(Fink says that, on average, his chefs lose fifteen pounds during their first weeks in front of the grill.) With heat reaching 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, inches and seconds matter. It springs forth from a twenty-foot, white-oak-fed hearth adorned with medieval-looking levers manned by drawn-looking chefs. Kevin SintumuangĪmong the glass towers of Austin’s downtown, fire in all its Promethean and primal glory is on display at Kevin Fink’s Hestia. Because sometimes that escape is closer than you think. When you’re ready, get out there and support these places, those on our previous years’ lists, and any of your local favorites. ![]() And we hope you’ll be able to take some of these culinary, cultural journeys as well. The experiential miles we logged will last us a very long time (or at least until we start reporting next year’s Best New Restaurants list). To Macau via pork chop to the graciousness of a Wisconsin supper club when your martini glass is refreshed with a frosted one to central Texas and the Black South through brisket to a Scandinavian grandmother’s kitchen by way of an apple-pie crust ladened with lard to a precolonized America via the sweet, nutty flavors of hand-harvested wild rice. To the past and the future-and sometimes both at once. Eating at the very best restaurants is like winning a ticket to another place, another time. Perhaps most significant: We found ourselves digging into comfort, sure, but we also leaned into the unfamiliar. Why? Because New York is undeniably back in a big way. And you’ll see that there’s more New York representation than in previous years. In the hands of the right team, they can still be a sublime, luxe experience rather than the pricey, interminable drag they oftentimes veer into. Sunflower bread and butter at Eleven Madison Park, New York.) We even fell back in love with multicourse tasting menus at Chicago’s Ever and Houston’s March. Mushroom, corn truffle, and potato at Oyster Oyster, Washington, D. C. (Here’s a mini list, the most transcendent vegan options of the year: 1. ![]() We couldn’t stop talking about delicious, nonpreachy vegan meals that would make even the most ardent meat eater crave vegetables. ![]() The char called to us whether it graced the elote from a Sonoran grill at Bacanora in Phoenix, the ends of gyro meat at Andros Taverna in Chicago, or the dry-aged Wagyu at Austin’s Hestia. Join Esquire Select.Īs we ate around America, we were drawn to food made with raw, elemental fire and charcoal-it’s never gone out of style, after all these millennia. Get unlimited access to Esquire's Food & Drinks coverage. Together and separately, we traveled thousands of miles and dined at hundreds of restaurants to deliver a list nearly twice as large as last year’s. So, to shine a spotlight on a larger number of our favorite new places this year, we enlisted not one, not two, but four people to eat around the country: seasoned food writers Omar Mamoon and Joshua David Stein, our former food and drink editor Jeff Gordinier, and yours truly. ![]() This is all to say that in these not normal times, we need both the normalcy and the escape of restaurants now more than ever.Īnd we want to support an industry that still needs it. The transportive power of food, the soul-stirring nature of hospitality-real things, too. And in a year when you couldn’t stand to look at your Instant Pot anymore and had to delay that vacation to Paris, when you craved something more than travel shows and takeout, the most satisfying way to feed the need for a journey was to go to a restaurant, feel taken care of, and try at least one thing from the menu that you’d never had before.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |