Best Restaurants and Bars of 2016

Another year comes to a close at the end of the week. Like other recent years, it was a very busy time for new restaurants in D.C. (Eater D.C. counted 102 openings in the fall alone). I made an effort to get to many of the ones I thought sounded most interesting, but of course, there were still quite a few I haven't visited yet. I also like to mix in older restaurants which, after all, can do new and interesting things all the time, even if they've been open for years.

It wasn't a big year for me travel-wise, and I found myself less interested in writing about the places we visited while away from home. I really meant to do a round-up of places we ate in Southern California, but just didn't get around to it. So, I'll make up for that right now, briefly, by sharing the highlights: 1) Norah in West Hollywood is fabulous--delicious food, good service and an inviting space, 2) Breakfast in L.A.'s retro diners is the best way to start the day with a Southern-California frame of mind (Mel's Drive-In and NORMS in West Hollywood were both good, and the old-Hollywood charm of Fred 62 is perfect before a morning hike in Griffith Park), 3) The Good Lion cocktail bar in Santa Barbara has a very friendly staff shaking/stirring some really excellent drinks, and 4) I didn't expect much from Long Beach, but was pleasantly surprised by great whiskey-focused bar, The Blind Donkey.

So, here then are my favorites of the year (restaurants are in D.C. unless noted):

Best Starter/Small Dish: Leeks Dijonnaise, Convivial. It's easy to turn leeks into soup; harder to serve them in larger form without ending up with a squishy, stringy texture. Convivial treats the allum just right in this delicious, nicely textured opener. Runners up: wood-grilled carrots with yogurt at Buck's Fishing and Camping, bhel puri (puffed rice, fruit, and mint grain salad) at Bindaas.

Best Pasta: Sfoglina. The just-opened fourth D.C. restaurant from chef Fabio Trabocchi and his wife Maria has quickly proven itself to be an excellent spot for a top-quality bowl of pasta. Whether you go for a short-rib filled agnolotti or a deeply mushroomy corzetti, you're in for a treat. Runner-up: Corn Ravioli at Tail Up Goat.

Best Pizza: All-Purpose. D.C. has been blessed with an abundance of delicious pizza in recent years (see "Survivor of the Year" below for another good one). The opening of All-Purpose this year has really upped the game with its wonderfully flavorful crust and perfectly balanced toppings. Pepperoni pizza hasn't been this exciting since the '80s. Runner up: Farmers and Distillers, which also serves a good pepperoni pizza with whole-grain crust and flavorful red sauce.

Best Tacos: Mayahuel (NYC). Here's a wonderful secret about New York's top mezcal-loving cocktail bar, Mayahuel: The food is also amazing. While we liked everything we ate at Mayahuel--and the smoky salsa is a particular standout--the spicy, flavorful tacos were just incredible. Can't wait to go back for more. Runners up: Empellón Taqueria (NYC), Espita Mezcaleria.

Best Entree (That Isn't One of the Above): Autumn Olive Oil Pork, The Dabney. Perhaps the best pork dish I've ever had, this tender, flavorful dish was a highlight among an evening of standouts. Runner up: Coq au Vin Fried Chicken at Convivial.

Best Dessert: Key Lime Pie, Convivial. Tart and sweet achieve perfect balance in Convivial's key lime pie, a dish as beautifully composed as it is tasty, topped smartly with slices of fresh kiwi. Runners up: Churros with chocolate at Mayahuel (NYC); Sorghum Custard at The Dabney, 15-Layer Carrot Cake at The Source.

Best Fast-Casual Newcomer: Shouk. If eating "vegan" is still a turnoff to you, then fine, skip Shouk. That just means I'll have a shorter wait for what has become one of my favorite lunch spots, serving insanely delicious pitas and bowls stuffed with spiced, roasted vegetables. Although I haven't tried it yet, I hear their new burger is a knockout.

Best Cocktail: The Six Shooter, Mayahuel (NYC). Mayahuel has many, many good cocktails, as I've written about last year, including the Dijahbone, last year's cocktail of the year. Well, The Six Shooter, a bracing and dark combination of rum, mezcal and quite a few modifiers, may just be the cocktail of the decade. We love this so much, I tried my hand at approximating it. Runners up: Always Betz on Black at The NoMad (NYC), Smiling Rabbit at Espita Mezcaleria.

Best Service: Tail Up Goat. I have a lot of pleasant memories from our dinner at Tail Up Goat, but what I remember most was the excellent service. Despite the very busy Saturday evening we were there, the service from everyone was friendly but not overly so, prompt but not rushed and marked by genuine affection for the food and their work. I can't stand being in a busy restaurant that feels like they want to rush you through to seat the next billing as quickly as possible--I didn't feel that way at all here. Runners up: Mayahuel, The Dabney, All-Purpose.

Best Overall Experience: The Dabney. Today we may use microwaves, gas burners and sous vide machines, but cooking started with simple, smoky fire. That The Dabney cooks everything over (or near) a massive open fire pit makes its food kissed with smoke and char in delightful ways that still deliver texture and flavor. The homey decor and friendly service enhance an experience that I look forward to repeating next year. Runners up: Mayahuel (NYC), All-Purpose, Convivial.

Restaurant I'm Sorry to See Go: Kangaroo Boxing Club. This delightful Columbia Heights restaurant saved my night this summer after a lousy experience at a nearby bar. They completely turned my evening around with delicious barbecue and friendly service. Sorry to hear it's closing. Also closed this year: Espuma (Rehoboth Beach).

Survivor of the Year: Comet Ping-Pong. Consider this an extra-honorable mention for one of our favorite neighborhood hangouts that has weathered with patience and grace unthinkably cruel attacks based on groundless conspiracy nonsense. That the attacks spilled over into the rest of the neighborhood and turned violent hasn't stopped the neighborhood from voicing its support for this and other nearby great establishments.

Restaurant: Mayahuel (New York, N.Y.)

[Update: Mayahuel has closed.]

Expectations can be a bitch. Have you ever had the perfect restaurant experience only to go back a second time and feel deflated because the second visit was only so-so? It's happened to us enough times that we have been tempted to never return to spots that deliver a perfect experience.

For whatever reason, Mexican food in New York is where we tend to experience this phenomenon the most. A few years ago we were wowed by Agave, but subsequent visits lacked the initial spark. Then we fell under the spell of Black Ant, but during or second and third visits there, the magic seemed to have fizzled. Late last year we had an excellent dinner at Empellon Taqueria; but our dinner last month lacked the consistency we'd noted that first time.

Were we tempting fate when we decided to try the menu at Mayahuel? Possibly; however, Mayahuel had already passed the first test last year by delivering a second-visit experience that was every bit as good as our first, if not better. Regular readers will recognize the name: it's the mezcal-focused cocktail bar in Manhattan's East Village that we visited last year and fell absolutely in love with. Prior to that, I was already familiar with its cocktails, which are well-known among mezcal fans. We went back again in December--twice actually, since we went before and after dinner--and continued to be smitten by its cool ambiance, talented staff and delicious drinks. During that visit, we also tried a plate of churros, and they were divine, leading us to conclude that we really should try make a point to eat dinner at Mayahuel.

