What is “fine dining?” It’s not just good food, though any fine dining establishment worth mentioning certainly has that. But good food can also be obtained from a food truck, a diner, a strip mall spot, an Asian-style food stall center, a Mexican cantina, or a pizzeria.
Fine dining suggests something more — not just skillfully produced dishes but an environment of handsome décor, excellent service, well-chosen wines and/or well-made cocktails, and usually fare that is more complex and sophisticated than that found at more casual venues, or that is elegant in its simplicity and based on raw materials that most of us can’t source for ourselves. Fine dining, in other words, is a unique experience.
It is also often said, these days, to be a phenomenon that has outlived its time, a kind of eating that no longer speaks to today’s diners, to a clientele that seems reluctant to dress up for a special occasion and loath to spend hours at a restaurant table, no matter how delicious the food might be. Oh, and who no longer want (or are able) to pay hundreds of dollars per person just to eat out.
COVID-19 killed fine dining restaurants all over America, some of which had survived for generations but went out of business when the pandemic shut them down for too long (like L.A.’s Pacific Dining Car or the “21” Club in Manhattan). Others changed their ways, beginning to serve simpler food, less expensive, less demanding.
Fine dining, though, hasn’t gone away, and may never disappear entirely. Examples still abound around the country, especially in food capitals like New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, but everywhere else, too. In order to compile a list of the best fine dining restaurants in every state, 24/7 Tempo consulted reviews and ratings on scores of city, regional, and state websites, extrapolating a shortlist of establishments that fit the fine-dining bill, then using editorial discretion to make a final choice.
You’ll find a variety of restaurant types on this list — French places, steakhouses, sushi bars, and more. A number of them serve American (or modern American) food, and if steak shows up again and again, that’s because in many parts of the country, the ultimate dining experience involves red meat — though steakhouses also serve seafood and other choices.
Note that many of these restaurants offer only one or more fixed-price menus, and that none of them are cheap. In several cases, in fact (as at the superlative Le Bernardin in New York City or the groundbreaking n/naka in Los Angeles), you could easily spend $300 or $400 per person, even with just a glass or two of modest wine.
Other places here, though, offer à la carte menus and are considerably less expensive — though all of them, whatever their style and whatever the context, will offer a memorable evening. (If seafood is what you’re mostly interested in, consider one of the best seafood restaurants in each state.)
Alabama: Cotton Row Restaurant
- Location: Huntsville
- Cuisine: American/Southern
Chef James Boyce, who made his reputation out West in Arizona, Nevada, and California, now heads up his own restaurant group in the Huntsville area, with this establishment as his flagship. In the rustic-elegant dining room, he serves up Southern-influenced dishes like cornmeal-crusted Apalachicola oysters, hot honey Ora king salmon with comeback sauce, and a warm skillet apple tart with Bourbon butter pecan ice cream.
Alaska: Seven Glaciers Restaurant
- Location: Girdwood
- Cuisine: Modern American
The stunningly situated dining room at the Alyseka Resort, southeast of Anchorage, offers views of, yes, seven glaciers, as well as four-course fixed-price dinners, après-ski snacks, and an award-winning wine list. Among the menu choices are scallop bisque with paddlefish caviar, halibut with polenta, and “fallen forest” — an elaborate dessert involving a chocolate almond tuile, caramel, macadamia nuts, and chocolate mousse.
Arizona: Vincent on Camelback
- Location: Phoenix
- Cuisine: American/French
Veteran French-born chef Vincent Guerithault has long been one of the most honored culinary figures in the Southwest, and at his handsome eponymous restaurant he brings a Gallic refinement to dishes both regionally inspired (Anaheim chile stuffed with wild mushrooms, lobster, and goat cheese) and French (duck confit with pommes lyonnaise).
Arkansas: Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse
- Location: Little Rock
- Cuisine: American/Steak
The menu at this clubby-looking restaurant features three varieties of premium beef — USDA prime, dry-aged for 28 days in-house; Australian-raised wagyu; and rare (and pricey) certified Japanese Kobe. Everything from prime New York strip to priced-by-the-ounce Kobe is offered. There’s also a full range of steakhouse appetizers and side dishes, as well as more than half a dozen seafood choices.
