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The Surf Shack is a six-room B&B with attractive guest rooms with coastal casual decor, but the lodging is almost secondary to Chef Momo Kamara’s Polynesian-inspired dining experience at the restaurant downstairs. Indulge in daily ceviche selections, pork belly steamed buns, and curried and Thai-style mussels, capped with Tahitian-style rice pudding for dessert.
Uchi, which means "house" in Japanese, is the brainchild of James Beard Award–winning chef Tyson Cole, one of the few American sushi masters. Locals and visitors appreciate the nontraditional Japanese cuisine with signature tastings, sushi, and a seasonal ten-tasting omakase experience. The food is a work of art including tins of caviar with scallion pancakes and house cultured butter. The extensive menu includes hot and cold tastings; blue fin, nigiri, and sashimi; daily specials; and fascinating desserts.
This bustling, lunch-only classic dating back to 1958 serves some of San Francisco's best dim sum to office workers on weekdays and boisterous families on weekends, and the take-out counter makes a satisfying meal on the run. The several dozen varieties prepared daily include the classic and the creative; steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, scallop skewers, and basil seafood dumplings are among the many delights. Crowds are just as large at its nearby Rincon Center sibling.
Even Seattleites who don't haunt Pioneer Square will happily hunt for parking to spend a few hours at this colorful local favorite. In one of Pioneer Square's great brick buildings, with high ceilings and a few artfully exposed ducts and pipes, Zeitgeist has a simple, classy look that's the perfect backdrop for the frequent art shows held here. If you're feeling hungry, Zeitgeist has a modest breakfast and lunch menu, featuring sandwiches, salads, and baked egg dishes. The roasted veggie topped with goat cheese on a local Macrina baguette is a fresh and filling lunch.
One of the city's best restaurants, Biga on the Banks's menu is big and eclectic, and the dining atmosphere manages to be both larger than life and romantic. To take advantage of the freshest ingredients available, award-winning chef Bruce Auden and his chefs update their New American fine-dining menus daily and post them on the website at 5 pm. Dishes can range from seared American red snapper to 11-spiced Axis venison and Lockhart quail. Don't skip dessert, which may be the best in town: the sticky toffee pudding is a must. Table 31 is just off the main dining room, a great spot for relaxed entertaining for 5 to 8 people. This is a prime spot for a leisurely dinner on the River Walk, if you can get a reservation. Let's repeat that: reservations are essential.
The Pig established the gastropub category in Orlando and then went on to spawn several offshoots. Run by James and Julie Petrakis, a husband-and-wife chef team with multiple James Beard Award nominations, its delicacies include pork porterhouse and the pub burger, though the daily-changing menu always includes less-expensive pub fare like rock shrimp tacos and homemade pretzels. All charcuterie is made in-house, from the spiced orange salami to the game-bird terrine. Adjacent is the Ravenous Pig Brewing Co., serving small-barrel craft beers and ales in a beer garden. The Pig received the Michelin Bib Gourmand designation in 2022, which recognizes great food at great value.
When the sun sets, this intimate, fireplace-warmed indoor-outdoor restaurant is the best place to eat and socialize in Marathon. The innovative menu, featuring fresh produce from the Gage Hotel Garden across the railroad tracks, changes with the season but maintains a Southwestern flair. Entrées sizzle with prime steaks, cornmeal-fried-oyster nachos, and stuffed Texas quail. After dinner you can belly up to the bar at the White Buffalo, where people-watching is always a kick.
18 Central Oyster Bar and Grill produces excellent, creative dishes in a cozy spot high above Rockport's working harbor. Seasonally inspired, locally harvested seafood plus dishes with a hint of Southern comfort make up the backbone of the menu—think fried green tomatoes with local peekytoe crab, chili oil, and microgreens, or crispy fried chicken accompanied by collards and heirloom grits. More northerly flavor shines in such choices as finnan haddie (cold-smoked haddock), roasted mussels, and diver scallops.
Start your day at this timeless, Victorian-style café in the historic Driskill Hotel. Admire the classic architecture and expertly appointed interiors as you wait to place your order at the counter, whether it's a Texas-shaped pecan waffle or a cup of their famed cheese soup. The expanded breakfast menu features contemporary additions like the Hippie Hollow Omelet and brunch cocktails like the "Breakfast in a Cup," made with Jameson, orange juice, butterscotch syrup, and spicy maple bacon.
The gift shop of the Modernism Museum across the street is attached to this tearoom-turned-restaurant, which helps to explain its striking and sublime decor. The menu changes daily featuring dishes from Florida and elsewhere in the South that are made using local ingredients whenever possible; roasted oysters, slow-cooked octopus with Japanese eggplant, or barbecue lamb shank are just some of the possibilities.
Call it the Brando of D.C. pizzerias, because this Neapolitan sensation has played godfather to a number of throne-stealing wood ovens elsewhere in town since it opened more than a decade ago. Simple recipes allow the ingredients to shine through and make the "wine bar" menu of small Italian plates as exemplary as the pies. You may be tempted to go for the D.O.C. pizza (it has Denominazione di Origine Controllata approval for Neapolitan authenticity), but don't hesitate to try the meatballs, salt cod croquettes, deviled eggs, or really any of the little things. At busy times, there can be a wait for a table, and the noisy din of a packed house may discourage some diners.
Excellent service, perfectly cooked steaks, and an extensive, award-winning wine list make dinner here a memorable experience. Although the restaurant is known for its steaks—and it's impossible to go wrong ordering one—you'll find plenty of choices if you're in the mood for something from the sea.