I'm happy to say that our favorite cocktail bar is now also our favorite Mexican restaurant. Dinner couldn't have been more delicious. From start to finish, dinner at Mayahuel was among the most satisfying restaurant experiences we've ever had.

The first decision was whether to sit at the bar (which was shockingly completely empty) or the upstairs dining room. Although the dining room might have been a more traditional choice for dinner, we chose the bar, knowing that it provides the best seats in the house, since you can watch Mayahuel's amazingly talented (and super friendly) bartenders work their magic.

It's hard not to start a Mexican restaurant dinner with a round of chips and guacamole, and Mayahuel's traditional take on the avocado dip was quite tasty. But the smoked tomato salsa was an absolute revelation. Served warm, the salsa was intensely smoky due to the tomatoes having been charred over hickory chips. It was the best tomato salsa I've ever had and was the first of many good bites we enjoyed that evening.

From there, we moved on to the quinoa and avocado salad, a delightfully good mixture of texture and flavor with a touch of sweetness from the corn as well as a touch of heat. I particularly liked the sesame oil dressing, which added just a hint of Asian flair. Shortly after, the croquetas arrived. Mayahuel's are black-bean and roasted-corn fritters rolled in plantain crumbs and served with roasted red pepper coulis and crema. They were tasty; however, their comparatively mild flavor got lost amid all the other spicy dishes and drinks. I should mention that if you like heat, this is good place for you.

The main event was the tacos, and they were divine. A single order is perfect for sharing: it comes with four corn tortillas was your choice of two different meats. We opted for carnitas and chorizo, both of which were phenomenally good--meaty, tender and not greasy. Just excellent tacos. They arrive garnished simply with cilantro, radishes and lime wedges. We are big taco fans, and it just doesn't get any better than this. They even outclassed the tacos we had the next night at Empellon Taqueria, a well-known restaurant that's known for its tacos (its chef even published a James-Beard-award-nominated cookbook I wrote about recently).

Mayahuel offers only two choices for dessert, but trust me...it's a really really hard choice. Save yourself the pain order both of them. This visit we opted for the tres leches cake, which we are huge fans of (I made one for Chris's birthday this year and last). Mayahuel's version does not disappoint. I like that they use a fairly sturdy cake for its base, but the real treat here is the torched meringue on top. Most tres leches cakes I've had come with a whipped topping, so I loved this subtle but delightful twist. During our previous visit, we enjoyed the other option: cinnamon-sugar dusted crispy churros (doughnuts) with spiced Mexican chocolate sauce. As if it isn't obvious, let me point out that deep-fried donuts showered with cinnamon sugar and set next to a spiced Mexican chocolate dipping sauce are a pretty amazing treat after a few rounds of drinks.

Speaking of the drinks, they continue to be as fabulous as they were during our first and second visits.  I started the night with a Chabomba, a sherry and mezcal cocktail with jalapeño-infused tequila, pear brandy, vanilla and Galliano. I absolutely loved this drink. It's a little spicy and a little savory (from the sherry), and the subtle hint of vanilla gives the drink an almost dessert quality. Brandy Alejandro is more than just a mezcal twist on the brandy-and-cream classic. The drink features chocolate-milk-infused mezcal, cognac, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, cacao, mole and orange bitters. It's a very smooth drink, not creamy like its namesake nor as chocolatey as you might expect (which is a good thing; it's subtle).

Like heat in your drink? You gotta try the Puebla Drink with No Name. This drink is seriously spicy, made from mezcal infused with chile de arable and muscatel infused with ancho chiles. This drink was inspired by a mole that Mayahuel founder and owner Phil Ward tasted while on a trip in Mexico and fashioned a drink after it. It will be too hot for some people, but I loved its flavor. I might recommend not pairing this one with food, since it could overpower it (except maybe the churros, since the sugar will help cut the heat).

Chris enjoyed the Hidalgo, a nicely balanced smoky and bitter drink with tequila, mezcal, sweet vermouth, amaro, maraschino and Fernet Branca, and the Black Star, a wonderfully autumnal drink of tequila, bourbon, ginger, cinnamon, lemon and apple butter. It sparked a great conversation with a server, who said she used to make apple butter all the time and enjoys it on just about anything (she suggested cooking pork tenderloin with it, which is an excellent idea). He also revisited the Six Shooter, a drink we named our favorite cocktail of our last trip to New York. I'm now ready to just name it our favorite cocktail at the moment. It's an amazing drink featuring a split base of mezcal and two types of rum with touches of Punt e Mes (sweet vermouth), Rammazotti (an amaro), coffee, sugar and bitters. I so love it, that I tried to concoct something similar at home I call the Ode to Mayahuel's Six Shooter.

We never got to meet Chef Vincent Gonzalez, but we sure did enjoy his food. We did, however, get to enjoy the company of our bartender, Nicole, and a server, Rachel, who stopped by the bar often to pick up drinks for diners upstairs. These were two of the nicest restaurant staff I've ever met. I loved watching Nicole mix drinks and chat with her about them, and Rachel had such enthusiasm for the food and drinks. Food makes or breaks a restaurant, but service is critically important too, since good service shapes the experience into something truly special. We felt more than taken care of by these nice people.

Expectations, as I said, can be a bitch, but Mayahuel, as a restaurant, more than exceeded the high expectations set by our prior visits to the bar. For the last year, we've been telling people that it's our favorite bar in New York, and it's now also our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Mayahuel, 304 East 6th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), New York, N.Y. (East Village, Manhattan). (212) 253-5888. Reservations: Open Table.

Related

Cocktail: Ode to Mayahuel's Six Shooter

Cocktail Bar: Going Two Rounds in Mayahuel (New York City)

Dining Notes from New York, January 2016 (includes our second visit to Mayahuel)

Mayahuel Mezcal Cocktails (my first post related to Mayahuel featuring two of its drinks)

Getting Serious About Mezcal

Holy Smoke! It's Mezcal! By John McEvoy

Mad About the NoMad Bar (New York, N.Y.)

Three years ago, we visited The NoMad for dinner. We had an excellent meal of roast chicken for two, as well as some pretty decent cocktails.

Manhattan

At the time, The NoMad had two bar spaces: the bar in the back of the dining room, now referred to as the "elephant" bar because of its statues and the nearby library space. Although the restaurant had a tremendous amount of buzz, the bar proved to be just as popular if not even more acclaimed. The NoMad Bar received a James Beard Award nomination for Outstanding Bar Program in 2013 and then won that award the following year. As Eater tells it, the popularity of the bar was such that hotel guests (The NoMad is a hotel after all), were unable to relax at the bar. So they expanded, creating a new third bar space, The NoMad Bar, a beautiful wood-paneled space with a large bar, booths, standing tables and a second floor of additional tables. It's the sort of setting that exudes class and good taste.

