> Blue hill at stone barns I Pocantico Hills From a pot of herbs on an apartment windowsill to a kitchen garden filled with heirloom varieties, cooks everywhere jump at the chance to grow their own food. But not many have a 22,000-square-foot greenhouse, or make their way to work through fields of vegetables and grazing animals - only those working at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the restaurant at the Rockefeller-funded Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, an hour north of New York City in the Hudson River Valley. The Center sits on 80 pristine acres carved out of the farm that originally stocked the Rockefeller estate. About eight acres are devoted to vegetables; the pastures may hold a flock of sheep, a rafter of turkeys or one of the "egg-mobile" portable chicken coops, depending on the rotation schedule. A herd of Berkshire pigs roots happily in the woods. Those same animals are what's for dinner - and that's precisely the point. "We're trying to create a consciousness about where our food comes from," is how chef Dan Barber puts it, "and to build support for local, sustainable food systems." While cooking at Blue Hill, the Center's sister restaurant in Greenwich Village, Barber and co-executive chef Michael Anthony forged tight links with the local producers who sold vegetables at the Union Square Green Market. But the chance to cook literally between farm and field is different. "It got to be a little bit of a mania last summer," Anthony admits, "We'd try to wait until closer and closer to service to pick the food. It tastes so alive." Cooking animals you've known by name inspires new levels of respect for housemade pâtés, sausages and cured meats. Even the most mundane vegetables are seen in a new light. "When you're really excited about cauliflower, you just want to let the cauliflower speak for itself," says Barber. That sense of purpose might sneak up on visitors to the dining room. The wine list includes familiar greats (Rudd Bacigalupi Chardonnay, Grosset Polish Hill Riesling and Roumier Chambolle-Musigny) alongside more adventurous choices (Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano or Cline Ancient Vines Carignane), and offers a good selection from New York State. By the time the wine has been poured and the food has arrived, though, there is no mistaking that something extraordinary is happening. A bowl of mid-winter chicken soup is filled with vegetables from the greenhouse, each flavor crystal-clear and insistent. A plate of roasted pork loin, braised fresh bacon and cotechino sausage can cause city dwellers to consider the possibility of roof-top piggeries. And if they could read those thoughts, Dan Barber and Michael Anthony would no doubt be pleased. And there are other restaurants besides Blue Hill at Stone Barns taking back the means of production - if only a little bit at a time - for a chance of bringing fresher, more flavorful and more authentic food to table. The Herbfarm in Seattle has long been a proponent, and newer places such as Lulu's in the Garden in New Orleans and Poggio in Sausalito are joining the grow-your-own bandwagon, too. - Robert Pincus Blue Hill at Stone Barns, 630 Bedford Rd., Pocantico Hills, NY; 914-366-9600; bluehillstonebarns.com

> Lulu's in the garden I New Orleans Like many people who spend the bulk of their waking hours on quiet kitchen tasks - chopping mirepoix to uniformity, waiting for dough to rise, taking braised meats to the edge of melting - Corbin Evans is conservative with words, even when he ventures beyond the swinging kitchen doors of his New Orleans restaurant, Lulu's in the Garden. Ask him about his vegetables, though, and he puts on a dramatic show-and-tell, producing bunches of peppermint-striped icicle radishes one day, bumpy dinosaur kale another. If cooks look to their kitchen mentors as surrogate parents, then Evans comes by his produce passions naturally. His mentors, Gerard Maras, now of Ralph's on the Park, and Susan Spicer, of Bayona, are both longtime local proponents of all things fresh from the dirt. Now his own boss - and the proud owner since last May of the 10.5-acre OK Farm in Tylertown, Mississippi - Evans devotes his "weekends" (Mondays and Tuesdays) to hoeing rows, drying seeds, picking weeds and wondering how to grow kohlrabi without harming the environment. Though Evans has no immediate plans to certify OK as an organic farm, he and the farm's full-time manager use organic growing practices whenever they can. A mixture of dish soap and powdered cayenne keep worms off the broccoli. A dusting of flour protects mustard, collard and turnip greens from aphids. Dry grits work magic on anthills. Evans and his business partners find that trial and error are as key in farming as they are in cooking. "The things that didn't grow (beets, kohlrabi, spinach) were the things other farmers had problems with this year, too," Evans observes. As a board member of the Crescent City Farmers Market, he would know. "Then again, we had a lot more pumpkins than anyone else," he says. Lulu's diners benefited from the surplus - pumpkin risotto, pumpkin soup, pumpkin and country ham pilau. Evans bartered a truckload of pumpkins for vast quantities of organic spring mix, inspiring a winter salad that capitalized on Louisiana's never-ending growing season: strawberries, sweet salad turnips and shaved ricotta salata, all purchased at the farmers' market. "Next year," says Evans, "I'll grow the salad turnips myself." - Sara Roahen Lulu's in the Garden, Garden District Hotel, 2203 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA; 504-586-9956

> Poggio I Sausalito As the construction workers were laying the terrazzo floors and polishing the mahogany woodwork at Poggio, a Tuscan trattoria in Sausalito, California, owner Larry Mindel sent his new chef to a small village outside Florence to cook. Christopher Fernandez, a veteran of The Cyprus Club, Stars and Oliveto, returned to the Bay Area from two months at trattoria Da Delfina with the inspiration to convert an abandoned lot just above the restaurant into a kitchen garden. Luckily, the 2,000-square-foot plot, once the site of the Sausalito Springs Watercress Garden, was located in Mindel's backyard. Fernandez and Mindel brought in Martin Bournhonesque, a farmer and organic-produce forager whose clients include Chez Panisse and Oliveto, to manage the garden just before the restaurant opened in December 2003. After a year spent reconditioning the terraced beds, Bournhonesque now tends the garden several hours a week, training the cooks to pick at the perfect moment. "Chris and I decided to grow what's hard to come by at any price," says Bournhonesque. They selected crops that would grow well on a shady bayside hilltop, which meant greens: watercress, cavolo nero, wild arugula and Italian heirloom chicories. Fernandez weaves these greens into a simple salad with lemon-anchovy vinaigrette and chopped egg, or braises cavolo nero into ribollita, a bean and vegetable stew thickened until it can be pan-fried. On late summer afternoons, the cooks hike up the hill to pluck the uppermost leaves of Genovese basil or to gather a basketful of borlotti beans. Mindel is founder of the Il Fornaio restaurant chain, and Poggio is the best expression yet of his love affair with Italy. A rotisserie and pizza ovens serve as the hearth in Poggio's dining room. Longtime Mindel colleague Umberto Gibin stocks the glass-walled library of mostly Italian wines, many from small producers in Tuscany, Sardinia and Sicily. Fernandez's menu at first appears homey. But each dish opens up as you taste it, revealing deep complexity - the rag� of beef slow-braised in red wine anchoring ethereal spinach-ricotta gnocchi, the sly wink of citrus-blossom honey brushed across a panna cotta with grapefruit and crumbled amaretti cookies. Even though the trattoria serves 500 on busy days, Fernandez still takes the time to watch over the pots. "It's very nurturing to watch ribollita cook for hours," he says. "I love to layer slow-cooked food and then taste the end result - a simple, soulful whole." - Jonathan Kauffman Poggio, 777 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA; 415-332-7771

