Photo by Hillary Levin (Post-Dispatch)
Olive + Oak
Olive + Oak is as dazzling and fresh today as it was when it opened three years ago, a remarkable accomplishment in an industry where concepts can turn stale overnight. Olive + Oak isn’t a concept, though. It’s gracious hospitality, led by owner Mark Hinkle, a seemingly constant presence in the packed dining room. It’s the unfussy brilliance of chef Jesse Mendica’s cooking. She’s scored a significant percentage of this decade’s instant-classic dishes (the blue-crab gratin and the Hama Hama clams in tomato-clam broth, to name just two), and on my most recent visit she staggered me with the layered flavors of a new dish, rabbit mole. The excellent bar program, overseen by the newly married team of Morgaine Segura and Charlie Martin, rounds out a restaurant that has gone from hot new thing to timeless as quickly as any I can remember.
Hours: Dinner daily
Last year's ranking: No. 11
Opened: 2016