Comments (2) Best New Restaurant - 2010
Mistral Kitchen
Mistral Kitchen is chef William Belickis' re-interpretation of his original Mistral, the restaurant he closed in March 2008, just before pretty much all the air went out of the fine-dining balloon and left many other chefs scrambling just to sell cheeseburgers. The heir to Mistral is a stripped-down, simpler, more casual version of that original destination restaurant (with a small, fully luxe version of Mistral hidden in back, called the Jewel Box)—a place where the best seat in the house is at the bar overlooking the central kitchen and one of the best plates is the simplest: beautiful artisan meats cut to order for one of the best salumi dishes in the city. This isn't to say that everything here is rough and rustic and simple. Far from it. Belickis is still an envelope-pushing cook, and Mistral Kitchen's ever-changing menu is representative of this, offering many secret tricks and high-tech evolutions which, on the plate, taste like nothing more than some of the best food you've ever eaten. —Jason Sheehan 2020 Westlake Ave., 623-1922