California: n/naka
- Location: Los Angeles
- Cuisine: Japanese/sushi
Chef Niki Nakayama has earned a well-deserved two Michelin stars for her innovative variations on traditional kaiseki menus, using organic produce from the restaurant’s own garden and meats and seafood from both Japan and California. The fixed-price menu changes often, but past dishes have included spaghetti with abalone, pickled cod roe, and truffles; soft shell crab with coriander lime sauce; and A5 Miyazaki wagyu with roasted artichokes and English peas — as well as prime examples of traditional sushi and sashimi.
Colorado: Mizuna
- Location: Denver
- Cuisine: American
Its name might refer to Japanese mustard greens, but this warmly furnished neighborhood treasure, overseen by noted local chef Frank Bonanno, proposes an American menu with an occasional nod to Italy or France (cacio e pepe risotto, seared diver scallops with pommes gaufrettes), and with Japan referenced only with a few ingredients, like yuzu, shishito peppers, and A5 Japanese wagyu.
Connecticut: Materia Ristorante
- Location: Bantam
- Cuisine: Italian
Bringing Italy to rural Litchfield County with this romantic spot, chef David DiStasi and his team ignore the usual Italian-restaurant clichés. Instead, they offer such things as grilled salt cod with chickpeas and ‘nduja sauce; risotto with broccoli rabe, sea urchin, and black garlic; and roasted halibut with stuffed black kale.
Delaware: Eden
- Location: Rehoboth Beach
- Cuisine: American
The affluent community of Rehoboth Beach draws visitors not only from its home state but from Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (the Biden family maintains a summer home there), so it’s not surprising that it has its share of good eating places. This particular one, with its white tablecloths and drapery-framed booths, is one of the more elegant, and its far-ranging, sometimes witty menu works changes on familiar dishes. Sample dishes: curried shrimp toast, beef Wellington egg rolls, slow-roasted chicken breast with chorizo-mushroom bread pudding, and limoncello olive oil cake with blackberry sauce.
Florida: Norman’s
- Location: Orlando
- Cuisine: Modern American/regional
Chef Norman Van Aken virtually invented so-called “New World Cuisine,” a vivid, vibrant melding of Southern, Caribbean, and Latin American flavors, resulting in such creations here as Cape Canaveral rock shrimp ceviche with plantain crisps, jerk pasture-raised chicken with farro, and Berkshire pork porterhouse chop with black barbacoa glaze and a spiced corn cake. The opulently furnished dining room is the perfect setting for enjoying Van Aken’s fare.
Georgia: Mujō
- Location: Atlanta
- Cuisine: Japanese/sushi
“Our goal is not to recreate the sushiya [sushi restaurants] of Japan,” according to the Mujō website, “but to create an experience that represents who and where we are, while respecting and honoring the traditions of Edomae sushi.” The result is one of the most elegant and innovative Japanese restaurants in the country, although the executive chef, J. Trent Harris, is an American. His daily-changing omakase menu, including seafood air-freighted from Japan, has won the place one of Atlanta’s five Michelin stars.
Hawaii: La Mer
- Location: Honolulu
- Cuisine: French
Expect sophisticated French cuisine, involving plenty of Hawaiian-sourced ingredients, in a gorgeous Polynesian setting at this upscale dining room in the Halekulani Hotel. Sample fare: kampachi tartare with sea urchin roe and coconut milk sauce, roast duck filled with glazed turnip, and honey crème fraîche semifreddo with seasonal citrus confit. Generous (and expensive) servings of caviar are also offered, and the fixed-price menus include one based only on vegetables.
Idaho: Chandler’s Prime Steaks & Seafood
- Location: Boise
- Cuisine: Steak/seafood
This establishment, one of Boise’s fanciest eating places, gets fresh seafood flown in from Alaska and Hawaii and serves more than a dozen steaks, including examples of Midwestern corn-fed beef as well as wagyu from the U.S., Australia, and Japan. A prix-fixe three-course dinner, including soup or salad, dessert, and a choice of five (non-steak) main dishes is a steal at $55.