Although The NoMad Bar is accessible via a curtained hallway between the Elephant Bar and Library, it also has its own entrance, as well as its own menu, a list more akin to pub fare than the gourmet dishes in the dining room. It also boasts a massive cocktail menu, an enticing list mix of classic drinks, new creations and large-format "cocktail explosions," punch-like creations served from a giant goblet-like glass container with a spigot. It serves eight, takes two bartenders to make and costs over $100. And they sound pretty awesome. If ever we're there with more people, we're getting one. Credit for these creations goes to NoMad's bar director, the talented Leo Robitschek.

We visited The NoMad Bar after dinner, so we stuck to drinks and loved every one we tried. I've mentioned before that the Manhattan is our favorite cocktail right now; however, I hadn't yet had a really good one while actually in Manhattan (the one I had last summer at Colicchio & Son's Taproom was, unfortunately, not as good as I'd hoped). Thankfully, The NoMad rectified that oversight, as the Manhattan was absolutely perfect.

Always Betz on Black

Our favorite drink was Always Betz on Black, a drink that also appears on the Eleven Madison Park bar menu, made with Irish whiskey, rum, Islay Scotch, sherry, cold-brewed coffee and Angostura bitters. It's a dynamite good winter cocktail, all smoky, roasty and dark. Along similar lines was the Gentlemen's Exchange, a potent mix of rye, Suze, Foro amaro, sweet vermouth, cold-brewed coffee, absinthe and angostura bitters.

Dr. Feelgood

For something a little brighter, I tried the Dr. Feelgood, made with mezcal (my favorite spirit at the moment), sherry, Suze, génépy (an herbal liqueur), avocado, lemon, lime and jalapeño, beautifully garnished with a rolled slice of cucumber and a spicy rim. Another excellent drink. Our first night ended with North Sea Oil, another smoky creation of Islay Scotch, aquavit, Cocchi Americano and triple sec. Did you catch that mention of a "first night?" Yeah, we went back a second time. It was that good. Any luckily we were able to get a table both nights because the place was really busy both Monday and Tuesday nights. Despite that, we received good service, with someone nearby always coming by at the right time to let us order another drink.

People-watching at The NoMad Bar is also fun. We saw a family of foreign tourists with kids (yes kids in a cocktail bar), a young couple that couldn't keep their hands off each other and a trio of well-dressed twenty-something guys that ordered one of those cocktail explosions and left after drinking maybe a third of it. Seriously, who drops that kind of money on cocktails and then doesn't drink them? (Wall Street types maybe?) We were tempted to rush over and bring the thing to our table to finish.

Although most of our best drinking in New York takes place in the East Village these days, we were happy to discover that The NoMad Bar is an excellent place for good cocktails further uptown. With most cocktails priced in the high teens, The NoMad Bar is by no means a cheap place to drink, but it certainly is a satisfying one. I just hope we can get a table next time.

The NoMad Bar, 1170 Broadway (through The NoMad Hotel and restaurants, also a separate entrance on 28th Street), New York, N.Y. (NoMad district, north of the Flatiron). (212) 796-1500.

Dining Notes from New York, January 2016

We've visited New York enough times now that we have a number of favorite spots. It's easy to go back to them. But during our recent trip, I wanted to focus on visiting new places, so we headed to a trio of "hot and new" type places plus a taqueria that I've been wanting to try for years. We also made a return trip to last year's favorite bar, which further strengthened our view of said bar as our favorite.

Timna - Not Your Typical Middle Eastern

Middle Eastern cuisine has been popular for while, but Timna does a good job expanding its flavors beyond the usual ingredients. A helping of the kubaneh bread is an essential starter. The buttery, pillowy bread--similar in flavor and texture a soft brioche--arrives in a flower pot for you to tear off little pieces to swipe through the creamy labaneh (strained yogurt) and chunky tomato dip. Chewy farro grains arrive topped with an assortment of vegetables, including beets and wonderfully charred zucchini, dressed with tahini and sweetened with a little date molasses.

For our main entrees, I chose the wild fish, which our serve said was tilefish. The flaky white fish was perfectly cooked and accompanied by spinach, chickpeas and artichokes. Chris opted for the pumpkin and ricotta ravioli, which arrive with more artichokes and pumpkin seeds. Both of these dishes were good, although I liked our starters better. We finished with the chocolate pudding with caramelized banana slices, shaved coconut and an enticing whiskey-nougat ice cream.

Tucked away below ground-level in the East Village, Timna is a handsome little restaurant decorated with slate blue paint and roughed-up exposed brick and lit with low honey lighting. Service here was fine, not problematic but not exceptional. The restaurant has received a number of accolades, including being named last year's best new restaurant by USA Today. I would definitely recommend this place, although it wasn't our favorite of the week.

Kat & Theo - Tasteful and Cozy
[2019 update: Kat & Theo has closed]

Another night, we popped into Kat & Theo, a beautiful space in Flatiron serving comforting classics from American and European influences.

Needing something green, we started with a frisee salad, which was simply adorned with crispy lamb bacon and radish slices. We went meaty for our mains: I had the tender lamb shank, which came with farro and roasted vegetables. Chris had the flatiron steak, which was cooked a just-right medium-rare and served with vegetables.

Both of our meat dishes were very good, but our side of cauliflower stole the show.  The roasted florets are draped with a sweet fig and pine nut sauce, which made for a perfect accompaniment. Our dessert, a deconstructed carrot cake, was also quite tasty.

Kat & Theo also has an interesting cocktail menu. I sprang for the Coco Rosie, which had a lot of good flavor with its cardamom-infused rye, rum, currant liqueur and coconut. Unfortunately, this drink was served in a tall glass but with a regular-size straw.

Service here was among the best we enjoyed during our week in New York, mostly due to friendly who made the evening go quite smoothly.

L'Amico - Buzzy and Busy

Last of the "hot and new" places was L'Amico, a somewhat lazy pick, since we were staying in the Eventi Hotel where this Italian hot spot is located. The restaurant is an attractive corner space in the hotel building, warmly lit with good views onto the street. It's also quite bustling--vacant tables didn't stay that way long, and most of the people around us looked to be having a great time.

I thought all our food was good, but nothing really stood out as particularly memorable. I preferred our starters to our entrees. Creamy burrata arrived flecked with the unmistakable scent of shaved truffles, and the Brussels sprouts salad was nicely composed with hazelnuts, salsify and pance (like bacon). The charred kale pizza was bit overcooked--the charred kale itself was great, as well as its pairing with caraway, onion and pecorino and robiola cheeses--but the crust was burnt in places. I love a well-charred pizza crust, but this crossed that unfortunately line into ashy territory. Fusilli wth spicy sausage, bitter greens, pine nuts and pecorino was a satisfying pasta dish.

Also noteworthy was the Brooklyn Bound cocktail, which nice enhanced the flavors of the classic Brooklyn cocktail--usually made with rye, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur and bitters--with Italian Punt e Mes and Ramazotti, plus Luxardo maraschino liqueur that's been infused with star anise. Lastly, I've read that the service here can be spotty, but am pleased to report that we experienced no issues with the service, which was friendly and efficient.

