best celebrity watching in the city, especially at lunch, will convince you to check it out.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 310-450-1429
38   The Publican
If meat is your thing, we can’t think of a better place to dine than Paul Kahan’s Fulton Market restaurant. There are hams, pates, rillettes and pork rinds, and for those who want to veer from the restaurant’s mission statement, a long list of oysters on the half shell. But the main event is the meat dishes, like short ribs from Slagel Farms served with escarole and kumquats, and the house signature Ham Chop “In Hay,” an extra-thick Becker Lane Farms smoked pork chop with celery root, horseradish and pine nuts.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
837 W Fulton Market Chicago, IL 312-733-9555
39   Zahav
The son of Israeli parents, Michael Solomonov has gone back to his roots with this restaurant that pays homage to Israel's culinary heritage. The meze include house-smoked sable with challah, fried egg and garlic; shipudim (skewers cooked over charcoal) of short ribs with celery root, dates and apples; and a slow-cooked lamb shoulder that one reviewer described as "the Jewish version of the Ssam Bar pork butt." The opportunity to eat "lots of wonderful courses for a very reasonable amount of money" has reviewers wondering, "Who could ask for more?"
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
237 Saint James Place Philadelphia, PA 215-625-8800
40   The Ordinary
With the super-popular Fig coming in at the number 7 slot on the list, Mike Lata has managed to pull off the difficult feat of placing two restaurants on in the Top 50. The Ordinary is an upscale version of a Low Country seafood shack, featuring dishes like Diver Scallop hushpuppies with a Chow Chow Tartar; white shrimp gumbo with Carolina Gold Rice and seared Scamp Grouper with beets & horseradish sauce. And don’t forget to start the meal with one of Lata’s triple tiered seafood platters.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
Charleston, SC
41   Battersby
Walker Stern and Joseph Ogrodnek punch way over their weight at this sliver of a restaurant in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens. Dishes like their signature crisp kale salad with kohlrabi and brussels sprouts, veal sweetbreads à la meunière with carrots, maple and spiced yogurt, and short rib pastrami with fingerlings, braised cabbage and green apples are so good you could be eating in a place like Café Boulud. The one rap the place gets is about the physical plant: the tables are so close together you feel like you’re at a dinner party.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
255 Smith Street Brooklyn, NY 718-852-8321
42   Camino
If you blindfolded us and asked us to describe our idea of the perfect farm-to-table restaurant, we would describe what Russell Moore and Allison Hopelain have created at Camino. Upon entering the restaurant, you can't help but notice Moore standing in front of a huge hearth, complete with roaring fire. Depending on the day, there might be a leg of lamb hanging over the fire. Or maybe Moore has set a giant paella pan alongside the fire. This experience is as convivial as it is delicious; one reviewer called this "the epitome of a casual restaurant."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
3917 Grand Ave Oakland, CA 510-547-5035
43   Tar & Roses
You’re in Santa Monica and you’re not in the mood for the formality of Mélisse. Nor are you up for the intensely casual and trendy vibe of Gjelina. Andrew Kirschner’s restaurant is the place for you. Relying on his wood-burning oven, Kirschner dishes out bone marrow with onion marmalade and sourdough, brussels sprouts with pancetta, chestnuts and mustard, and a half chicken with heirloom tomato bread salad. You can also avail yourself of one of the T & R Suppers, like wood-fired goat or paella, which must be ordered seven days in advance.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
602 Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica, CA 310-587-0700
44   Lula Café
Jason Hammel’s s restaurant stands for the proposition that if you build it they will come. Opened as a neighborhood restaurant in 1999, it was well ahead of the curve in the local and sustainable restaurant movement – so much so that as the movement grew around the country the restaurant attained a national reputation. This is one of the few restaurants of its type that is open all day long, and the kitchen puts in the same amount of effort preparing breakfast dishes like Rushing Waters smoked trout scramble as they do for entrées like stuffed rabbit loin for dinner.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
2537 North Kedzie Boulevard Chicago, IL 773-489-9554
45   Miller Union
Take the best of the weekly market and turn it into dishes like fried gulf oysters with hot pepper mignonette, sorghum glazed pork belly with creamed mushrooms, rhubarb and fennel, Carolina triggerfish, with spring peas, asparagus, radish and wild leeks and Country Captain chicken with peanuts, toasted coconut and house made chutney and you have Steve Satterfield’s restaurant. Those who want to eat in the true Southern tradition should book reserve a table at the restaurant’s Harvest Dinner where a family style dinner is served on the third Tuesday of each month.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
999 Brady Ave NW Atlanta, GA 678-733-8550
46   nopa
File this one under the heading Cal-Med. Dishes from the wood-burning oven include flatbread of spicy fennel sausage and black cod with Manila clams, celery root cream and maitake mushrooms. One reviewer explained the restaurant's popularity: "Interesting, well-chosen wine list; great burgers; large but comfortable space with a great bar and communal table, along with late-night hours," while another claimed, "The cocktails are inspired and the food is fresh and delicious. Lots of restaurants talk about 'farm-fresh food,' but Nopa is really doing it, in a creative and satisfying way."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
560 Divisadero St San Francisco, CA 415-864-8643
47   Alta
David Goody’s resume includes names like Noma, Morimoto Napa and Rotisserie & Wine working Jeremy Fox. Now he has his own kitchen where his creations include eggplant pierogi with black olive & basil; smoked pork trotter with slow egg, broccoli & mustard and Beef Strogonoff with oyster mushrooms, fava leaves & dill spaetzle.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
San Francisco, CA
48   Cakes & Ale
Everyone seems to love Billy Allin’s restaurant. A graduate of Scott Peacock’s kitchen at the Watershed Restaurant, Allin opened Cakes & Ale in 2007 with the goal of using the highest-quality ingredients and serving unassuming food that diners could enjoy in a comfortable and welcoming setting. That means starters like burrata with winter vegetables and country ham, and mains like a whole North Carolina trout with radish, salad greens and dilled yogurt sauce. A bakery attached to the restaurant is another reason this is one of the most popular restaurants in Atlanta.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
155 Sycamore St Atlanta, GA 404-377-7994
49   Farm & Fisherman
Josh Lawler has spent the time he put in working for Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns to good use. Working out of a postage-stamp-size space in a town house in Philadelphia’s Washington Square West neighborhood, he serves dishes like a bloody beet steak with yogurt, pan drippings, aged balsamic and bull’s blood and Rettland Farm pork loin with black beluga lentils, tasso ham and celery. Lawler’s efforts were so successful that he and his wife have opened a 150-seat tavern and market in nearby Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
1120 Pine St. Philadelphia, PA 267-687-1555
50   Beast
Naomi Pomeroy loves her meat. After making a name for herself working at a number of local restaurants, she found her calling at this bare-bones dining room dominated by two communal tables and an open kitchen. Each Wednesday Naomi posts a weekly menu. The six-course meal always features a charcuterie plate that might include a foie gras bon bon with Sauternes and your main course might be braised Rainshadow El Rancho goat with gnocchi and roasted beets. Popular with local diners who describe it as, "fine dining without the fuss."
photo credit:
click on text to expand.
5425 NE 30th Ave Portland, OR 503-841-6968