Critics’ choice: Restaurants that stand the test of time

last updated 8 January 2015

Petit Syrah

Santa Rosa, Calif.

In the restaurant business, you either remain nimble or face extinction, said Michael Bauer in the San Francisco Chronicle. After 12 years of doing the same thing, chef Josh Silvers decided it was time to rip up his standard bistro and renovate his space to emphasize its open kitchen. One might not always agree with the combinations that are offered on Petit Syrah’s new, small-plates menu, but they are well thought out, and “the kitchen’s skill and execution are flawless.” The cherry tomatoes in a dish of mussels arrive peeled, with the mussels pulled from the shell. It’s a practice you see in much pricier restaurants. The simple fingerling potatoes are roasted, slightly smashed, and finally given a quick dip in the deep fryer, for a result that is both “creamy and crisp.” Preserved grapefruit adds a nice citrus twist to seared sea bass. Combining such flare with the ministrations of a well-versed staff, Petit Syrah is not only “reinvented; it’s improved.” 205 5th St., (707) 568-4002

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Seventeen years after its opening, Gotham Bar and Grill feels today like a celebration of “stability and excellence, perhaps even opulence,” said Sam Sifton in The New York Times. Part of the reason this top-rated restaurant has such staying power in a city that obsesses over the new is the work of chef Alfred Portale. He commands a kitchen that is “committed to innovation even as it celebrates the past.” Gotham Bar’s weathered dining room is elegant and expansive, with fabric chandeliers and a soaring ceiling, but the fare can be as innovative as any you’d find in much hipper Brooklyn. An example of a dish that sings is a tomato-flecked shrimp risotto appetizer studded with hefty cubes of bacon and strands of wild arugula. “The combination tastes absolutely of now.” The next course might be Thai-spiced Maine lobster, or free-range chicken dusted with Vadouvan, a French curry powder. Each plumbs one or another of the diverse larders of America, yet remains “elaborately true to itself.” 12 E. 12th St., (212) 620-4020

When it opened 10 years ago, Wink was a “trendsetter in the locavore movement,” said Mike Sutter in The Austin American-Statesman. Many others have since embraced the concept, creating restaurants that are flashier and chefs of greater fame. But a recent five-course dinner-and-wine pairing here was “among my most memorable in Austin.” The dishes are based on what’s available that day. Raw hamachi with grapefruit is paired with Bassermann-Jordan Riesling from Germany, a perfect combination of fruit with fruit. Seared scallop with zucchini and orange puree comes with Pionero Maccerato albariño from Spain, a harmonious union of shellfish, citrus, and “honeyed acidity.” Seared duck breast on creamy celeriac with caramelized fennel is a house specialty. And these are just some of the fruits of a three-hour tour with a true pioneer. 1014 N. Lamar Blvd., (512) 482-8868