Illinois: Alinea
- Location: Chicago
- Cuisine: Modernist
Garlanded with three Michelin stars, regularly listed in the top 50 on the World’s Best Restaurants list, and once hailed as the best restaurant in America by Gourmet, chef Grant Achatz’s flagship has been pleasing and surprising diners for almost 20 years. Inspired by a stage at the groundbreaking elBulli in Catalonia, Achatz has been the foremost apostle of modernist cooking (often mistakenly described “molecular gastronomy”), which involves reimagining the forms of various dishes and combining ingredients in imaginative ways.
Indiana: Vida
- Location: Indianapolis
- Cuisine: Modern American
Both a seasonally changing à la carte menu and a six-course tasting feast are offered at this stylish restaurant featuring contemporary American cooking. Among the recent offerings are seared foie gras with pear mostarda and walnut-sunflower crumble, red snapper with morels and green chickpeas, and Cervena venison striploin with celeriac and grilled radicchio.
Iowa: Splash Seafood Bar & Grill
- Location: Des Moines
- Cuisine: Seafood
The seafood and the food idioms of the far-off Florida Keys were the inspiration at this restaurant brightened by vivid abstract murals and nine saltwater aquariums stocked with tropical fish. Indeed, founder Bruce Gerleman flies fish in from Key Largo, as well as from Boston, Honolulu, and Seattle, and his chefs fashion it into such dishes as lobster wontons, ahi poke tuna tacos, and sake-grilled giant shrimp with mashed sweet potatoes. If you’re not in a piscatorial mood, there are also a couple of steaks, and a Havana-style double pork chop.
Kansas: Newport Grill
- Location: Wichita
- Cuisine: Seafood
It’s not exactly the Rhode Island (or Southern California) coast, both of which have a Newport, but there’s a refreshing view of the water feature at the Bradley Fair shopping center just out the windows at this coolly attractive restaurant, where the menu leans heavily towards fish and shellfish, but also offers a hearty pork chop and three different steaks. Both East and West Coast oysters, Belgian mussels with pommes frites, Pacific swordfish with pickled ginger, and Georges bay scallops with Brussels sprouts and bacon are sample dishes.
Kentucky: Rodney’s on Broadway
- Location: Georgetown
- Cuisine: American/steak
The decor is elegant but understated at chef Rodney Jones’s restaurant, housed in an historic brick mansion in this town just north of Lexington, and the food is old-school but up-to-date in freshness and presentation. If you like iceberg wedge salad, baked artichoke dip, glazed cedar-plank salmon, and USDA prime steaks (and boneless short ribs), this is definitely your kind of place.
Louisiana: Galatoire’s
- Location: New Orleans
- Cuisine: Creole
Founded by Frenchman Jean Galatoire in 1905, this legendary Bourbon Street institution upholds the highest standards of French-accented Creole cuisine. Among the specialties are fried oysters en brochette, duck and andouille gumbo, crab-and-shrimp-stuffed eggplant, and sweet potato cheesecake with banana praline sauce (there are also excellent steaks). The dining room is bright and always buzzing, and the service is just right.
Maine: The Lost Kitchen
- Location: Freedom
- Cuisine: American regional
The uniqueness of this restaurant (with a shop and cabins attached) in a tiny town inland from Belfast, ME, begins with the reservation process: Aspiring diners send a 4″ x 6″ postcard to the place with their contact information; then, if they’re chosen (at random) from the collection of cards, they’ll get a call to discuss date and party size. Is it worth the trouble? Those who have visited this idyllic rural retreat say yes, for owner-chef Erin French’s fixed-price menus based on locally raised or foraged ingredients. Among past dishes have been toasted corn and sweet onion soup with lobster, tomato, and basil, and organic Maine tenderloin with wild ramp butter, creamy polenta, asparagus and olives, and fava leaves and blossoms.
Maryland: Q by Peter Chang
- Location: Bethesda
- Cuisine: Chinese
Perhaps the Chinese chef with the highest name recognition in America, Peter Chang has more than a dozen restaurants in Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington D.C., but his chic, contemporary-looking 8,000-square-foot place is his crowning achievement. Chang classics like scallion bubble pancakes and cumin lamb chops are on offer, along with pork rib and lotus soup, fish boiled in chili oil, braised lobster with jade noodle, and soy-braised lamb shank — and the Peking duck is as good as it gets. The menu implores diners to “embark on a grand culinary adventure,” and Q is just the place to do it.
