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| Blackbird |
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| The Slanted Door |
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| Vetri |
Do you have a hobby? Not likely. Who has the time?
When you're not working in your own restaurant—and you have the energy to go out—you go to another restaurant, right? Here's where the games begin. Nobody is more critical of restaurants than restaurant people themselves. You see every little thing that's wrong. It's maddening to you and it's maddening to the people who eat with you. You drive us crazy.
Shut up and eat, why don't you?
But then there are the all-too-few restaurants where you turn into a baby with a bottle. These restaurants aren't perfect, but they've got that certain something that makes you and everyone else happy to be alive. Maybe it's the excellent food. Perhaps it's the comfortable setting. It could be a wait staff that knows how to take care of you. If you're lucky, it's all of these things and more. Whatever the case, you're not focused on what's wrong at these places, you're enjoying the hell out of what's right, and what's right is worth every penny you're paying.
What follows on the next four pages are profiles of restaurants that do it right. No, they're not flawless; what restaurant is? But if they're in your town, you know you'll be happy going there over and over again. If they're in another town, it's the first place you head to when you visit.
We're not suggesting these are the only four places in the country that get it. What we are saying is that if there were more restaurants like these around, we might enjoy going out to dinner with you more often.
Bon Appetit!