> The Herbfarm I Seattle Carefully choreographed, a meal at The Herbfarm transcends the definition of dinner. Yes, you will be fed, and well. But you also will be educated and entertained, as the evening unfolds over five hours and nine courses. The "floor show," as Chef Jerry Traunfeld calls it, begins with a 30-minute tour of the garden surrounding this cottage-like restaurant. After being seated in the candlelit dining room where the open kitchen takes center stage, guests sip an aperitif of sparkling wine scented with freshly snipped herbs while enjoying an amuse-bouche. Then co-hosts Traunfeld and Ron Zimmerman take center stage to describe the evening's menu and wines, weaving in lessons on botany, Latin nomenclature, anthropology and literature along the way. Much of Traunfeld's menu is sourced from a two-acre parcel in the Sammamish River valley, just a five-minute drive from the 60-seat Woodinville restaurant (and a miracle of farmland preservation amidst the mini-chateaus and office parks of this Seattle suburb). A team of three gardeners works with Traunfeld to grow over 100 different vegetables and 10 dozen types of edible plants and flowers in the rich volcanic soil. Hives are kept as well, providing honey for ices and desserts. Traunfeld also works with a wild food-and-mushroom forager, who brings him esoterica like nettles, ferns and both yellow foot and bear's tooth mushrooms. The Herbfarm's menus are ingredient-driven, and throughout the year the chef receives a weekly list of available supplies, which he adapts to seasonal themes created by co-owner Zimmerman. Early May's pristine seafood and fledgling greenery comes to the table as "The Chambers of the Sea," which Traunfeld interprets as oysters with nettles and lovage, and slow-roasted wild king salmon accented with fiddlehead fern tips and earthy morel mushrooms. Late summer features a "Garden of Eden" vegetarian menu, full of the flavors of tomatoes, corn and fruit, highlighted in desserts such as a peach cobbler with anise-hyssop ice cream, and blueberries and watermelon in cinnamon-basil syrup. Winter's chill offers "A Menu for Red Heads" (served with all red wines), featuring smoked Columbia River sturgeon with fennel, leeks, parsley and bacon, and seared duck foie gras with mashed parsnip, glazed shallots and roasted quince. Themes change every other week or so, while menus can change daily, based on what's available from the garden. Zimmerman selects six wines to accompany each menu, culled from an enormous cellar of 19,000 bottles. Like the menu, the wines reflect the restaurant's Northwest emphasis, though guests are also welcome to order from a substantial selection from Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rh�ne. The meal typically ends with a plate of small treats accompanied by a glass of nearly century-old Barbeito Malvasia Madeira. It's a dramatic close to a remarkable evening of food and wine. - Anne Nisbet The Herbfarm, 14590 NE 145th St., Woodinville, WA; 425-485-5300; www.theherbfarm.com

> Quinones Room I Atlanta From turtle consommé and braised baby pig to warm peach-brown sugar cake paired with buttermilk soup, the South is the impetus behind Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison's newest venture, Quinones Room. An extension of the couple's Bacchanalia, the new restaurant is an homage to the late James Quinones, longtime manager of their other eatery, Floataway Café. It will draw most of its produce from the Quatrano family farm in Bartow County, Georgia, a 60-acre homestead that includes fruit groves, beehives and roaming Jersey cows. - Bill Addison Quinones Room at Bacchanalia, 1198 Howell Mill Rd., Atlanta, GA; 404-365-0410

> The Federalist I Boston Chef David Daniels of The Federalist, at Boston's XV Beacon Hotel, is taking the grow-your-own philosophy to new heights, literally. Daniels has the privilege - and difficulty - of being located only two blocks from the gold-domed Massachusetts State House. So he went up, 12 floors, to create a rooftop garden with a hell of a view. During the spring, summer and early fall, Daniels grows herbs such as lemon thyme and verbena, along with a plethora of microgreens, sweet-100 tomatoes and other produce, for The Federalist's new American menu. The list of 1,000-plus wines includes highlights such as a 1924 Château Pétrus - for a modest $10,000. - Ray Isle The Federalist, 15 Beacon St., Boston, MA; 617-670-2515

> Esca I New York "Wahoo," says David Pasternak. It's not an exclamation - it's a fish. "One of these days, I'm going to hook one and get him in the boat. You can catch wahoo in the Hudson Canyon, about seventy miles off of Long Island. Certain times of year, you get fish you wouldn't find in this area, because of the warm water from the Gulf Stream. That's why the most prized tuna in the world comes from waters from Long Island to Nova Scotia - warm-water fish feeding in cold waters." Pasternak talks more like a fisherman than a chef, and when it comes to presenting his catch, he keeps it simple: crudo. Just perfectly fresh, raw fish with a carefully chosen olive oil, sometimes a sprinkle of sea salt, sometimes a ribbon of citrus zest. His selection of fish and minimalist accompaniments immediately created a following for Esca, the restaurant he opened with partners Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali in 2000. "We're serving about twelve different kinds of fish with twelve different kinds of oil," he explains, when asked what's on the menu today: "Swordfish, wahoo, fluke, snapper, hamachi, live scallops, abalone, geoduck and salmon roe, which I clean and cure myself." He's serving the abalone with honeybell orange and the tuna with olio verde from Sicily, which he says tastes like tomatoes. Before opening the restaurant, the three business partners traveled to Italy and spent time along the Adriatic coast. "When you go to a fish place in Italy," Bastianich says, "they ask you, 'Mangiamo cotto o crudo?' All along the northern basin of the Adriatic, the Italians have adopted Japanese condiments and service, probably because they find them more novel. We thought crudo should be based around salt and olive oil." And it took off from there. As Bastianich says, there is rarely anything in restaurants or food that's original or new. Crudo, as first interpreted at Esca, might be one of those things. He believes that La Rosetta, in Rome, "may have been doing it before we did it," and goes on to cite any number of restaurants along the Adriatic that offer a more sushi-fied interpretation of raw. But it's the fire ignited under crudo in New York that caught our attention this year. Restaurants like L'Impero, Craft and Pace often feature a range of crudo selections on their menu, and a number of top food destinations offer crudo as a first course. At Esca, Pasternak estimates that crudo makes up anywhere from one-third to one-half of his food sales in an evening. "A couple of weeks ago, a lady from Time called," Pasternak smiles. "She eats here when she's in New York, and she said, 'You'll never guess what I had in LA.' It only took four years." What do you drink with wahoo? Manager Simon Dean says, "It's best to stay away from oak with raw fish," preferring a wine like Delle Betulle 2003 Collio Tocai Friulano with the wahoo. The fish, dressed with Capezzanna olive oil and crushed almonds, rests on a squirt of lemon juice. The wine adds floral aromatics and a little citrus, finishing clean and crisp. Dean's own favorite crudo is made with Nantucket Bay scallops in season, tossed in an iced bowl with a little lemon and lime juice, topped with chervil leaves. For that, Dean pours Kofererhof M�ller-Thurgau. "It's all about acidity," he says. "This has some minerality to it, and the scallops are so naturally sweet." This spring, Pasternak will travel to Tokyo's Tsukiji market, his first visit to that famed world center of fresh fish. If you think you've found your own favorite crudo, you might have to reconsider when he returns. - Joshua Greene Esca, 402 W. 43rd St., NYC; 212-564-7272