Massachusetts: o ya
- Location: Boston
- Cuisine: Japanese/sushi
Tim Cushman creates omakase menus unlike any others at this warmly, simply furnished Boston institution, honoring Japanese traditions but working his own variations on them and introducing ingredients that might not be found in classic sushi restaurants. One recent 20-plus course menu, for instance, included a house-made fingerling potato chip with truffle aïoli, wild spot prawn with tamarind and habanero chile, hamachi (amberjack) with Vietnamese mignonette and Thai basil, and bluefin toro tartare with smoked trout roe.
Michigan: London Chop House
- Location: Detroit
- Cuisine: Steak/seafood
Opened in 1938, the Chop House was considered Detroit’s premier restaurant for decades, often compared to New York’s legendary “21” Club. It closed in 1991, but then reopened in 2012 and is going strong today, with an atmosphere of comfortable old-style glamour and a menu that does a fine job with dishes like oysters Rockefeller, crab bisque, and braised short ribs; offers seven USDA prime or wagyu steaks; and serves upscale seafood preparations such as sautéed loup de mer with scallops and butter-poached South African lobster tail.
Minnesota: Kaiseki Furukawa
- Location: Minneapolis
- Cuisine: Japanese/kaiseki
In his clean-lined second-story dining room, chef and co-owner Shigeyuki Furukawa prepares refined kaiseki menus, reflecting the season and following traditional concepts of alternating tastes and textures. Ingredients, used in different ways, might include such things as cauliflower tofu, Toyama firefly squid, Spanish mackerel, Manila clams, cherry leaf, and marinated shiitakes.
Mississippi: Thirty-Two
- Location: Biloxi
- Cuisine: Steak/seafood
Catering to high rollers — and ordinary food-lovers — at this Gulf Coast city’s IP Casino Resort Spa, Thirty-Two serves everything from a chef’s Southern board (including pimento cheese, black-eyed pea hummus, Crystal Hot Sauce deviled eggs, and sugarcane slaw, among other things) and locally farmed French Hermit oysters on the half shell to Gulf shrimp Scarpariello and, for particularly hungry diners who’ve just hit the jackpot, a 50-ounce USDA prime tomahawk rib chop.
Missouri: Pierpont’s at Union Station
- Location: Kansas City
- Cuisine: American
In this historic 1914-vintage train depot, seafood towers and appetizers like Buffalo cauliflower and hand-cut steak tartare lead into main courses like pan-seared Baja sea bass with forbidden rice, roasted pheasant with tomato-chickpea stew, and coffee- and ancho-chile-rubbed Kansas City strip steak — and don’t forget the white chocolate bread pudding with maple-infused cream cheese.
Montana: Buffalo Block Prime Steakhouse
- Location: Billings
- Cuisine: American/steak
It’s mostly about the steak at this smartly Western-themed restaurant — USDA prime meat, either wet-aged for 30 days or dry-aged for 40, then wood-grilled. Among the unusual first courses are buffalo tenderloin carpaccio and a wild game sampler that includes rattlesnake and rabbit sausage and a petite elk filet, and there is also a bit of seafood, a double pork chop, a roast chicken, and even a burger made with a house blend of filet and bacon.
Nebraska: Boiler Room Restaurant
- Location: Omaha
- Cuisine: American
Omaha’s own Tim Nicholson draws on local farms and other food purveyors to produce dishes like casoncelli pasta with braised bison short rib filling and local mushroom cream, La Belle Farm duck breast with carrot purée and couscous, and Morgan Ranch wagyu sirloin steak with golden beet purée and wild rice. The restaurant was formerly the boiler room at the 120-year-old Bemis Bag Building, and the memorable interior maintains time-worn industrial girders, columns, ceilings, and other features — including windows looking down into the lower-level kitchen.
