Cuisine:

• American
• Regional

The Bristol Description:
While the industry vets behind The Bristol may come from a fine-dining background (TRU, Café Boulud, One sixtyblue, N9ne), they've excluded most of the fancy stuff associated with haute cuisine---tablecloths, reservations and, most importantly, high prices---to create a neighborhood restaurant that's worthy of praise (and loads of repeat visits). But for everything the restaurant "lacks," it more than makes up for in well-executed food and polished service. Chef-partner Chris Pandel is a big believer in seasonal, made-from-scratch ingredients, and that goes for the ketchup, vinegar, pickles and preserves, all of which appear with abandon to the joy of diners. And by butchering whole animals, he's able to offer plenty of "fifth quarter" meats (pigs' trotters, beef tongue), too. The regular menu features "it" dishes like raviolo with a runny, silky egg yolk and brown butter sauce and pull-apart, savory monkey bread. The chalkboard highlights daily specials (consider yourself lucky if the pork rillettes are on it). We were nearly brought to tears by the Scotch olives, a tangy riff on the across-the-pond fave. The cement-topped bar is an ideal spot for a quick snack and a glass of well-priced wine or a craft cocktail; an order of house-made beer cheese with homemade "saltines" provides a perfect excuse. Feeling social? Get to know your neighbors at one of two communal tables.


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