25 Best RESTAURANTS
Q House
City Park $$$
Of all the food I tasted during 600-some restaurant meals in 2019, chef Christopher Lin’s “lu rou fan”–inspired braised pork rice at year-old Q House was possibly the most craveable and comforting. The Momofuku alum is a whiz with rice (and carbs in general), transforming each grain into a perfectly tender—never mushy—morsel. Studded with pork belly and tangy pickled mustard greens, that dish draws me back to Q House again and again. With it sitting at the center of the table, the other items shown here illustrate how I’d round out meal 601.
“A lot of chefs look at fusion as smashing foods together, but Norman Van Aken [of Norman’s in Orlando, Florida] taught me to look at it as an organic melding of different flavors. Now I get to pull from all the favorite things I’ve seen and thought about over the 30 years I’ve been cooking.”
—Toby Prout
TAVERNETTA
LoDo $$$$
Top 5 Things to ♥ About Tavernetta’s Lounge
1 “Walk-ins only” means you can treat this high-end Italian restaurant’s bar area like a (very stylish) corner pub.
2 Go more than once, and the crackerjack service team will treat you like a regular.
3 A deep Italian wine list + Champagne + craft cocktails + amari you’ve never heard of = A+ bar menu
4 The people-watching from the tables between the fireplace and the train platform is unbeatable.
You can crush #dinnergoals during the daily happy hour (3 to 6 p.m.), when a Negroni, a plate of “pierno” (crispy little grilled Montasio cheese and prosciutto cotto sandwiches), and a drippy, three-scoop tower of seasonal gelato