> Il Grano I Los Angeles Salvatore Marino isn't fazed that nearly every new customer who walks through Il Grano's doors has no idea what crudo is. As chef and owner of the restaurant, Marino put crudo on his daily menu three years ago, and was perhaps the first in Los Angeles to serve it on a regular basis. Recently, a handful of LA restaurateurs have begun to experiment with crudo, and with the city's passion for sushi, it's probably only a matter of time before crudo becomes a craving. Though many of his esoteric offerings - such as nettlefish - arrive via Japan, Marino is quick to tell you that he is not influenced by Japanese cuisine. "You'll never see ginger or lemongrass on my fish. I use lemon, fleur de sel, mint, parsley and black pepper." His crudo is a twist on the conventional dishes like marinated anchovies and clams with lemon: "This is about subtly enhancing the flavor, not overwhelming it." His "fantasia" includes a shellfish, a marinated fish, a whitefish, an oily fish and two tartares. The assortment might range from live Maine scallop with candied lemon peel, to marinated scallop lip, Tokyo stone sole on micro-celery with basil oil, wild blue-fin tuna belly in lemon-oil and perhaps a bit of fresh Japanese octopus finished with a briny bottarga vinaigrette. The tartares change with the seasons but could be made from wild striped bass or fresh tuna with artichoke hearts. Stephano Ungaro, Il Grano's new wine director/manager, arrived via Valentino and Enoteca Drago in Beverly Hills. What Marino does with his delicate dressings and oils, Ungaro does with wine. He carefully pairs Marino's exotic bites of fish with a glass of Terredora's 2003 Falanghina, for instance, stating that the "steely flavor and acidity matches the natural salt of the raw fish." With the tartares, Ungaro points customers towards a more understated, drier wine, the 2002 Villanova Tocai. Recently, Marino and Ungaro have set out to build on the wine list, adding bolder choices for the range of crudo on offer. - Jessica Strand il Grano, 11359 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA; 310-477-7886

> La Rosetta I Rome "Please come back soon!" cried Massimo Riccioli, chef/owner of La Rosetta, one of the top seafood restaurants in Rome, as his supplier went off into the night. The weather had been too windy for most boats to go out from any of Rome's three ports, and Riccioli was not pleased with the skimpy offerings from the latest catch. The two men spoke in the narrow cobblestoned street outside the beautifully designed small restaurant, which is a half-block from the Pantheon. There has been a restaurant on the same spot on via della Rosetta since the 1760s; the Riccioli family has been there since 1965, when Massimo's father Carmelo bought the premises and made it into one of the city's prime sources for cucina di mare. When Massimo took over it wasn't long before he introduced Romans to raw fish, which he presented as "carpaccio," in a twist on the popular raw-meat dish. His timing was right. To deliver the joy of the raw, or crudo, the almost intoxicating sensation that oyster lovers know well, has now become the ambition of Roman restaurants - one recent arrival is even called Crudo. And three years ago the Riccioli Oyster and Sushi Bar opened nearby. Going beyond mere Asian influence, La Rosetta's crudo is an homage to Sicily and to Riccioli's "memory of raw shore lunches from the volcanic waters near Acitrezza: seaweed, mollusks, mussels, sea urchins, calamari and shrimp - all practically alive." Lucullus would have approved of the "Grand Plate of Raw Fish and Crustaceans," which may include sea truffles; lobster disks with orange roe and wisps of very hot fresh red pepper; calamaretti and shavings of raw artichoke hearts, briefly marinated in lemon, served on ice; and diaphanous tuna so fresh it needs no help from the drizzle of oil, vinegar and fresh thyme leaves. The wine - Cub�a di Cusumano 2003 - is a stunning Sicilian white offering hints of jasmine. - Iris Carulli La Rosetta, via della Rosetta 8, Rome, Italy; 39-06-6861-002; www.larosetta.com