Empellón Taqueria - Our Best Meal of the Week

The best meal of the week was not from one of these newcomers, but Empellón Taqueria, hands down. Everything about our visit clicked: food, drinks and service. We arrived a little early, and it was pouring rain outside. Did that phase Empellón? Not at all. They happily seated us and quickly got us started with some guacamole and a round of margaritas. I'm a sucker for a good mezcal margarita, and Empellon's is nicely done, including a rim of smoked salt. If you like your margarita a little spicy, the spicy cucumber is also a great one, done with blanco tequila, fresh cucumber, jalapeño tincture and chile salt.

The guacamole was excellent--freshly prepared (not by the table but in the kitchen where food is supposed to be prepared) and served with really good corn chips and two salsas: a spicy red and the creamy smoked cashew. We also enjoyed a starter of smoked plantains, which arrived not in the sliced-and-fried format I was expecting but formed into crisp little cups filled with mashed plantains topped with a dollop of fresh crema. Because I think playing with celery and peanuts can be interesting, we also ordered the celery root vegetable starter with toasted peanuts, which reminded me a bit of the roasted celery with peanut sauce I made last year.

Of course, this is a taqueria, so we did our part to order a selection of tacos, all of which were really good. The Sunday special tacos of cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork) topped with pickled onions and cilantro arrived first, whetting our appetite for more. It was soon sated by the equally delicious Brussel sprouts tacos and, perhaps our favorite, the skirt steak tacos, which were stuffed with tender steak, onion and mojo de ajo, a spicy garlicky gravy. We capped this wonderful meal with a helping of chocolate flan served with Mexican cinnamon ice cream--a great way to end a great meal.

Service at Empellón was uniformly excellent. The hostesses greeted us warmly as we arrived (early) in from the rain. Our server was friendly and efficient, the bar provided our drink orders quickly and nobody removed a plate from our table without asking first, which I really appreciated.

With this dinner, Empellón Taqueria replaced The Black Ant as our new favorite Mexican restaurant in New York. It was so good, that I will make a point to revisit its sister restaurant, Empellón Cocina, which we visited in 2012. At the time, we were disappointed, although I thought a number of the dishes were really interesting (including the cashew salsa, which I made at home). Perhaps they or we were having an off night, so I think a second look is in order. I also want to visit Alex Stupak's newest Empellón, Empellón al Pastor, which focuses on al pastor tacos while also having a number of other tacos on the menu (and drinks of course).

Mayahuel - Still New York's Best Cocktail Bar
[2018 update: Mayahuel has closed]

Lastly, we popped into Mayahuel for a drink before dinner one night in the East Village. We visited Mayahuel last summer and were smitten with the bar's unique take on mezcal- and tequila-focused cocktails. Our more recent visit further cemented Mayahuel's status as our favorite bar (in New York or elsewhere). Once again, each drink we had was amazing--tasty, interesting and well-made. The best place to sit in Mayahuel is at the bar, since you can watch the bartenders work with their arsenal of spirits, mixers, garnishes and equipment. They are a very exacting, knowledgable and friendly lot.

Last time we were there, I tried the Dijahbone, which was unique because it was made not with mezcal or tequila but sotol, another Mexican spirit that is slowly emerging in the U.S. I was excited to see that Mayahuel has expanded their use of sotol into its own category of drinks on the menu, with five choices at present. The Chance Seeding blends sotol with sherry, apple, Velvet Falernum and line, with the cheesy funkiness of the sotol playing so well with the apple. We also really enjoyed the Mamasita, a sort of Negroni riff with tequila, sweet vermouth, Campari, maraschino liqueur, a touch of mezcal and whiskey-barrel-aged bitters. Best cocktail of the night--and the entire trip--was the Six Shooter, a fantastic dark and smoky drink made with mezcal, two kinds of rum, Punt e Mes, Rammazotti and orange and Angostura bitters.

After our dinner, we tried to get into Amor Y Amargo, but it was packed, and Death & Co had a 1 1/2 hour wait. So we found ourselves back at Mayahuel to finish our evening with yet another round of amazing drinks. Although I think of Mayahuel as a bar, it's a restaurant too--next time, we'll definitely be staying for dinner (we had a bit of a preview--I couldn't resist ordering some churros with chocolate, which were amazing).

Empellón Taqueria, 230 W 4th Street (at W 10th Street), New York, NY (West Village). (212) 367-0999. Reservations: Open Table.

Kat & Theo, 5 West 21st Street (at 5th Avenue), New York, NY (Flatiron). (212) 380-1950. Reservations: Open Table.

L'Amico, 849 6th Avenue (between 29th and 30th Streets in the Eventi Hotel), New York, NY (Chelsea), (212) 201-4065. Reservations: Open Table.

Mayahuel, 304 East 6th Street (near 2nd Avenue), New York, NY (East Village). (212) 253-5888.

Timna, 109 St. Marks Place (between 1st Ave and Avenue A), New York, NY (East Village). (646) 964-5181. Reservations: Open Table.

Best of 2015: Restaurants and Cocktail Bars

Is the pace of Washington, D.C. restaurant opening ever going to slow down? That's what comes to my mind first when I think back on this year of dining out at home. 

In 2013 and 2014, we watched 14th Street fill up with seemingly weekly openings. As the "hot" neighborhoods proliferate (Shaw seemed to welcome a particular number of promising newcomers this year), now it's like there are multiple interesting openings per week, making us diners very lucky to be have so much selection (while simultaneously feeling like we cannot possibly keep up). One of my first restaurant reviews of next year promises to be a good one--the recently opened Convivial in Shaw, where Mintwood Place chef Cedric Maupillier is cooking some amazing food. 

Big-name chefs continue to show interest in D.C., the biggest of which to open an outpost in our city this year was David Chang, the man behind the Momofuku collective. Judging be the lines outside Momofuku CCDC, I wasn't the only one impatiently waiting to see how his creative Asian-inspired cooking translated to our market. 

Plus our own Jose Andres continued to expand his gastronomic empire with the one-two punch of the Peruvian-by-way-of-Asia China Chilcano and the vegetable-centric-fast-casual Beefsteak, which I'm happy to hear will be adding a new location in my neighborhood next year. Also coming to my neighborhood in 2016--a new Italian restaurant from Fabio and Maria Trabocchi--the wonderful talent behind Fiola and Casa Luca. After a hard few years where we lost places like Palena and Dino, even stodgy ol' Upper Northwest seems to be getting back in the game.

Outside of D.C., we had our usual jaunts to New York, where we discovered our new favorite Mexican restaurant. We made do with cruise food, but enjoyed some pretty incredible eats in port. And we indulged our love for barbecue, Tex-Mex and good cocktails in Austin, Texas, which was as much a place to spend a long weekend as we'd hoped. Interestingly, a lot of my favorite dishes this year didn't come from the more expensive or buzzy places we visited, but rather the more casual, less flashy places we stumbled upon.

