Mmmmm.... Food....

Congratulations to Boston and Bristol for having a restaurant named "Best New Restaurant for 2005" in Esquire Magazine.

DeWolf Tavern
BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND
The lovable idea of New England being dotted with darling little inns with good New England cooking is largely a myth. New England's got plenty of fine inns, but most are creaky places with good pancakes but otherwise mostly mediocre food. A welcome exception is DeWolf Tavern, set in a lovingly restored 1818 warehouse overlooking Bristol Harbor in Rhode Island's best-maintained historic town. The tavern's walls are granite, the wooden beams are exposed, and the floors quaintly sag. A fireplace roars in winter.

What makes DeWolf Tavern unique is chef Sai Viswanath's canny understanding of New England's long tradition of absorbing other food cultures. Indian-born Viswanath and his wife, Melicia Phillips, bring Eastern spices to bear on the finest New England provender in dishes like tandoori-fired baby chicken with brussels-sprout hash and sweet-potato gratin; roast quail filled with mushroom-and-rice biryani and black truffles; roast trout with chorizo-and-corn-bread stuffing and a thick creamed spinach derived from Indian saag; and mussels gently steamed with coconut milk, chiles, and curry-leaf sauce. Then there's the fabulous lobster popover - a paean to American wholesomeness - ethereally puffed up and crisp, teeming with big chunks of lobster in thick New England cream.
259 Thames Street; 401-254-2005; dewolftavern.com.

Mare
BOSTON
From the outside, Mare looks like yet another storefront Italian eatery of which Boston's North End has dozens. But inside, you'll find a very cool, minimalist design with a wall of changing colored light. In a whoosh, two hyper Abruzzese women—chef Marisa Iocco and manager Rita D'Angelo - swoop to your table to tell you what you must not miss tonight! And that will be largely extraordinary Italian seafood.

Antipasti range from crudi (raw seafood) to a decadent potato creme brulee with crayfish and chive oil. I never order seafood pastas this side of the Atlantic because they are almost always overcooked, soupy, and second rate. Iocco's are pristine, like the wondrous swordfish with casoncelli pasta dressed in brown butter, sage, and crispy pancetta, or paccheri of jumbo crab with fava beans and black summer truffles. For a main course, share a sweet branzino cooked in a salt crust with a garlicky bagna cauda ("hot bath"), a Piedmontese casserole of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies.
135 Richmond Street; 617-723-6273; mareorganic.com.


And a big you suck to Atlantic City for having the most expensive desert:

Most Expensive Dessert The chocolate-hazelnut brownie topped with gold and served with a 1996 Quinta do Noval Nacional port in a Baccarat crystal atomizer: $1,000 at Brulee at the Quarter at theTropicana, Atlantic City.