Everyone at this inviting space is warmly professional, including the eager, well-paced staff. Add in the mature, stylish crowd, architecturally detailed dining room—a hybrid between your grandmother’s home and an art gallery with its black-and-cream palette, leather seating and vintage chandeliers—and you’ll be counting down the days until your next visit.

Small but mighty, this kitchen under the guidance of Chef Teague Moriarty turns out a seasonal, ingredient-focused prix-fixe menu that consistently pleases with stylized dishes that always come with a touch of the unexpected. It's playful sophistication, as seen in the chilled melon soup with a horseradish cracker and sea urchin; grilled kusshi oysters with fermented broccoli and cheese espuma; or coal-roasted leeks with charred fennel cream and boiled peanuts. Simpler bites, think quail egg salad on toast or venison and charred avocado tostada, can often be the most fulfilling.

Deep red and juicy cherry-ice cream is a sublime dessert. But it is the combination with intensely moist pistachio cake, tart verjus granité, juniper foam and fresh cherries that showcases the technical prowess of this gifted kitchen.