> Estiatoria Milos I New York When Estiatorio Milos opened in midtown New York in 1997, people stopped and stared. It wasn't just that they couldn't find the door in the massive window that formed the front wall of the restaurant; it was also that it was several times grander than any Greek restaurant they'd ever seen. The ceiling soars, and a curtain falls dramatically to divide the bar from the dining area, which is raised up like a stage. What plays on that stage is the renaissance of real Greek cuisine. Instead of a steam table filled with six-inch-thick moussaka and lamb laden with lemon sauce, there's a fish counter to put Pike Place Market's to shame in cleanliness, freshness and variety. That fish is the focus, the raw proof that Greek food can be fresh and high-quality: You choose your fish, and it's delivered to you 20 minutes later, whole and cooked to perfection, then filleted if you desire. The wine list initially featured mainly Greek wines, capturing the excitement of the first wave of great Greek wine to hit our shores. Now those wines are joined by a huge array of top French wines, as well as others from around the world. "I thought, why ghettoize Greek wines?" Costas Spiliades, owner of Milos, explains. "I didn't want to put my restaurant in Astoria [a Greek enclave in Queens, NY]. Why do that to the wine?" Now, diners can choose between a Dureuil-Janthial Rully or a Moschofilero from Nasiakos in the Peloponnese to go with the tender grilled octopus or delicately grilled St. Pierre. It's a testament to the quality of Greek wine that most diners still order them. Even more telling is the number of upscale Greek restaurants that Milos has inspired, places like Aptos, Onera, Pylos, Thalassa and Trata in New York City. Look into the following pages, and it's clear that the image of Greek cuisine is changing, inspired by restaurateurs like Spiliades as well as Stelios and Pauline Spiliadis at Black Olive in Baltimore, and the Karatosis family at Kyma in Atlanta. The most rewarding development, however, is the appearance of great Greek restaurants in Greece. "Restaurants used to be for the tourists; the laboratory of Greek cuisine was traditionally the home," Spiliades explains. Great restaurants in Athens used to be French, Italian or Japanese, "anything except Greek," Spiliades says. Now there are places like Plous Podilatou, Milos Athens and 48, sophisticated yet grounded in the country's own cuisine. - Tara Q. Thomas Estiatorio Milos, 125 W. 55th St., NYC; 212-245-7400

> Kyma I Atlanta You'll hear no rowdy shouts of "Opa!" when you walk into Kyma. The finest restaurant to date from Atlanta's prolific Buckhead Life Group is a posh paean to owner Pano Karatassos' Greek heritage. Diners are greeted in a foyer of snowy polished marble, then welcomed into a dining room awash in azure tones. But don't let the elegant accoutrements mislead you: Kyma's soulful fare is driven by Karatassos' respect for tradition and authenticity. Karatassos' son, also named Pano, traveled to Greece to immerse himself in its culinary culture, and he returned with a complex awareness of the country's ingredients and preparations. At Kyma, he's forged a menu that, while familiar, avoids the hokum of most Greek restaurants. The filo covering the spanakopita comes apart ever so delicately, revealing a filling that tastes honestly of feta-infused spinach. A slab of kefalograviera cheese, glossy with ouzo and lemon, is fried to irresistible crispiness. Octopus slices, toothy yet tender, and subtly smoky from the wood grill, is a signature dish that makes converts of the squeamish. Kyma prides itself on fresh fish flown in daily - rare in landlocked Atlanta. You can play it safe with red snapper or Dover sole, but the servers will gently encourage you to discover Mediterranean varieties such as milky lavraki or assertive barbounia (red mullet). The fish is grilled whole, boned at the table and dressed with fruity Greek olive oil, lemon and capers. An order of Greek fries, so deeply golden they could be mistaken for yams, is an essential accompaniment. And to drink? A pinot-like xinomavro? A crisp, floral moschofilero? Kyma's wine list is devoted almost exclusively to Greek varieties (a small collection of Californians are relegated to the bottom of the list). Servers readily point out favorites among the 60-odd choices, though it's helpful to know that most Greek wines, with their high acidity and delicate flavors, seem designed for seafood; even many reds will marry harmoniously with fish. To finish, a glass of Samos muscat augments a simple, silky dessert of dense yogurt with floral honey and walnuts. But if you're feeling feisty after a meal of such spirited pleasures, go for a glass of Greece's fiery, grappa-like tsipouro. Either way, you'll leave with a new understanding of Greek cuisine. - Bill Addison Kyma, 3085 Piedmont Rd., Atlanta, GA; 404-262-0702

> Black Olive I Baltimore It's not hard to find generous servings of moussaka or squares of spanakopita in Baltimore, but if you want something a little more refined - grilled fresh sardines wrapped in grape leaves, for example - Black Olive is the place to go. "We've tried to model ourselves on those seafood tavernas you see in Greece," says Pauline Spiliadis, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband Stelios and son Dimitris. The fish at the Black Olive may not be quite as stunningly fresh as at a seaside taverna in Greece, but it's mighty close. The seafood, flown in directly from Europe every couple of days, includes turbot and Dover sole from the British Isles, bronzini from the south of France and John Dory from Greece. You can pick your own fish from a refrigerated case in front of the open kitchen, to be grilled whole and filleted at your table, with nothing more distracting on it than a light dousing of olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs. "We have arrogant palates," Stelios Spiliadis explains with a broad grin, "so we decided to open a restaurant for other arrogant palates." His little brother is Costas Spiliades, owner of Milos in New York City, Montréal and Athens. Pauline Spiliadis, Black Olive's chef, bases her dishes on recipes she learned from her mother-in-law. When Black Olive opened, Dimitris Spiliadis, who gave up his post as a Baltimore city schoolteacher to take charge of the wine, had only two cases of Hatzimichalis chardonnay and cabernet. Today, he stores some 400 cases, the collection focused on Greece's modern greats. Try, for example, Biblia Chora's crisp sauvignon blanc-assyrtiko blend with mussels plunged in ouzo. Or pair Domaine Spiropoulos Porfyros with kakavia, a hearty fish soup. Spiliadis loves the claret-like Domaine Hatzimichalis with everything from grilled octopus salad to filet mignon, but with lamb he favors Manousakis. "This young winery from Crete is patterned on Châteauneuf-du-Pape," Spiliades says. "They blend syrah, grenache, mourv�dre and roussanne. And like their role model Beaucastel, they farm the vines organically." The wine is one of many pleasant surprises in Black Olive's eye- opening view to modern Greece. - Marguerite Thomas Black Olive, 814 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD; 410-276-7141; www.theblackolive.com

> 48 I Athens 48 is the sort of restaurant you'd expect to find in Soho, London or New York City. Or not find: The address is in 12-point type over a buzzer nestled into the wall. Inside, there's a restaurant the likes of which Athens never dreamed. A dining area suspended by plexiglass floats on a lake; an olive tree reaches toward the sky, rustling in the breeze from an opening in the ceiling. It's a beautiful space, one in which the lines between city and seaside, inside and outside, are blurred, everything infused with the sort of blue light Greece is famous for. The food intensifies the Greek feel, with classic peasant dishes like peinirli spun into clouds of dough cradling quail eggs and kasseri cheese, and chilopites, a sort of lazy-woman's pasta, forming the base for a rich rabbit confit. To drink, owner Theodore Margellos has compiled a wine list as adventurous as the space. Instead of the typical Lac des Roches and retsina by the carafe, he collects the best names in Greek wine, from Sigalas' mineral-tinged, Chablis-like Santorini, to Hatzidakis' impossible-to-find, caramel-hued Vinsanto. In between the Greeks are top bottlings of wines from around the world. "The aim was to create a wine-oriented restaurant where people would enjoy wine at the most reasonable prices possible," sommelier Yiannis Kaimenakis explains. That means Bollinger R.D. 1985 for 175 Euros; Dauvissat '93 Chablis Le Clos for 88�; and Boutari '86 Naoussa Grand Reserve for 75�. But do people order the imports because, as foreign food once did, they might seem fancier? "If you ask me to enclose Greece in a glass of wine, it would definitely be xinomavro, or assyrtiko, for a white one," Kaimenakis replies. In other words, if you want to taste the real Greece, it's here, finally, on the plate, in the glass, in a showcase worthy of its quality. - Tara Q. Thomas 48, Armatolon & Klefton 48, Ambelokiri, Athens, Greece; 30-210/64-11-082; www.48therestaurant.com

