Critics’ choice: Southern comforts far from home

Carriage House Chicago

The subtleties of great Southern cooking aren’t easily reproduced by pretenders, said Jeff Ruby in Chicago magazine. But chef Mark Steuer grew up catching and cooking the shrimp that swam beneath his family’s backyard dock in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, and the food he creates at his lively and loud Wicker Park hangout “doesn’t need to yell” to earn notice. Even simple nibbles “produce big flavors”—like the fried green tomatoes served with red peas and pickled shrimp, or the she-crab soup sourced from Charleston day-boat fishermen. When he strays from tradition, Steuer occasionally stumbles. But often he “elevates familiar flavors into something transcendent”—like the grits that are laced with mushrooms and grilled chicory and topped with truffle vinaigrette and a tangy cheese. Either way, he earns his license to experiment with his “impeccably crisp” fried chicken and other spot-on staples. Plan a night around his Lowcountry boil—a giant pot of tomatoey goodness brimming with head-on shrimp, clams, a “peppery” rabbit sausage, and corn and red potatoes. “I defy you to split it with friends and not emerge happier for it.” 1700 W. Division St., (773) 384-9700

The Hart and the Hunter Los Angeles

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This tiny operation inside an artsy West Hollywood hotel is the kind of place that’s often better at producing buzz than great food, said Besha Rodell in LA Weekly. But though the decor is “quirky farm-swank” and the staff too cool for school, much of the food rates as “on-the-nose Southern.” Co-chef Brian Dunsmoor studied under James Beard winner Hugh Acheson in Athens, Ga., so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the very best dishes that he and Kris Tominaga create combine “Southern roots and modern sensibilities.” In one brilliantly conceived salad, fried chicken livers are topped with “a glorious mound of arugula, radish, apple, and hazelnuts”; in another, shaved Brussels sprouts provide the bulk of a simple slaw “punctuated” with peanuts, aged cheddar, and bacon lardoons. But locals also need to come here if they’ve never tried a perfect lemon icebox pie or an authentic upscale take on shrimp and grits. And nowhere else in L.A. will you find a classic Southern biscuit—golden-crusted on the bottom and “flaky to the point of disintegration.” Each one is “a warming, buttery reminder that the universe still loves us.” 7950 Melrose Ave., (323) 424-3055

Estelle’s Boston

Plenty of native Southerners probably won’t even give this South End newcomer a chance, said James Reed in The Boston Globe. The greens are far too al dente for anyone who expects collards to be slow-cooked for hours, for instance, and the kitchen’s too inexperienced to avoid the occasional disaster—like grilled Gulf shrimp served parched and cold alongside a “bland” grit cake. But Estelle’s also “gets an awful lot right,” which is great news for anyone seeking “a taste of Southern comfort” without having to travel 500 miles or more. The hush puppies “are far tastier than they have any right to be,” and the catfish, served on a bed of red beans and rice, is “the most memorable I’ve had in Boston, soft and succulent with a little grit from its cornmeal crust.” 782 Tremont St., (857) 250-2999