Here then are the best eats we enjoyed outside the home this year (restaurants named are in Washington, D.C. unless otherwise indicated).

Palak Chaat, Rasika

Best Starter: Palak Chaat (Rasika). Rasika is widely considered to be D.C.'s best restaurant, a pretty cool honor considering that it's Indian, a cuisine too many sneer at to their detrimental. Dinner at Rasika is an amazing experience--even more so after this year's design refresh. While everything we ate there was good, the Palak Chaat, an appetizer of chickpea-battered flash-fried spinach, is absolutely amazing. The kind of thing you'd just have to order a side of even if you promised yourself to try something new. Honorable mentions: Fried Avocado (Tupelo Honey Cafe, Arlington, Virginia), Fried Chicken Skins (The Partisan), Guacamole (The Black Ant, New York), Spicy Cucumbers (Momofuku CCDC), Hush Puppies (Fat Pete's).

Frida Kale, Beefsteak

Best Salad: Make Your Own (Beefsteak). The first thing that struck me upon walking up to the counter at Beefsteak was the amazing variety of fresh vegetables. As it should be for famed D.C. chef Jose Andres's first outing into the fast-casual corner, a beautifully minimalist space that puts all its focus on the one thing we all know we should be eating more of: our vegetables. And what better way to enjoy then to design your own salad here with all the amazing blanched, raw, crunchy, bitter and sweet you can imagine. Honorable mentions: Shredded Cabbage Salad (Tico), Quinoa Salad (China Chilcano), Lettuces and Vegetables (Hearth, New York), Dungeness crab salad (The Rookery, Juneau, Alaska), Pea Tendril Salad (White Street, New York).

Sliced Brisket with Beans and Slaw, Fat Pete's

Best Entree (Meat): Sliced Brisket (Fat Pete's). I've been pretty open about my love of barbecue. It seriously literally (yes, I'm using this correctly) makes my mouth water. Like right now as I write this, thinking about the amazing sliced brisket at Fat Pete's, which is so meaty, smoky and tender. I just love it. And it's within walking distance of my home. Yeah, I know Franklin's in Austin is the best, but really, if I can get barbecued brisket this good close to home, I can forgo Franklin's. Honorable mentions: Brisket Taco (Guero's Taco Bar, Austin, Texas), Black Angus Short Rib (Lamberts, Austin, Texas), cochinita pibil tacos (La Condesa, Austin, Texas), Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder (The Partisan), Meatloaf Tacos (Tupelo Honey Cafe, Arlington, Virginia). 

Corn Ravioli, Ghibellina

Best Entree (Pasta and Grains): Ravioli di Mais Dolci (corn ravioli) (Ghibellina). Graffito used to be the undisputed champion of corn ravioli (or technically agnolotti) in D.C., but with this dish, Ghibellina has emerged as a formidable challenger to that title. The popular 14th Street venue garnishes its ricotta and corn-stuffed pasta pockets with toasted almonds, a delicious idea. Honorable mentions: Beef Noodle Soup (Momofuku CCDC), Aeropuero (China Chilcano).

Halibut Fish & Chips, Alava's Fish & Chowder

Best Entree (Seafood): Halibut Fish & Chips (Alava's Fish & Chowder, Ketchikan, Alaska). You know how people rave about sometimes those ramshackle hole-in-the-wall places have the best food? In this case, it's absolutely true. We're not big seafood eaters, but of all the dishes we enjoyed in Alaska, the best was the halibut fish & chips at Alava's. The fish was incredibly fresh--caught that morning I imagine--and the light breading added just enough crunch. Honorable mention: Slow-Cooked Cod (White Street, New York), Grilled Salmon (Landing Zone, Icy Strait Point, Alaska).

Breakfast Tacos, Taco Joint

Best Breakfast: Steak and Egg with Smokey Gouda Cheese Taco (Taco Joint, Austin, Texas). Breakfast tacos were one our favorite finds during our trip to Austin, and this taco, from a little taco restaurant just north of the University of Texas campus, was the best of the lot. Honorable mentions: 24 Hash (24 Diner, Austin, Texas), Omelet (The Royal Treat, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware). 

Fried Apple Pie, The Partisan

Best Dessert: Fried Apple Pie (The Partisan). Sure, it sounds like something you get at McDonald's, but consider that the apple pie is actually most people's second-favorite thing to eat at the Golden Arches. Then take that concept and turn it into something freshly made by a pastry chef, and you're in dessert heaven. Honorable mentions: Dulce de Leche Pudding Cake (La Condesa, Austin, Texas), Key Lime Pie (DBGB Kitchen & Bar)

Best service: Dos Locos (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware). Maybe I'm getting pickier, but service was an area where few restaurants really excelled this year. Service where we ate was fine, for the most part, but rarely was it a memorable aspect of our dining experiences this year. A notable exception was Dos Locos, our favorite restaurant at the beach, where we are always made to feel welcome no matter if we're sitting down for dinner or just pop in for an afternoon margarita. Even when they are crushed under the busy dinner service, our needs for condiments, refills or just the check are always anticipated and never delayed. Honorable mention: China Chilcano, La Condesa (Austin, Texas).

Lamb Pot Stickers, China Chilcano

Most Visually Striking Dish: Pegao Norteño (Lamb Pot Stickers, China Chilcano). At China Chilcano, a starter of lamb dumplings arrive connected by a lacy layer topped with flowers and gold hovering above a few artful brushstrokes of squash puree, like some sort of beautiful garden that's also quite tasty. Honorable mention: Ponderaciones de Kiwicha (China Chilcano).

Best Cocktail (Restaurant): Maybe a Joyful Noise (The Partisan). I'm breaking cocktails into two parts, since it doesn't seem fair to compare cocktails from cocktail bars (where they do little, if anything, else) to those at restaurants. That said, the Maybe a Joyful Noise from The Partisan is a pretty incredible drink that rivals our favorite tipples from the next section. The mixture of bourbon, bitter-sweet Italian digestif, French digestif and chocolate bitters was a perfectly balanced and heady concoction that I would happily drink again. Honorable mentions: Cool Hand Luke (Tico), Cholotini (China Chilcano), Dennis Coles (Hearth, New York), Colonial (DBGB Kitchen & Bar), Honey & Chamomile G&T (Tupelo Honey Cafe, Arlington, Virginia), Devil in Oaxaca (The Black Ant, New York).

Ready to Depart (left) and Dijahbone (right), Mayahuel

Best Cocktail (Cocktail Bar): Dijahbone (Mayahuel, New York). This was the year we really made an effort to visit cool cocktail bars. We hit up some pretty amazing ones in Austin, and even found a cool one in D.C. But the two best were in New York and they are relatives of sorts (they share some of the same talent): Death & Co., whose book I can't stop raving about, and Mayahuel, its Mexican-spirits-focused offshoot. While we had wonderful experiences in both bars, we found the focus on mezcal, tequila and newcomer (to many Americans at least) sotol, to be particularly intoxicating. The Dijahbone, a blend of sotol, duck fat infused Grand Marnier, carrot juice, lime juice and cumin, was as delicious as it was interesting, a wonderful example of how to blend a number of unusual ingredients into something magical. Honorable mentions: Herb Alpert (Mayahuel, New York), Elijah's Railcar (CU29, Austin, Texas), Sierra Madre (Death & Co., New York), Someday Baby (Garage, Austin, Texas), Devil's Grin (2 Birds, 1 Stone).

