The Finch’s charming location pulls at your heartstrings long before Chef Gabe McMackin’s outrageously good food warms your soul. Duck behind the bright blue façade, and things get even better: a warm staff welcomes you to a charming, rustic décor replete with wood-beamed ceilings and farmhouse chairs. At the heart of this expansive space, which sprawls out into a series of cozy nooks, is an open kitchen where the chef extraordinaire guides his team to excellence before an audience of diners seated at a Carrara marble counter. To say this welcoming spot is the ideal neighborhood haunt just doesn't do it justice, since McMackin’s dishes mix skill and personality. The food is well-executed, satisfying, and carefully sourced—from roasted, intensely flavored carrots with savory oat crumbs atop aji dulce sauce to juicy aged lamb loin braised with celeriac and prunes. Rutabaga soup with rosemary is at once creamy and earthy, while the wild nettle cavatelli, tossed with wild mushrooms and lemon rind, pops with vivid flavor. And, just as the dishes that preceded it, dessert is equally strong, especially that slice of corn cake topped with salty-sweet oats, resting in a pool of dulce de leche.