Nevada: Guy Savoy
- Location: Las Vegas
- Cuisine: French
The eponymous chef behind this super-elegant Las Vegas restaurant at Caesars Palace is best known for his nonpareil Michelin three-star establishment in Paris, but the cooking here is every bit as good and Savoy classics on the menu include his celebrated artichoke and black truffle soup with mushroom brioche, salmon with osetra caviar and beurre blanc, and milk-fed veal chop with sweetbreads and salsify.
New Hampshire: Ristorante Massimo
- Location: Portsmouth
- Cuisine: Italian
Dubbed the most romantic restaurant in the state, this establishment, founded 30 years ago by Lazio native Massimo Morgia, offers dishes from around Italy, some of them rarely found (grilled octopus with Calabrian chile, crispy ‘nduja and pecorino arancini) and some of them perfect versions of classics like bucatini all’amatriciana, pappardelle bolognese, and Lazio-style porchetta. For those looking for a less formal experience and a slightly more casual menu, there’s also Upstairs at Massimo’s, featuring what Massimo calls “lighter fare with a more vibrant atmosphere.”
New Jersey: Faubourg
- Location: Montclair
- Cuisine: French/American
A two-level, indoor-outdoor restaurant with a high-end brasserie feel, opened by restaurateur Dominique Paulin and chef Olivier Muller, Faubourg serves classic regional dishes like tarte flambée from Alsace and panisses (chickpea pancakes) from the Riviera; contemporary American fare along the lines of tuna tartare with lime and cucumbers and grilled shrimp with almonds and Cara Cara oranges; a few pasta dishes; and a classic coq au vin — as well as simply grilled steaks, including A5 Miyazaki wagyu from Japan.
New Mexico: Geronimo
- Location: Santa Fe
- Cuisine: American
White tablecloths, rich brown booths, billowing curtains, a New Mexico-style fireplace, and horse paintings on the walls of this former residence built in 1765 set the scene for chef Sllin Cruz’s “global eclectic” food — a term encompassing everything from wasabi Caesar salad and Vermont quail with foie gras to sweet chile- and honey-grilled Mexican white prawns and Tellicherry-pepper-rubbed elk tenderloin.
New York: Le Bernardin
- Location: New York City
- Cuisine: French/seafood
If you’d like to know what dining in a Michelin three-star restaurant in France is like but want to save on the airfare, this elegant seafood-centered French restaurant can match anything on the far side of the Atlantic for the understated beauty of its interior, the unobtrusive perfection of its service, its knockout wine list, and above all the flawless cuisine of longtime chef and co-owner Eric Ripert. Seared langoustine with foie gras-cabbage confit, Tasmanian sea trout “gravlax,” and pan-roasted Dover sole with green olives, toasted almonds, and aged sherry wine reduction are just a few of the extraordinary dishes that might be offered.
North Carolina: The Fearrington House Restaurant
- Location: Pittsboro
- Cuisine: American/European
The tasting menus at this sumptuously appointed establishment, part of the Fearrington Village hotel, retail, and residential development outside Chapel Hill, offer chef Paul Gagne’s sophisticated creations, like poached shrimp with coconut custard and lotus root, seared Rohan duck breast with sunchokes and hibiscus, and wild boar volcano shank with blue hominy grits. There is no finer upscale dining experience in this part of the state.
North Dakota: Harry’s Steakhouse
- Location: Grand Forks
- Cuisine: American/steak
A classic 1940s-style steakhouse, Harry’s is named for a restaurant and later a liquor store that once stood on the site, run by “Happy Harry” Gershman, father of Hal Gershman, owner of today’s steakhouse. If you’re in the mood for onion rings, shrimp cocktail, creamed spinach, hash browns with blue cheese and applewood-smoked bacon, and the like, this is your kind of place — and that’s not to mention the aged 1881 Hereford steaks or the old-favorite entrées like beef stroganoff, chicken Marsala, and lobster Newburg.
Ohio: The Refectory
- Location: Columbus
- Cuisine: French/modern American
A class act in Columbus for almost 50 years, The Refectory features the finely crafted cuisine of longtime chef Richard Blondin, from Lyon. His menu ranges from a French country terrine and green asparagus velvet soup to Atlantic striped bass and Louisiana crawfish tart and New Zealand lamb chops crusted in herbes de Provence. The Belgian chocolate and mocha mousse is considered an essential dessert.