8-2-Eat: 8 Restaurants with Great Pasta

8-2-Eat is my food-focused list series. A perfect Friday distraction. This week: a list of 8 of my favorite restaurants with excellent pastas, 6 in the D.C. area and 2 in New York.

D.C. Area

1. Fiola. This downtown Italian restaurant--the first of D.C.'s three restaurants from Chef Fabio Trabocchi and his wife Maria--is an elegant setting to enjoy a good bowl of pasta, like Fiola's famed lobster ravioli, a highlight of our 2012 dinner there. In a piece for First We Feast, Trabocchi named the lobster dish among the 10 dishes that made his career and said "having it on the menu will never change." I confirmed that the dish is currently on Fiola's menu.

2. Casa Luca. Speaking of the Trabocchis, their newer (and more affordable) restaurant, Casa Luca, also demonstrates wonderful skill with pasta. During our 2013 visit, we enjoyed agnolotti with squash, artichokes and brown butter, plus a divine smoked gnocchi with duck ragu. On the menu now: spinach pappardelle  with black pepper, burrito and sheep's milk cheese.

3. Aggio. Set aside any skepticism of a restaurant-within-a-restaurant and enjoy Bryan Voltaggio's Aggio, located within his sprawling Friendship Heights establishment, Range. The food and service at Aggio was fabulous. We loved the meatballs with chittara (a spaghetti-like pasta). On the menu now: buckwheat fusilli with pork sausage, rapini and ricotta salata.

4. Coppi's Organic. Coppi's, a long-time favorite of the U Street corridor, reopened last year in Cleveland Park much to my delight. The restaurant's strip steak béchamel lasagna (pictured above), a special the night we visited, tasted far lighter than it had any business being with those ingredients, making it one of the most enjoyable restaurant lasagnas I've ever had. One the menu now: vegetable lasagna, with red pepper, spinach, eggplant, zucchini, mixed mushrooms, and ricotta; topped with béchamel sauce.

5. Graffiato. Mike Isabella's first restaurant is still my favorite of his expanding set of great places to eat, and its sweet corn agnolotti--only available seasonally--has come to overshadow his Top Chef pepperoni sauce as the dish the restaurant is best known for. And for good reason--it's pasta perfection. On the menu: the agnolotti is currently listed, but I bet it isn't around much longer.

6. Tupelo Honey Cafe. I'm picky about restaurant mac & cheese because I rarely find an example I think is as good as what I can make at home. Arlington's outpost of Tupelo Honey Cafe changed my mind about restaurant mac & cheese, its dish boasts shrimp, fresh basil and wonderful cheese flavor. The dish is a staple of the Southern chain's menu.

New York

7. Lupa. Twice I've included Lupa on my year-end roundup of best restaurant experiences (in 2012 and 2014). It's become our favorite restaurant in New York for great pasta like tender ricotta gnocchi with a surprisingly light sausage and fennel sauce, and a summer special of pappardelle with chicken-tomato sauce. Or a wavy mafaldine pasta served with a hearty pork ragu. They run pasta specials all the time and they always sound delicious. On the menu now: sweet potato cappellacci with brown butter & sage.

8. Hearth. Our visit to Hearth was a highlight of our late 2014 trip to New York. We loved the macherroni with pork ragu in which oversized tube pasta were coated with just the right amount of meat sauce and served with rosemary and creamy whipped ricotta. On the menu now: the macherroni!

Cocktail Bar: Going Two Rounds in Mayahuel (New York City)

There's not a big sign announcing the entrance to Mayahuel.

[Update: Mayahuel has closed.]

The way people feel about agave spirits--I'm talking about tequila and mezcal here--reminds me of an incredible Neil Leifer photograph we saw recently in the Soho Contemporary Art gallery. The one boxer is raising his arms in celebration of victory. The other's been knocked on his ass.

I know far too many people who have sworn off tequila due to bad memories of excessive low-quality tequila shots in their early 20s. They haven't tried or even heard of its smoky cousin, mezcal. They need an education. They need to visit Mayahuel.

Agave spirits aren't for everyone. And that's a shame, for I think cocktails made from tequila, mezcal and other Mexican spirits are incredibly good. Sure, margaritas are awesome, but everyone knows them. At Mayahuel you won't find a margarita on the menu, and that's a good thing, for this wonderful cocktail bar in New York's East Village is about all the other amazing things you can do with these spirits, especially mezcal, which is the foundation of most Mayahuel drinks.

I've made cocktails with Mayahuel recipes before and ever since hearing about the bar I've wanted to visit it. Last time we were in New York, we tried to stop in, but they were full. This time, I hatched a plan to show up right when they opened, hoping we could snag a couple stools at the bar. And it worked! We were among the first people in the door and had a front-row seat to watch Mayahuel's cocktail creators at work.

Left: The Division Bell. Right: Herb Alpert.

Round 1

For our first round of drinks, I asked the bartender for recommendations of drinks he particularly liked with Mezcal. Chris ended up with The Division Bell, a wonderful welcome to Mayahuel's mezcal-forward menu. The drink is similar to the Naked and Famous at Death & Co., except that Mayahuel's drink uses Luxardo maraschino liqueur instead of yellow Chartreuse. It's a nicely balanced sipper: a little smoky, a little bitter, a little tart and just sweet enough. The recipe for this drink, which I found on Serious Eats, appears below.

My drink was the spicy Herb Albert and wow, what a way to start. I absolutely loved this cocktail. The jalapeño-infused blanco tequila definitely had a kick, but it wasn't too much to manage, balanced as it was just right with lime juice (and some agave too I think) to take the sting out. Mezcal gives the drink a smoky profile, while fresh oregano gives it a hint of herbal flavor.

We had dinner reservations elsewhere, so I'd only planned for us to have one drink. But the first round was so good and there were so many more interesting options, so onto...

Left: Ready to Depart. Right: Dijahbone.

Round 2

Here's where it gets really interesting. A couple days prior, I had enjoyed my first taste of sotol at the Flatiron Wine & Sprits shop. Never heard of sotol? It's another Mexican spirit, although made with a plant called the "desert spoon" instead of agave (My Poor Liver did an excellent podcast on it recently). I'd never seen sotol on a cocktail menu, so I asked the bartender if they were working with it. Of course, they were, and he made this incredibly good drink for me.

The Dijahbone was really something special, a blend of sotol, duck fat infused Grand Marnier, carrot juice, lime juice and cumin. Although this was not a drink he'd created, he knew that his coworker who'd invented it used the duck fat and carrot juice to underscore the savory and earthy notes of the sotol. The drink was a real knockout. Anyone interested in sampling the potential for sotol in cocktails should try this.