> Landmarc I New York There are a lot of reasons to dine at Landmarc in Tribeca. Diehard carnivores revel in the meats, from Flintstone-sized lamb shanks and caramelized marrow bones as thick as young tree trunks to a rib eye so rare you could practically slap it over your black eye. Bistro fans take heart in the likes of frisée au lardon with poached eggs, moules frites and French onion soup. Even parents can safely bring their brood, knowing pigs-in-blankets and PB & J are always on hand. But it's the wine lover who really scores. With an ever-changing roster of wines listed at or under wine shop prices, you can drink a bottle (or two) at Landmarc for the same price or less than you'd pay to drink it at home. A 2001 Domaine du Pesquier Gigondas is offered for $28, about the same as retail. A 1998 Giacosa Barbaresco is $95, a mere three dollars more than retail (when you can find it), while a 2002 Domaine Meo-Camuzet 2002 Fixin is $48, seven dollars less than the same wine at Park Avenue Liquors. The savings can substantially increase on the higher end of the spectrum. A 2001 Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche is $290. The same wine at Sherry Lehman is $325. And the list goes on. Chef-Owner Marc Murphy and Sommelier David Lombardo are at the cusp of a trend that's growing all around the country. The philosophy is simple and oenophile-friendly: Keep the markups low, and the volume of wine aficionados will be high. "It's a major draw," Lombardo says of Landmarc's pricing policy. "Wine lovers are becoming more informed about how much things cost, and it angers them to see the usual 200-percent markup on most lists. Our list builds loyalty." Another asset of the list is a collection of half bottles priced as glasses are elsewhere. "After years of working in the industry, I got tired of seeing how most restaurants treat their wines by the glass," says Lombardo. "They buy cheap, often low-quality wine and sell a glass for more than the bottle costs. And they don't handle the wines well. The last thing a bartender wants to do at the end of the night is vacuum-seal fifteen bottles. They leave them on the shelf and serve them for days. With half bottles you get better-cared-for and better-quality wines." Along with Murphy's eager-to-please menu, it all combines to keep the wine-savvy coming back. And apparently, wine lovers are good customers. Lombardo says: "They know how to eat, they know how to drink, they know how to enjoy. That's how we want to fill our tables." - Melissa Clark Landmarc, 179 W. Broadway, NYC; 212-343-3883

> Swimclub 32 I Denver Push through the glass doors into swimclub 32, and the busy street behind you falls away. It's hard to believe that a year ago this was a seemingly irreparably ugly wine store. Now, the clean lines, dark colors and soothing sound of a waterfall trickling down the back wall make it the coolest, most Zen space in town. That Zen calm continues as you're handed the menu and wine list. No dish tops $11, unless you want a double order, but you don't. There are too many good dishes to try - like a kabocha soup so creamy you'll want to bathe in it; piquillo peppers cooked to sweet softness and filled with salty cod and potato purée; a salad of spicy arugula studded with chewy dates and crunchy hazelnuts. One of the best selections on the menu is a miso-glazed cod, sweet and meaty, nestled against a pile of cool, sesame-studded spinach. The wine list continues in the same vein: deliciousness at ridiculously low prices. A glass of the purple, plummy Altos de La Hoya runs $6; the impossible-to-find Seasmoke Botella Pinot Noir, $12. A bottle of Tempier's La Tourtine Bandol runs just over retail; wine-geek favorite Edi Simcic Tocai runs $50, compared to $90-plus across town. "Wines shouldn't be sitting in a library or on a shelf," says Christopher Golub, owner/wine guy. "They should be on someone's table." At these prices, the only worry is keeping wine in stock. - Tara Q. Thomas swimclub 32, 3628 32nd Ave., Denver, CO; 720-899-SWIM

> Cuvée I Del Mar Cuvée is Chef-Owner Chuck Samuelson's self-described "neighborhood joint" in Del Mar, where everyone in the neighborhood is apparently passionate about food and wine. With Chef de Cuisine Brad Luckinbill, Samuelson's mission is to make wine an equal partner to the imaginative food, and to make ordering wine "less expensive and less scary." The place has quickly developed a loyal following among locals and visitors as well. The wine mark-up at Cuvée is a low (for the restaurant industry) 100 percent or less over wholesale, and more than three-quarters of the wine list is less than $50 a bottle. The eclectic menu is divided into small, medium and large plates, each plate listed with a suggested wine pairing. Then the wine prices allow for further experimentation. The baked goat cheese with basil pesto and caramelized onions works beautifully with a 2001 Roshambo Sauvignon Blanc ($26) or a 2002 Cold Heaven Viognier ($28), the latter described by Samuelson as a "get-naked" wine. The luxuriant lobster risotto is offset nicely by the soft astringency of a 2002 Chalk Hill Chardonnay ($59), while the decadent "Surf & Turf" of braised duck leg and dry-pack scallops contrasts with the 2001 Swagman's Kiss Shiraz ($20) or the round 2001 Provenance Merlot ($48). Cuvée's stylish, buoyant atmosphere and wholehearted approach to wine and food may have you returning to this smart "joint" regularly, even if it's nowhere near your actual neighborhood. - Maria Vitulli Cuvee, 2334 Carmel Valley Rd., Del Mar, CA; 858-259-5878