Oklahoma: Fait Maison
- Location: Edmond
- Cuisine: French
Casual visitors might think of Edmond, just outside Oklahoma City, as being mostly steakhouse and diner territory, but this decidedly upscale, unapologetically French establishment will certainly enlighten them. With both a prix fixe and an à la carte menu, the choices might include classic French onion soup with baguette croutons and Comté cheese, escargots baked in the shell with garlic and parsley butter, Maine lobster with the tail cooked in champagne and the claws in a creamy tarragon bisque, and milk-fed piglet with sauce diable.
Oregon: Andina
- Location: Portland
- Cuisine: Peruvian
Peruvians are known as some of the best cooks in South America, and this good-looking restaurant, decorated with artifacts from Peru, showcases polished interpretations of some of the country’s best dishes — for instance, humitas, a kind of fresh corn tamale filled with queso fresco; causa de camarones, a potato timbale with shrimp salad; arroz con mariscos, a kind of Peruvian seafood paella; and lomo saltado, stir-fried prime sirloin wit tomatoes, onions, and fried potatoes.
Pennsylvania: Vetri Cucina
- Location: Philadelphia
- Cuisine: Italian
In his little jewelbox of a restaurant, chef Marc Vetri has spent the last quarter-century serving diners Italian fare that is both authentic and unusual, both rustic and urbane. Two different multi-course menus are offered, featuring dishes such as smoked lamb carpaccio with favas and mint, sweet onion crêpe with truffle and parmesan fonduta, sorpresine pasta with mussels and spring onions, and grilled black bass with citrus, olives, and basil.
Rhode Island: Coast
- Location: Watch Hill
- Cuisine: Modern American
The formal dining room at the luxurious Ocean House hotel, Coast serves a nightly fixed-price menu (plus a vegetarian variation) from a dining room overlooking the sea. Sample items: fluke tartare with Sicilian pistachio and cherry jus, Dover sole with baby squash, Colorado lamb tenderloin with apricots and bok choy, and mango millefeuille with huckleberry mousse.
South Carolina: The Peninsula Grill
- Location: Charleston
- Cuisine: American
The most famous dish at this restaurant in the five-star Planters Inn hotel is a dessert — the Ultimate 12-Layer Coconut Cake. There’s a lot more than that on the menu, however, at this genteel establishment, with its seagrass flooring, farmland wall murals, and lantern-lit courtyard. Crab soup, lobster prepared three ways (ravioli, tempura, and sautéed), rosemary short rib with sweet potato hash, and a whole red snapper are examples of the savory fare.
South Dakota: Minerva’s
- Location: Sioux Falls
- Cuisine: American/steak
Minerva’s traces its origins back to 1917, and restaurants under various names have operated on the site ever since. Ample wood, stained glass, and chandeliers establish the tone for a menu that includes walleye cakes with wild rice, Idaho rainbow trout with pink peppercorn cream, chicken breast Oscar (with jumbo shrimp), and Wild Idea pasture-raised buffalo ribeye.
Tennessee: Yolan
- Location: Nashville
- Cuisine: Italian
Tony Mantuano was the chef at Chicago’s best Italian restaurant, Spiaggia, for 35 years, accumulating not just countless fans but also a Michelin star, several James Beard Awards, and many other accolades. Nashville lucked out when he moved to the city after Spiaggia fell victim to the pandemic, and he now runs this superlative restaurant there. The fare is authentic and often unusual — for instance, risotto with salt cod and Meyer lemon, spinach and ricotta tortelli with brown butter and sage, and a 55-day dry-aged Kansas City bistecca fiorentina, enough for two.
Texas: Fearing’s Restaurant
- Location: Dallas
- Cuisine: American/Southwestern
Dean Fearing was one of the founders of the New Southwestern Cuisine, and won a loyal following while cooking at Dallas’s famed Mansion on Turtle Creek before opening his own place at the city’s Ritz-Carlton. Here, he turns out intricate haute cuisine using mostly Texas ingredients and linking his dishes to Southwestern traditions. Barbecued shrimp taco with mango/pickled red onion salad, achiote-glazed Broken Arrow Ranch Nilgai antelope over mole rojo with braised rabbit enchilada, and a selection of Texas-raised wagyu steaks are sample dishes.