Chris had the Ready to Depart, a refreshing and delightfully summer drink made with reposado tequila, sherry, orgeat, lemon, mole bitters and banana liqueur. The bartender built the drink in the glass with crushed ice and swizzled the drink (with a real swizzle stick). None of the modifiers were overwhelming, even the banana liquor.

In many ways, Mayahuel reminds me of our recent trip to Death & Co.--the dark, intimate setting, the delicious and well-crafted drinks and the attentive service--but with a focus on Mexican spirits. Perhaps its no surprise that Mayahuel's head talent, Phil Ward, used to work at Death & Co., where he originated one of that bar's most popular drinks, the Oaxaca Old Fashioned.

Mayahuel also offers a selection of food, mostly snacks and small plates, but as we were (finally) headed off to dinner, we had to pass this time. We emerged feeling high on the amazing drinks we'd just enjoyed. Definitely more Ali than Williams.

Cocktail: The Division Bell
I found the recipe for one of the drinks we enjoyed on Serious Eats, which I adapted below from Phil Ward's recipe for Mayahuel

1 oz. mezcal
3/4 oz. Aperol
3/4 oz. maraschino liqueur (such as Luxardo or Mariska)
3/4 oz. lime juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a piece of grapefruit peel over the glass, rub the peel around the glass's rim and then discard the peel.


Mayahuel, 304 East 6th Street (just east of 2nd Avenue), New York City, NY (East Village). (212) 253-5888.


Related

Mayahuel Mezcal Cocktails

Bar Talk: A Conversation About Death & Co.

Recent New York City Restaurants

[Update: White Street has closed.]

There are a lot of reasons we enjoy occasional visits to New York City, but one of the best ones is the food. We always eat well when we go there, and I put a lot of thought into where we should go, balancing the desire to try new places with the tug of old favorites.

Among the latter, we recently enjoyed the consistently great pastas at Lupa Osteria Romana and the Roman-style pizza we love at Spunto Thin Crust Pizza, sister restaurant of Posto and Vezzo.

The new places we visited included a coal-fired pizzeria, exquisitely well-prepared classics and our new favorite Mexican restaurant.

Guacamole - The Black Ant

The Black Ant

We've sampled Mexican restaurants in New York before, but hadn't yet found a true favorite until we visited The Black Ant. Chris found this restaurant in an article about the recent surge in great Mexican restaurants in New York. The Mexican food at this small East Village space was creative, beautifully composed and incredibly delicious.

Given it's name, expect to find black ants inside, although not in the food--they adorn the walls in various sizes. However, there are other insects on the menu: grasshoppers show up in a bisque and a hash. We stayed away from ordering invertebrates and still found plenty to love on The Black Ant's diverse menu. 

Devil in Oaxaca - The Black Ant

The drinks and guacamole quickly established that this was a place we were going to like. The avocado dip arrives is mashed as usual with tomato and cilantro, but is also artfully decked out with crunchy toasted corn, dried black chiles, radishes and an orange wedge. It comes served with the kind of thick tortilla chips we love, which really are necessary to hold up to a chunky guacamole. Cocktails showed similar inventiveness. I loved the Devil in Oaxaca, made with mezcal and carrot juice.

Our entrees were just as stellar, both of which featured a deliciously prepared meat surrounded by a delightful assortment of vegetable sides. Chris sprang for the roasted suckling pig with corn mole, smoked camote (sweet potato) and pickled cauliflower, the last of of which had a nice spicy kick. There were also a couple of crispy pieces we suspect were chicharonnes, Mexican pork rinds. I had the short ribs braised in mezcal and served with chichilo negro (like a dark mole sauce), horchata chocoyotes (tasty little fried corn dumplings), sun choke purée and a topping of salad with pomegranate seeds and micro greens.

Drunkie Monkey - The Black Ant

We capped off our Black Ant experience with the Drunkie Monkey dessert, a wonderfully rich piece of plantain cake. Like all the dishes that proceeded it, the cake is beautifully plated with other ingredients that add visual interest and flavor.

Of the places we visited this year, The Black Ant was our easy favorite, an establishment with friendly service, good cocktails and food that is both creative and delicious. We'll definitely be going back.

Macherroni with Pork Ragu - Hearth

Hearth

To be a finalist for the James Beard Award for outstanding restaurant requires "consistent quality and excellence in food, atmosphere, and service." The restaurant also has to have been in service for at least 10 years. Basically, they should really know what they're doing.

Hence, we had high expectations for Hearth, which was among last year's nominees (it lost to San Francisco's famed Vietnamese restaurant, The Slanted Door). When it came the food, we were not disappointed. Everything we ate at Hearth was exquisite--thoughtfully composed, brilliantly executed and thoroughly delicious. Had anyone been hoping to scrounge for crumbs from our finished plates, they would have turned up empty handed.

Lettuces and Vegetables Salad (with Puffed Wild Rice) - Hearth

My "Lettuces and Vegetables" starter salad was a particularly good example of how Hearth brings sophistication and creativity to simple ingredients. The salad's mixture of greens are tossed with fresh vegetables like carrots and radishes and roasted ones like carrots and beets. What really made this salad great was the topping of crunch puffed wild rice. I love adding crunch to salads with ingredients like nuts, seeds and croutons. Never before had I seen a salad with puffed rice. Such a great idea. Chris's starter, a mixture of roasted squashes with pumpkin seeds, honey and ricotta, was also very good.

Roast chicken breast has become a common fixture on many restaurant menus lately (I still hold up Palena's as the best I've ever had), but that shouldn't be a reason not to order Hearth's, which is excellent. The breast was juicy, tender and smoky and served with chicken sausage, celery and crispy apples, a wonderfully winter combination. We also loved the macherroni with pork ragu in which oversized tube pasta are coated with just the right amount of meat sauce and served with rosemary and creamy whipped ricotta.

Pumpkin Cake - Hearth

We stayed seasonal in our dessert order: a moist pumpkin cake drizzled with bourbon caramel sauce and accompanied with a scoop (not a quenelle, a refreshing return to the classic sphere) of eggnog gelato. A few stray pieces of roasted pumpkin confirm that cake's flavor is authentically squash and not "pumpkin spice."

I'd be remiss in not mentioning our cocktails, which were also fabulous. Hearth's short list of drinks shows a lot of finesse with classic flavors. I loved the Dennis Coles, a mixture of gin, Byrrh (a wine-based aperitif with quinine), ginger, lemon and habanero shrub. I might attempt to make something like this at some point. Chris's Gary Grice cocktail, made with rum, drambuie, punt e mes and mole bitters was also quite good.

