These restaurants know how to transport. Some bring the flavors of far-flung locales like the Caribbean and Indonesia; others welcome with homey dishes in nourishing settings. Here’s where to eat this winter.
Amba, Cleveland
A meal at Amba is a “feast for the senses, with low lighting, a lively soundtrack, and a menu built for sharing,” said Eater Chicago. The menu leans heavily on North Indian dishes, including local paneer with curry leaves and mustard seeds. But there’s wandering, too, as evidenced by Turkish fried eggs, wok-fried green beans with gai choy, and popcorn chicken with Thai basil.
Coquine, Portland, Oregon
“Coquine is the perfect little restaurant, unfailingly, 10 years running,” said Karen Brooks at Portland Monthly. The restaurant, with miraculous food from chef-owner Katy Millard, is somehow both precise and nonchalant. You could go all out with a five-course tasting menu, dine à la carte or pop next door to Katy Jane’s for a few rounds of oysters. Choosing your own adventure has never been more delicious.
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Fallow Kin, Cambridge, Massachusetts
This brand-new restaurant has strong connections to both local farms and the community, showcasing a zero-waste menu section and donating a portion of its food to neighborhood food insecurity programs. Vegetables, such as parsnips with pickled pear and miso, as well as potatoes with bonito-flavored mayonnaise and trout roe, are the centerpiece of the menu at Fallow Kin but not its sole offering.
Kabawa, New York City
The Caribbean gets short shrift in fine-dining restaurants across the U.S. That has been shifting over the last few years, and Kabawa is a luminous addition to the sea change. Chef Paul Carmichael is at the helm, and he island-hops for inspiration, snatching influences from countries including Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad for Kabawa’s prix-fixe menu.
Duck sausage is “jerked” with Jamaican spicings. A fillet of black bass is sauced with a Trinidad-evoking curry. In keeping with the Caribbean spirit, a meal at Kabawa can be a rambunctious good time. You need only clue the staff into your readiness to have a whole lot of fun.
Lem’s, Chicago
“Once you have tried Lem’s, you can’t help but develop a particular craving for it whenever you want barbecue,” said Chicago magazine. “Because nowhere else in town does it quite as well.” The city’s oldest Black-owned barbecue business, Lem’s specializes in rib tips and hot links. Who said you need to be in the South to eat good ’cue?
Mabel Gray, Detroit
Long live the longstanding! Restaurant culture, by its nature, is obsessed with newness. Mabel Gray celebrated 10 years in September of this year, and the restaurant is a “look into the creative minds of people who have seen the world,” said Danny Palumbo at Hour Detroit. The menu changes constantly; you can experience it a la carte or as part of a $92 tasting menu. Recent dishes include fluke with whole-grain-mustard beurre blanc, dirty rice arancini, and wilted spinach with smoky whipped tofu. Mabel Gray is always evolving, forever sublime.
Rice and Sambal, Philadelphia
Put yourself in the kitchen’s hands at Rice and Sambal, and you will experience the wide-ranging flavors of great Indonesian cooking. Come for brunch on Sundays to have an omelet with shallot, tomato and sweet soy sauce, or the coconut jam-slicked srikaya toast topped with, yes, chocolate sprinkles. For dinner, the menu is set, at either five courses on Thursdays and Fridays or the blowout Liwetan feast served in a communal bamboo basket only on Saturdays.
Zao Bakery and Cafe, St. Paul, Minnesota
When the weather is outstandingly sharp, you want a bowl of ripping-hot soup. Or you want a fluffy pastry. Or, you simply want it all. Zao Bakery and Cafe is “built for everyday moments and everyday meals,” said Justine Jones at Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine, a place to “slip in weekly for a stomach and soul-warming lunch, a sweet pastry pick-me-up or a weeknight dinner.” For that bowl-connected need, it might be congee with ginger chicken or beef noodle soup. And the pastry selections, including taro twists and matcha custard buns, are near endless.