Utah: Log Haven
- Location: Salt Lake City
- Cuisine: American/international
Long considered one of Utah’s best and most romantic restaurants (the structure was built as a log-cabin hideaway by a local steel baron in 1920, and after a period of ups and downs became a restaurant in the 1990s), Log Haven showcases chef and co-owner Dave Jones’s varied cuisine. Alpine nachos (with forest mushrooms, speck, and fontina), togarashi-seasoned tuna with pan-fried udon noodles, and grilled buttermilk Duroc pork with cheddar grits are just a few samples of his globe-spanning cookery.
Vermont: A Single Pebble
- Location: Burlington
- Cuisine: Taiwanese/Chinese
Attention to detail, in table settings, service protocols, background music, and especially chef-owner Chiuho Sampson’s classic Chinese cuisine add up to make a visit to this Burlington favorite a very special occasion. Double garlic broccoli with whole cashew nuts, salt and pepper tofu, chicken dumplings with sesame sauce, and Sichuan shredded pork are among the items likely to be on the menu.
Virginia: The Inn at Little Washington
- Location: Washington
- Cuisine: Modern American
The ornately appointed restaurant at this sumptuous country inn about 60 miles southwest of the nation’s capital has been given three stars by the prestigious Guide Michelin for chef-owner Patrick O’Connell’s ever-changing fixed-price menus. Extravagance and humor inspire the menu, which might offer such original dishes as “A Tin of Sin” (Petrossian Tsar Imperial Ossetra caviar with Chesapeake crab and cucumber rillette), a duet of cappellacci pastas (spring pea and wild mushrooms with parmesan consommé), or carpaccio of baby lamb loin with Caesar salad ice cream.
Washington: Canlis
- Location: Seattle
- Cuisine: American/international
Food & Wine called this Seattle classic “one of the 40 most important restaurants in the past 40 years.” A standout on the Pacific Northwestern culinary scene, Canlis has celebrated regional ingredients since it opened in 1950. The cuisine grows ever more sophisticated, and the restaurant’s multi-course tasting menu might include such choices as sablefish with matsutake mushrooms and dulse udon; porcini with koji, pears, and leeks; and venison with sesame, nori, and pickled daikon.
West Virginia: The Wonder Bar Steakhouse
- Location: Clarksburg
- Cuisine: Steak/seafood/Italian
John and Betty Folio opened this classic steakhouse-plus in 1946, and the extended Folio family ran it until 2012, when new owners spruced it up, adding a new kitchen, a stone façade, and an outdoor fire pit area, among other things. The menu offers standard steakhouse appetizers and sides (seafood towers, Caesar salad, four kinds of potatoes, etc.), numerous steak and seafood options (including a filet mignon and lobster tail surf’n’turf), and such Italian fare as meatballs with ricotta, seafood pasta, and chicken parmigiano.
Wisconsin: Carnevor
- Location: Milwaukee
- Cuisine: American/steak
Gorgeously illuminated in brown and yellow, with wooden arches overhead and a wall of slender tree trunks, Carnevor makes an impression the moment you walk in, and chef Mario Giulani’s tradition-and-beyond menu is no less striking — from Florida Gulf shrimp scampi with garlic butter and preserved lemon and steak risotto with Wisconsin blue cheese to cider-braised chicken with mustard greens and a dozen different steaks, including American, Australian, and Japanese wagyu.
Wyoming: Snake River Grill
- Location: Jackson
- Cuisine: American
This high-end-rustic restaurant has defined serious dining in Jackson since it was opened in 1993 by Hollywood studio executive Alan Hirschfield. Today, chef Addison Fleming turns out such delights as smoked Yellowstone crumpets with mushroom gravy, crispy pork belly with sunchokes and pomegranate yogurt, roasted steelhead trouot with asparagus and fennel, wagyu flank steak with smoked onion gratin, and a not-to-be-missed sticky toffee pudding with cinnamon ice cream for two. (Here’s a list of each state’s most iconic dessert.)