Soaring ceilings, a woodsy lakeside location, and a koi pond make this one of the most striking dining rooms in the area. Executive chef Bertrand Chemel's introduction to cooking began with an apprenticeship at a French bakery, and his flair for rising dough shows. The playful cuisine continually surprises with a five-course tasting menu that changes monthly. Diners can also order à la carte.
The second generation operating this legendary, traditional kosher Jewish deli moved its enormous corned beef and pastrami sandwiches and buckets of pickles uptown from the original longtime location on 2nd Avenue in the East Village, keeping the name and the menu. That also includes "Jewish penicillin" (aka matzo ball soup), knishes, pastrami, blintzes, potato pancakes and more. Upstairs, 2nd Floor Bar & Essen is an upscale cocktail lounge that opens at 5 pm and has a limited bar menu that features unconditional bites, like pastrami deviled eggs. A deli-only location is in Midtown East.
3030 Ocean's unpredictable menus are guided by award-winning chef Adrienne Grenier's perfectionist flair. Her interpretation of modern American seafood focuses on balancing complex flavors to enhance her fresh ingredients—without subtracting from their integrity. Although that may sound standard these days, she executes without fail. 3030 makes a colossal effort to source everything from Florida, and even South Florida, while it's in season. The menu is never static, but you can expect outstanding dishes like charred octopus, grilled black grouper, and sautéed Florida flounder in a stylish setting.
What started as a tiny business in a former tire-repair shop has turned into a 15-location dynasty, with an urban farm and educational center. The popular 4 Rivers turns out slow-cooked barbecue standards like pulled pork and Texas-style brisket, as well as more unusual items such as bacon-wrapped smoked jalapeños, the Six Shooter with cheese grits, and a sausage-filled pastry called kolache. Old-time soft drinks such as Frostie Root Beer and Cheerwine are for sale, along with desserts like the Chocolate Awesomeness—an indulgent layering of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, Heath Bar, whipped cream, and chocolate and caramel sauces. Some branches have Sweet Shops that sell whole oversize cakes.
Since the early '90s, this cheerful art-filled spot has been a go-to on the peninsula for celebrating special occasions and simply enjoying stellar comfort food with locally sourced ingredients. Consider kicking off your meal with goat cheese fondue or a half pound of Willapa Bay clams steamed in white wine, before graduating to flash-fried razor clams with seasonal vegetables, or ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms and topped with tomato sauce. Rich chocolate rum truffle cheesecake is a popular dessert.
This place offers excellent (and equitably sourced) coffee and invites you to take a minute to have a conversation while you wait for your slow-pour brew to flow through a colorful, custom-built wooden drip bar. Grab a pastry supplied by a variety of local bakers—if there are any left when you arrive.
Top-notch craft beer and plenty of food options make the 49th State Brewing Company a must when passing through Healy. Committed to using local ingredients whenever possible, the kitchen turns out plenty of Alaska-grown dishes, the keystones being the Alaskan-raised yak burger and pork ribs. More than ten in-house beers are on tap to go along with the outdoor beer garden. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are also available.
Hand-cut steak is the star in this refurbished early 1900s building, the place to come when you're craving red meat, a huge baked potato, or some fresh seafood. Exposed redbrick walls warm the dining rooms, and a long mahogany bar catches the overflow crowds that jam the restaurant on weekends.
Delicious artisan sandwiches, classic burgers, and signature items make 808 on Main a local favorite. The pupus, cocktails, and draft beers will make you wish the place was open later (10–3 pm). Check out its counterpart, 808 Deli in Kihei, for breakfast, paninis, and gourmet hot dogs.
Beachy yet upscale, this restaurant has an in-house beer sommelier who advises on the perfect pairing with your food choice, which can range from fresh catch, steak, burgers, and sandwiches to crab cakes and escargots. Many dishes incorporate Hawaiian touches. The sports bar offers a 24-tap digital beer tower and 10 TV screens. An innovative frost rail on the cocktail bar keeps your drinks cool. Patio seating outside offers additional dining options.
Smoke, coal, fire, and ash create a through line for the menu at a.kitchen, on the ground floor of the AKA Hotel. Attired in blond wood and Carrara marble, it looks like a spa in the Italian Alps, and its Rittenhouse address guarantees a scene, but chef Eli Collins has transformed it into a serious restaurant with an ace sommelier and a steak tartare that cannot be missed. The cocktail bar next door is also among the best in the city.
James Beard Award winner Suzanne Goin prepares innovative Mediterranean-inspired starters, shared plates, and entrées that pair nicely with her partner (and fellow James Beard Award winner) Caroline Styne's perfectly curated wine pairings. Try the Spanish fried chicken; wood-oven brioche with prosciutto, Gruyère cheese, and an egg; or arroz negro (black rice) with squid.
Defeating the cliché that restaurants in hotels can't be citywide draws, chef Francis Ang's longtime Pinoy Heritage pop-up is thriving at its permanent home within the Kimpton Alton Hotel. Ang's exciting contemporary Filipino cooking has gained rave reviews from national publications and well-deserved awards. The chic space has a slight tropical edge to it and includes a small patio at the front and a bar reserved for those who can't score a reservation.
If you want some of the freshest lobster, crab, mussels, or clams on the half shell (there are also nonseafood options), head down to this unassuming seaside lobster shack in sleepy Noank, a few miles southwest of Mystic. Most seating is outdoors or on the dock, where the views of Noank Harbor are magnificent.