Service at Hearth was generally good but fell a little short given our high expectations for it. I have no complaint about our servers, who were friendly and knowledgable, but there was an unexpected slowness to a lot of what we experienced, especially at the beginning. There was no host to greet us when we arrived, and it took surprisingly long for one to materialize as other diners queued up behind us. Once we were seated with water and menus, it also took surprisingly long for someone to take our order. And our drinks took a long time to make as well, although I was pleased that the restaurant took notice of this and comped our drinks. Perhaps it was just an off night, although the final stinger was when a busser whisked away my cocktail before I was finished in an action so fast she halfway through the restaurant before I could utter a protest. I really appreciate it when bussers ask before they take things.

Still, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Hearth despite these small oversights, especially given that the food was uniformly stellar. Credit for that goes to Chef Marco Canora, who has worked at Hearth since it opened in 2003. Before that, he worked under Tom Colicchio, first as a line-cook at Gramercy Tavern and then as executive chef at Colicchio's famed Craft, which was honored with a James Beard Award for best new restaurant in 2001 (an award that Hearth was later nominated for). Canora's clear mastery of winter dishes has me wondering what creativity he would show with summer's produce bounty.

The No. 4 - Juliana's Pizza

Juliana's Pizza

We always stay in Manhattan when we visit New York City, but sometimes we include a midday trip to Brooklyn as a break from hustle and bustle. We've explored Park Slope and Williamsburg in the last couple years, and during recent trip, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to spend a few hours in Dumbo.

We knew we wanted pizza while in Dumbo. New York City is famed for its pizza, and Brooklyn in particular is noted for having some of the best examples of New York-style pizza. Walking from Brooklyn Bridge park to Front Street we passed two such restaurants next door to each other: Juliana's and Grimaldi's.

These people are actually waiting to get into Grimaldi's, the pizza restaurant next door to Juliana's.

Grimaldi's is clearly one of New York's most popular pizza restaurants. According to its Wikipedia page, "lines for tables are often long in summertime." Well, guess what? They're also long in the dead of winter, even when it's really cold outside and it's a Monday. At about 11:45 when we went to eat, the line for Grimaldi's extended far down the block. So that made the choice easy: we went to Juliana's, which was busy but had no line. We were immediately seated in the stools at the back that look into the pizza kitchen. Perfect! Watching the guys stretch and top the dough before putting it into the coal-fired pizza oven was a real treat.

As expected, the pizza was fantastic. We sprang for the #4, a tomato and mozzarella pie with arugula and prosciutto. The pizza crust was pretty much perfect--blistered in spots but still soft under the toppings. We ate almost an entire large pizza washed down with a few beers. Service was great too.

After having such good pizza at Juliana's I find it hard to believe that Grimaldi's would be so much better to be worth the wait (if you've tried both, I'd love to hear your perspective). In some ways, Juliana's really is the original Grimaldi's experience. Juliana's sits in Grimaldi's original location and is run by Grimaldi's original owner, Patsy Grimaldi (he and his late wife Carol sold Grimaldi's in the '90s, and the new Grimaldi's Pizzeria owner was apparently not happy about having next-door competition from Grimaldi the man, as detailed in this great New York Magazine article by Jane Black).

Pea Tendril Salad - White Street

White Street

If I had to sum up White Street with one word, it would be "elegance." The handsome Tribeca restaurant's decor instantly evokes "class," and perfectly matches the kitchen's tasteful cuisine.

Although Open Table describes White Street's dress as "smart casual," you'll definitely want to err on the "smart" side to fit in with the luxuriously spacious restaurant's classic decor of dark brown walls, crystal chandeliers and--so rare in restaurants these days--white tablecloths.

The food we had at White Street was very good. My favorite thing was a salad of pea tendrils with peanuts and a spicy sesame-lime dressing. Pea tendrils are one of those not-at-the-grocery-store items I sometimes pick up at my farmers market and wonder what to do with them. A salad like this is absolutely perfect. I loved the Asian influence and the surprising but not unwelcome bit of heat. Chris's started, a spiced pumpkin soup with pepitas and ricotta got a nice lift with a bit of acid.

Chickpea and Quinoa Cake was a great example of a vegetarian entree done well. The cake sat atop a flavorful mix of spiced yogurt, onion and pickled cabbage. White fish is easily overpowered by big flavors, but the ginger broth and baby vegetables were perfectly understated accompaniments to slow-cooked cod.

For dessert, we sprang for something a bit unusual: bayleaf custard. I'm seeing herbs more and more in dessert making for an enticing herbal-sweet combination. White Street's custard was served on a crispy wafer and accompanied by two preparations of quince--a tart fruit that I don't often see on menus.

Running the kitchen at White Street is Executive Chef Floyd Cardoz, formerly of North End Grill and Tabla, both of which were the works of famed restauranteur Danny Meyer. Meyer is not involved with White Street, but that shouldn't chase you off from trying the great food and ambiance of Cardoz' latest venture.

Original DB Burger - DB Bistro Moderne

DB Bistro Moderne

I've written before about the difficulty of finding a really great meal in the Theater District. It continues to be a vexing problem that unfortunately we didn't quite solve with DB Bistro Moderne.

I had high hopes for this restaurant. It's part of Daniel Boulud's restaurant empire, an expanding collection of restaurants in New York and other big cities that includes the high-end Daniel and DBGB Kitchen and Bar, which recently opened an outpost in Washington, D.C.

Our meal at DB Bistro Moderne was far from bad, but it just wasn't that memorable. In particular, our entrees were example "style over substance." My roasted chicken was quite good, but I could have done without the accompanying vol-au-vent, a puff pastry filled with vegetables. Just expertly roasted vegetables would have been better. They don't need the pastry.

Chris was disappointed with the Original DB Burger, another reminder that gimmicky menu items often disappoint. The massive patty consists of sirloin stuffed with braised short ribs. Foie gras and black truffles are also part of the deal and push the price tag up to a hefty $35 (note: this is not the DB Burger Royale, which, at $110 is one of the world's most expensive burgers). Despite all that, he found it to be lacking in flavor. I tasted it and thought that while good, it wasn't $35 good.

Although we were a bit underwhelmed, DB Bistro Moderne is a decent choice if you're seeing a Broadway show. We went on a Sunday, a night they don't offer the official "pre theater" menu, but the restaurant still did a good job of getting us through drinks, starters, entrees and dessert (a delightful molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream) in time for our show. It's certainly a lot better than Becco.

The Black Ant, 60 2nd Avenue (between 3rd and 4th Streets), New York, N.Y. (East Village). (212) 598-0300. Reservations: Open Table. 

Hearth, 403 East 12th Street (on the corner with 1st Avenue), New York, N.Y. (East Village). (646) 602-1300. Reservations: Open Table. 

Juliana's Pizza, 19 Old Fulton Street (near Front Street, under the Brooklyn Bridge), Brooklyn, N.Y. (Dumbo). (718) 596-6700. 

White Street, 221 West Broadway (between White and Franklyn Streets), New York, N.Y. (Tribeca). (212) 944-8378. Reservations: Open Table. 

DB Bistro Moderne, 55 West 44th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), New York, N.Y. (Midtown/Theater District). (212) 391-2400. Reservations: Open Table.