> Jack Falstaff I San Francisco The name Jack Falstaff is meant to invoke the mischievousness of one of Shakespeare's most famous characters - to identify a setting where food and wine can be enjoyed often, and in abundance. While the mod pale-green suede upholstery and backlit glass bar may contrast with that roguish spirit, the wine list gives it away - almost literally. "We've got Veuve for $48 - you can barely get it for that at a liquor store," says Gillian Balance, wine director for the PlumpJack Group, which owns both PlumpJack Café and Balboa Café in addition to Jack Falstaff, the newest addition. All three restaurants offer diners well-thought-out and distinctive wine lists, at prices only slightly higher than retail. Falstaff's list has a healthy dose of top-notch domestic producers, rounded out with inspired imports, all of which accent Chef James Ormsby's cuisine. Among the gems are the 2000 Jasmin Côte-Rôtie for $82, the 2002 Stephen Ross Bien Nacido Pinot Noir for $45 and the 2003 Saracina Sauvignon Blanc for $30. So what's the secret? There isn't one. The idea is to have the wine as accessible as the food, and if you order two bottles instead of one because it's such a great deal, all the better. - Genevieve Robertson Jack Falstaff, 598 Second St., San Francisco, CA; 415-836-9239

> Hunt Club I Seattle Perched way up on First Hill, in a quiet corner of the venerable Sorrento Hotel, the clubbiness and cheer of the Hunt Club invites settling in for lunch or dinner. Executive Chef Brian Scheehser keeps the menu lean and simple, with adjustments and preparations according to season - asparagus in spring, mushrooms in fall and Penn Cove mussels most of the time. Choose an applewood-smoked king salmon, venison or other Northwest specialty - or flavorful, naturally grown Niman Ranch lamb or beef. Flip to the back of the wine list. Yes, skip right over those lovely local pinot noirs, merlots and cabernets to the Rarities. That's where Food and Beverage Director Edward Swartz offers some of the best Bordeaux buys in the country. No, the prices of a 1990 Haut Brion ($350) or 1985 Pétrus ($1,000) aren't typos. Having sold them on lists elsewhere at $750 and $3,200, respectively, Mr. Swartz is keeping Bordeaux markups here at a modest 10 percent above cost. And he is scouring the marketplace to increase offerings to about 100 Bordeaux labels by fall 2005. His only apology: "I do have to change the list every two weeks because of the limited availability of these wines." Think of it this way: The savings may cover your airfare to Seattle. - Margaret Shakespeare The Hunt Club, 900 Madison St., Seattle, WA;206-343-6156

> Nick's Italian Café I McMinnville If McMinnville is the heart of Oregon wine country, Nick's Italian Café may well be its soul. When Nick Peirano opened the restaurant in 1977, there were only five wineries in the area, and dining options were few. "Winemakers were pleased to have the restaurant here," says Peirano, "and they'd stop by with their wines for me to taste." Initially, Peirano says, he bought everything they poured. "Of course that had to stop," he says with a laugh. Today the list is a smorgasbord of Oregon pinot noirs, with 100 wines from 66 producers, along with a smattering of Italian, California and Washington options. Bottles are priced at $10 over retail, making low-end wines very competitive and mid- to high-end bottles relative bargains. The bulk of the list falls in the $25 to $50 range, with a few older vintages breaking the three-digit mark, including the now-rare 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block Pinot Noir, which stole the show in the 1979 World Wine Olympics ($500). The menu is a five-course prix fixe offering of Italian-influenced fare, with courses also available à la carte. Highlights include the signature hearty minestrone with its swirl of fresh pesto and the silken homemade lasagna, layered with Dungeness crab and pine nuts. - Anne Nisbet Nick's Italian Café, 521 NE Third St., McMinnville, OR; 503-434-4471

> Jerome's The Pitt Bar-B-Que I Pittsfield He was born and raised in Texas, as if you couldn't tell. He wears a belt buckle the size of Houston and a shirt blazing like a state flag. But where's the hat? Where's the gut? And isn't that accent more Cambridge, Massachusetts, than Houston, Texas? Even the misspelling is intentional, short for Pittsfield, the company town at the heart of the Berkshires that GE abandoned long ago. Between Houston, Cambridge and Pittsfield, there was New York, where Jerome Hasenflug sold wine for Seagram Château and Estate Wines Company. He moved to the Berkshires to run Newcastle Imports, focused on wines from the Rhône and Alsace, all now part of a collection locked up in back of the Pitt. It took a life-changing experience, a nasty bicycle accident that laid Hasenflug up this past summer, to shift his focus from wine to barbecue. "I always had this fantasy in the back of my mind: I love to cook, and I love barbecue - the idea of the French confit, to take an otherwise inedible portion of meat and make it delicious by cooking it longer and spicing it." He moved in next to Trattoria Rustica, a small, family-run restaurant where he likes to eat, forming a restaurant beachhead in an otherwise deserted downtown. He installed a rotisserie smoker big enough to smoke a ton of meat - ribs, pulled pork, chickens, ducks, sides of salmon. And he developed his own spice rub - three kinds of chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and allspice. He dredges the ribs in the dry rub, then sauces them after they're cooked. "What's the best thing you've had with barbecue?" I asked. "Other than beer?" He took a moment and pointed to a Trimbach Reserve Pinot Gris, then a Lost Canyon Syrah. "And I was surprised by the Bouscassé," he said, recalling how well the flavors and textures combined when he tried that '95 Madiran with beef ribs. "Anything bold and sassy," Hasenflug concluded, then worked through a mental list of his cellar. "Italian in general doesn't do that well; the acidity may be too high. But barbera does well. As do all Rhônes. In terms of pinot noir, the American style, a little bigger and jammier, as opposed to more terroir-driven wines. Cabernet comes across as under-ripe and earthy with barbecue. Merlot�you might as well be drinking grape juice. "The wines should have powerful fruit, but they can't be overripe bombs; you need wine with balance, backbone and concentration." Like the Madiran with the confit of beef he calls ribs, the black on black combination based on savory tannin and rendered fat. Or Domaine du Pesquier Gigondas with pork ribs: spicy, warm, Rhônes on Rhônes. But the stars were the Alsace whites, the riper Deiss '98 Schoenenbourg bowing down from its grand cru status to meld with collard and mustard greens tossed with bacon. Still, as Jerome says, the Trimbach Pinot Gris is the best. "There's a broad aspect of fruit, rather than something acidic or grapey. The fats in the meats render into the meat as they cook, and the gris' broadness and viscosity works right into them." As it turns out, this Hasenflug from Houston is, in fact, one-eighth from Alsace - from Bischoffsheim in the north. It may be a long way from the Rhine to Houston, to the Housatonic in Pittsfield, but the wine and food feel right at home. - Joshua Greene ' Jerome's The Pitt Bar-B-Que, 75 North St., Pittsfield, MA; 413-447-7488

