Restaurants
Eat > Restaurant Guide
Words by Tony Ware
Atlanta, Alexandria, Miami, New Orleans and Washington, DC, offer some of the country’s best dining.
Top Eat > Atlanta
| Les Fleurs de Lis Café $$ |
57 Forsyth St, Suite R-8, Downtown | 404-230-9151 Casual/Smart Casual | French Bistro
This vibrant spot in the base of the historic Healey Building is fl ush with lively yet laidback Left Bank character, and characters. A sense of community has already been forged between these cozy walls painted claret and tawny, against leather, lace and linen. The patinas feel older than their mere months of age— perhaps that is because chef Lenny Robinson had plenty of years plating unpretentious Provençal at Buckhead’s comfy Anis. Robinson also explored Mediterranean flourishes in a laissez-faire atmosphere at Mosaic.
All that experience translates into pleasures such as house-made pâté of the day or any number of simple yet scintillating entrées. Breezy but not flighty, Les Fleurs de Lis Café is charmingly eccentric.
| Pozole $ |
1044 Greenwood Ave, Virginia-Highland 404-892-0552 Funky Casual | Nuevo Latino
Like a shot of tequila, this mini-cantina packs a punch with just one concentrated dose. One room of darkly lacquered wood and blue walls lined with liquor bottles sits next to a welcoming, sunny porch. Attentive servers circulate throughout the concise space, intent on beating the humidity by keeping every idle hand wrapped around a bracing margarita served on shaved ice. The cuisine, meanwhile, celebrates chili infusions in such dishes as hominy stew, slow-cooked pork or lobster in corn tortillas, mussels in tequila and tomatillo broth, and ribs in mole.
| Redfish $$ |
687 Memorial Dr, Cabbagetown 404-475-1200 Funky Casual | Cajun/Creole
A joint venture between esteemed restaurateurs Jack Sobel (of Agave) and Gregg Herndon (formerly of Morningside’s Tiburon Grille), Redfi sh does for Creole cuisine what Agave did for Southwestern: offers sophistication that’s still neighborhood friendly. The roux in either gumbo or étouffée is kept deep without spiraling into overly spicy—anyone who doesn’t sample it will rue the day. Complex food and a simple concept, Redfi sh makes crafting Big Easy fare seem, well, easy.
| Taurus $$$ |
1745 Peachtree Rd, Brookwood 404-214-0641 Smart Casual | New American Chophouse
With a decade-long reputation for delivering approachable Northern Californian New American cuisine, the Taurus in question, chef/owner Gary Mennie, offers a meaty menu in sultry surroundings. Daily wood roast specials and cleanly plated savory sides showcase Mennie’s most bullish strengths in no-bull presentations. Situated above a shopping plaza in a swanky second-fl oor nesting of concentric booths and banquettes, Taurus’ unencumbered fl avors of silky desserts and a skyline patio make a killer combo.
Top Eats > USA
Alexandria, VA
| Le Colonial $$-$$$$ |
110 S Pitt St | 703-706-0450 Smart Casual/Dressy | Modern American
Located within an unassuming Federal brick townhouse in Old Town Alexandria, Restaurant Eve offers a choice of dining for every occasion and price range. Featuring an inviting bar with imaginative culinary cocktails (house-made down to the tonic water), a honeyed bistro and a perpetually booked-in-advance fi ve- or nine-course tasting room, this stylish lair manages to offer split personalities without any loss of focus. The surprisingly airy surroundings, hollowed from the narrows of a gutted warehouse, are mightily cozy, while the seasonal cuisine is an earthy, heady luxury.
Miami
| Michy’s $$$ |
6927 Biscayne Blvd 305-759-2001 Funky Casual/Smart Casual Nuevo American
Thoroughly cosmopolitan yet a little retro-contemporary, Michy’s is a fl irty, family-run bistro in Miami’s revitalized Upper East Side neighborhood. An informal, breezy dining room is glossy and vibrant, yet takes nothing away from the star attraction: the Mediterranean-fl ecked New Floridian cuisine of Miami’s star chef and native daughter, Michelle Bernstein. Offering dishes in half or full portions, as well as a raw bar, Michy’s is a social establishment featuring harmonious pairings that seat bright fl avors with commanding textures.
Washington, DC
| Ceiba $$$ |
701 14th St NW 202-393-3983 | Funky Casual/Smart Casual Latin American
Ceiba (pronounced SAY-bah) joins the establishments DC Coast, TenPenh and Acadiana within the portfolio of restaurateurs Jeff Tunks, Gus DiMillo and David Wizenberg. And like its sister restaurants, Ceiba has a professional yet mercurial character—in this instance, the focus is on cuisine from Central and South America. The multi-level dining room draws elements from the Yucatan and Brazil, as does the dramatic menu—tropical sizzle runs through a tour of ceviche to caipirinhas to zesty herbal entrées and other lusty Latin flavors.
New Orleans
| Luma on Park $$$$ |
301 Tchoupitoulas St | 504-299-9777 Dressy | French Contemporary
A gilded treasure located in a central Business District restoration, Restaurant August sits appropriately in Creole-French architecture, kept elegant but updated. The same could be said of chef John Besh’s James Beard Foundation award-winning technique that is both artfully composed and elemental. Whether settled in one of the more stylized or more streamlined rooms, patrons can luxuriate in aromatic dishes presented in guises that reveal a full range of flavors.