What the experts recommend: The best of the West

Bistro LQ

Los Angeles

Fusing his French roots with Los Angeles style, chef Laurent Quenioux’s new restaurant showcases the “possibilities that both his adopted city and his own heritage present,” said Patric Kuh in Los Angeles. These influences are evident in the dining room at this new Fairfax District spot, where fine silverware shimmers alongside a “consciously hip” wait staff dressed all in black and wearing red Converse sneakers. They also serve as a unifying thread for a menu that “searches for junctures where one

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culture can amplify another on the plate.” In the Pen Cove mussels, for instance, huitlacoche—a naturally fermented corn often used in Mexican dishes—adds the perfect amount of smokiness. The boar shank is served sope style, with disks of corn flour acting as a much-needed mop for the addictive guajillo chili–studded sauce—a combination that would send Quenioux’s French ancestors “reeling into the mists of history.” Occasionally, the chef can be a bit too ambitious: A dish of sautéed salmon, pasilla chilies, eggplant pudding, and crystallized ginger “is all over the place.” Chopping off a third of the menu would help eliminate many of its wrongs. Until then, trust Quenioux’s French sensibilities—stick to the menu’s more traditional items. 8009 Beverly Blvd., (323) 951-1088

Gather

Berkeley, Calif.

“In the Bay Area, most restaurants accommodate vegetarians, but few embrace them like Gather,” said Michael Bauer in the San Francisco Chronicle. There’s certainly some meat on the menu at this 148-seat restaurant, located in a building that houses environmental and social-action nonprofit organizations. But that’s just because the menu is designed to be welcoming to all sorts of eaters, with superb braised dishes dancing side by side with a hefty lineup of vegan and gluten-free offerings. “It feels as if the Age of Aquarius has finally come to food.” All the restaurant’s sources are politically and culinarily correct, and most are local. On the meat side, slow-cooked pork comes atop fresh-milled polenta, with a beautiful mound of braised chard and a sprinkle of toasted bread crumbs. On the veggie side, a variety of pies includes one with potatoes, blue cheese, and thyme, and a vegan version with “chopped olives, herbs, and cashew purée standing in for the cheese.” Their perfect bread-like crusts are just as scrumptious as the fillings. 2200 Oxford St., (510) 809-0400

John Howie Steak

Bellevue, Wash.

Of all the big-name restaurants to open near Seattle in recent years, this steakhouse is “the place to be seen,” said Lorna Yee in Seattle. Chef/owner John Howie clearly understands his “ultra-high-end” clientele. He has designed a space that draws everyone from Microsoft schmoozers to upmarket female shoppers, and fashioned a menu full of dishes that are “recognizable, with a twist.” The multitiered steak menu includes a 42-day-aged rib-eye and a 28-day USDA prime—both cooked over a mesquite grill—as well as Japanese Wagyu. Creamy potatoes come studded with succulent lobster chunks, while wilted-spinach salad is complemented by crispy bacon and a poached egg. John Howie Steak is also the only restaurant in the Seattle area with wine lockers for rent that hook up to an “Enomatic wine-preservation system”—keeping opened bottles fresh for 28 days. 11111 NE Eighth St., (425) 440-0880