> Mr. Cecil's California Ribs I Los Angeles Let's get the flashy part over with first: Mr. Cecil's California Ribs is probably the only rib restaurant on the planet with a polo team and a $950 bottle of wine on the menu. Charismatic owner/chef Jonathan Burrows, who has also been a theater and film producer, can actually convince you it's not for publicity - he's just into polo and French wine, so it seemed natural to combine those two things with another passion - Mr. Cecil's, named after his father. So how did an urbane bon vivant with a show-biz background come to open a rib joint? "I just always loved ribs, from the time I was a kid in New York eating spare ribs in Chinese restaurants," Burrows explains. When he started cooking for friends years later, his experimentation with his childhood favorite drew raves, and drove him to open Mr. Cecil's California Ribs in 2000. And the wine? "Well, I knew French wine, so that's what I put on the menu," says Burrows, who (naturally) has lived in France. Burrows recently integrated California wines onto his previously all-French list, so now you can choose between the Fess Parker Viognier ($29) and the Château Carbonnieux ($41) or weigh the benefits of the Raymond Cabernet Reserve ($49) versus the Château Siran ($35). Many of the 25 or so wines on the list are also available by the glass for around $6, while a full rack of baby back, beef or St. Louis-style ribs sets you back about $20. One big reason Mr. Cecil's wine-and-ribs combo works is that Burrow's ribs don't demand barbecue sauce; in fact, the menu politely requests diners to taste the ribs before adding any sauce, which is served on the side. The preparation of the ribs involves braising, marinating, and grilling, but never smoking, which may scandalize 'cue traditionalists. But without the opacity of an overtly smoky flavor, the ribs don't beg for the traditional spicy/sweet barbecue sauce. The absence of all of those strong competing flavors allows you to taste the true flavor of the meat complemented by a glass of good wine. For instance, the meaty succulence of the beef ribs can be enhanced with the Fat Bastard Shiraz ($22), while the Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir ($29) offsets the tender sweetness of the baby backs. Then there's that $950 bottle of 1986 Château Lafite-Rothschild. "Originally, it was put on the menu as kind of a joke, but we've actually sold a few," Burrows chuckles, sounding not-so-surprised. For the record, he recommends the short ribs with Lafite. - Maria Vitulli ' Mr. Cecil's California Ribs 13625 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA; 818-905-8400, and 12244 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA; 310-442-1550

> The Joint I New Orleans On the furthest corner of the Bywater, a self-contained neighborhood roughly three miles downriver from the French Quarter, Chris Rudge always seems to be hosting a party at his store, Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits. Neighbors laze around a handful of small tables, hemmed in by 200-year-old brick walls and racks of Rudge's current favorite bottles. Rudge rises from the ongoing conversation to greet customers, many of whom trust him to pick their purchases. On a recent Friday night, inspired by the mention of barbecue, he made a beeline to a 2003 Graham Beck Pinno, a pinotage from South Africa. "When I first tasted this, I thought of barbecue immediately. It's smoky, spicy, and big enough to complement a bunch of heavy meats," he explained. Bacchanal sits catty-corner from a canary-yellow cinderblock building. That's The Joint, a bring-your-own-wine barbecue restaurant. The Joint's backyard cast iron smoker, which smolders almost non-stop, ensures that barbecue is never far from Rudge's thoughts - or anyone else's within sniffing distance. When a customer enters The Joint with a bottle from Bacchanal, Jenny Tice reaches for wine glasses, a gift Rudge brought over when Tice and Pete Breen, her boyfriend and a self-taught pitmaster, opened the restaurant last year. That was the beginning of a natural friendship, between neighboring small business owners, and between The Joint's barbecue and Bacchanal's wines. Graham Beck's meaty pinotage stands up admirably to both of The Joint's barbecue sauces - Breen describes one as an all-American tomato-based sauce, and the other as an eastern North Carolina vinegar-based sauce. Still, the happiest marriage is between fermented fruit and naked, unsauced meats, particularly the rosy-ringed beef brisket and the pork spareribs rubbed with black pepper, turbinado sugar and garlic. This doesn't surprise Rudge, who says that barbecue sauces complicate wine pairings. Without competition from a sauce's acidity and sweetness, wine pairing is simple. A barbecue take-out regular himself (he hosts barbecue parties in the store's backyard), he's enjoyed The Joint's smoking savvy with Villa San Maurice's Rosé Syrah, and with Austrian rieslings, which he describes as dry yet viscous enough to take on pulled pork shimmering in its own grease. - Sara Roahen ' The Joint 801 Poland Ave., New Orleans, LA; 504-949-3232 ' Bacchanal fine wine & spirits 600 Poland Ave., New Orleans, LA; 504-948-9111

> Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue I Kansas City Barbecue and wine seem anathema to most people. But then most people don't live in Kansas City where, as Calvin Trillin points out, barbecue is a religion. At Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City's Freight House district, there are over 50 wines to choose from, and more than two dozen by the glass. Certainly, most people think of beer with barbecue, but wines sales are brisk. Manager Mike Lierz doesn't spend time worrying about creating symbiosis between barbecue and wine. He says that most of Fiorella's customers "aren't worried about the old, traditional ideas" of food and wine. "They just want to find something that they'll like." A brief straw poll of the dining room confirms his belief: most wine buyers are simply happy to drink a good wine with their meal. What they're actually eating seems less important. And barbecue comes in a variety of styles. Kansas City is the home of "slow and low," the required method for making edible that which was otherwise inedible. Folks here don't do pulled pork, and don't like much sauce. Barbecue in Kansas City often means pork ribs with remarkable amounts of smoke from a cool fire and, typically, an herbal component (often mustard seed). Devoid of sauce, this sort of barbecue can be friendly to many different reds and whites, and any fully flavored red wine, such as zinfandel, petite sirah or shiraz, will handle the intensity of the ribs. "When you're dealing with sauce," says Mark Huebner, a wine consultant and avowed KC barbecue maniac, "you're talking about spicy, tangy or sweet, and those are not things that go with big-alcohol wines." He believes that the best wines for barbecue with sauce are "wines with lower alcohol, and even residual sugar - flavors that don't make the sauce taste hot or bitter." He's bemused by the idea that "the manly art of barbecue with big, smoked dead animals needs some equally imposing red wine." Huebner prefers riesling, and Fiorella's sells a fair amount of that as well. "I think there's a rush to think that wine has to go with everything," says Huebner. While he may be right, the wine buyers at Fiorella's are buying more wine each year. - Doug Frost ' Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue Freight House District, 10 West 22nd St., Kansas City, MO; 816-472-7427

> Jim's Famous BBQ I Chapel Hill, NC They say it takes two fifth of Bourbon to cook a hog; by the time you've drunk both bottles, the pork is cooked just right. North Carolinians take their barbecue eating just as seriously, yet it's a challenge to find a barbecue joint that serves liquor. However, tucked in a supermarket parking lot in Chapel Hill, there's a little brick building that fits the bill. "Barbecue is family food," says Jim Groot, owner of Jim's Famous BBQ, "Everyone comes here - families, university students and working couples." To prove the point, he offers both coloring book menus to the kids and a straightforward Bourbon list to the legal age set. The sign splashed across the bar at the entrance to the brightly lit family-style restaurant promises "Happiness, Food & Spirits". Barbecue styles compete fiercely in this area. Eastern Carolina has its pungent vinegar-based chopped pork; western Carolina offers its own classic tomato spicy sauce for pulled pork; and more southern tastes gravitate to a mustard-based sauce. "Ask fifty 'Pig' or 'Q' guys about barbecue and you'll get fifty different answers," Jim explains. A product of a rambling life, Jim's menu is generous. It features pulled pork and a less traditional tender pulled chicken, eastern-style chopped pork, beef brisket and three styles of ribs: tender baby back, St. Louis cut and western style beef ribs served with sweet and saucy glazes or a pungent dry rub. A gap-tooth smile widens as he says, "I'm good with ribs, real good." So what do people drink with barbecue? Sweet tea is the drink of choice in dry counties, but the frank Bourbons offered here hold their own. The sweet, smoky, smooth tastes of classics like Wild Turkey, Maker's Mark or a Jack Daniels match the barbecue spunk of the different cooking styles. "About eighty-five percent of those who drink Bourbon drink it neat," Jim Groot says, "But Bourbon and ginger ale seems a good fit here." It's served in a tall plastic glass with a lot of ice and a straw just like the sweet tea. - Kate Hill ' Jim's Famous BBQ 115 S. Elliot Rd., Chapel Hill, NC; 919-942-7427

> Blue Smoke I New York, NY It would be easy to dismiss a Big Apple barbecue joint as just another misguided theme restaurant, especially when devilled eggs and banana cream pie are on the menu. But one taste of the smoky, sauce-soaked Kansas City ribs and it's apparent that Blue Smoke is serious about the barbecue arts. "It's not trying to be kitsch," says Mark Maynard-Parisi, general manager. "We did a lot of research in learning all the techniques. You can't imagine the technical challenges of taking a traditional open-pit method of cooking with smoke and doing it in a fourteen-story New York City building." Managing-partner Danny Meyer, of Union Square Café fame, opened Blue Smoke in 2002, determined to serve up barbecue exactly like that you would find in St. Louis, Texas, Tennessee, or Kansas City. The result is a comprehensive sampling of regional American barbecue; they call it urban barbecue. "To us that means it's about the melting pot," says Maynard-Parisi. "Southern Illinois style is similar to West Tennessee; Texas is all about beef; Kansas City is one of the few places for beef and pork; North Carolina is about pulled pork but not ribs," he explains. One drink, however, seems to complement every style of barbecue, and it's not beer. At the 20-seat Blue Smoke bar, you'll find more than 35 varieties of America's original contribution to the world of drinks: Bourbon. While most selections are about $10, the list ranges from Old Forester ($7.50) to Pappy Van Winkle 20-Year-Old ($21.) A handful of Tennessee whiskies and American rye whiskies round out the list, and Blue Smoke even offers a proprietary house Bourbon, an 18-year-old Van Winkle ($15) bottled exclusively for the restaurant. According to Maynard-Parisi, the sweet, woody, bold flavors of Bourbon are a natural with smoked meats, making it the most popular spirit at the bar. "Vodka and gin rank up there with the vegetarian platter," he says. Along with its potent mint juleps, a perennial favorite, Blue Smoke concocts a refreshing Lynchburg Lemonade mixed with Jack Daniels, tart house-made lemonade and a dash of triple sec. And nothing complements warm apple crisp topped with maple pecan ice cream better than a simple snifter of Bourbon served neat. "I'm out to convert the world to Bourbon with apple crisp," he says. - Jeffery Lindenmuth ' Blue Smoke 116 E. 26th St., NYC, NY; 212-447-7733; www.bluesmoke.com

> Old Glory I Washington, DC It all started with a road trip. "That trip through the South that everyone wants to do," says Old Glory general manager Mark Arnold, whose eyes sparkle at the thought. "Our first chef, before we opened in 1991, came back with samples and recipes. We wanted everything to be authentic - the wood, the smoking temperatures, the sides and especially the sauces - and those recipes have stayed on the menu." "Since barbecue is uniquely American, we wanted everything else to be as well." Indeed, the sound system croons with blues tunes. Tailfins of a red '56 Chevy Impala illuminate the stairway to a second dining level of this 1880s building. Wooden saddle-style stools line up in front of a historic bar, partly salvaged from the Rendezvous in Memphis (famous for its own barbecue menu) and embedded with 1921 silver dollars. And that giant stamp waitresses slap on the paper-covered tables to greet customers? "That's what they did in the Old West - stamped the name of the bar right in front of you, so you would remember the good times at 'Joe's Bar and Grill' and come back again." Many customers do return to Old Glory. Not necessarily for the meaty, peppery, slow-smoked St. Louis Spare Ribs; or salty-sweet Corn Cobb Smoked Virginia Ham; or Claw Hammer Pulled Pork doused in a vinegary eastern Carolina sauce, although it's all dreamy stuff. Sticking to Old Glory's American guns, Arnold has developed one of the finest Bourbon lists this side - or the other side, for that matter - of Kentucky. He has about 80 pours - every label that's legally available, given distribution laws - displayed behind the bar around a gold-tone bust of Elvis. The King presumably has nosed them all and many others have too, each earning a brass plate on the wall. "That's our Bourbon club, people who have had shots of the whole list. All you do is ask a bartender to start a card. We have people from as far away as Russia who come back regularly to work on their cards." Arnold recommends pairing Basil Hayden's Small Batch 8-Year-Old, cut with some water, with almost any smoky barbecue meat. "Or Old Forrester Birthday Bourbon - especially with lamb." The bar also makes a high-octane version of Southern sweet tea by mixing in peach schnapps and Maker's Mark, which puts a finishing kick into chocolate pecan pie and bread pudding. - Margaret Shakespeare ' Old Glory 3139 M Street NW, Washington, DC; 202-337-3406; www.oldglorybbq.com