Page 76 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)

No.

Y E S , T H E B A R B E-
15 craving Texas barbe- S E R V E D AT L U N C H .
C U E AT B U L L A R D
When you’re
I S TO P S , B U T S O
I S T H E B U R G E R
cue, the first place
you imagine finding it
probably isn’t along-
side a clean and tidy
hotel lobby in the
Pacific Northwest.
But try as you might
to remain skeptical,
there’s no denying the
righteousness of that
slow-smoked beef rib
when chef Doug
Adams slips on the
black rubber gloves
and starts carving you
a slab. The texture of
the Texas red tamale
finds a creamy,
steamy middle ground
between pudding
and pound cake.
Commence the eve-
ning with a mezcal
pickleback infused
with charred corn
and smoked chiles
and you’ll be drifting
through the Hill
Country before you
know it.

No. Wayan is like a round of love texts No.

16 that ping back and forth between Cédric

Vongerichten (son of French-born global
gastro-deity Jean-Georges) and his wife,
Ochi, who grew up in Indonesia. She’s the
one you meet when you walk in and who
can school you on the significance (both 17
cultural and personal) of nasi goreng and
corn fritters, lobster noodles and clams
Jimbaran-style, which are so packed with
flavor you might as well be biting into oce-
anic truffles. But you’re not incorrect to
detect a Vongerichtenish touch (bold
flavor being something of a family heir-
loom) in the way the mango plays with the
mint. It’s fusion with a heart—and without
any bitter colonialist aftertaste.
She knows how
to mix a delicious
cocktail, sure, but
what makes Chel-
sea Gregoire such
WAYA N : A N
E M B A S S Y O F Alta Adams is more than a mere restaurant. a game changer at
I N D O N E S I A N Baltimore’s True
F L AV O R S . It’s a hang. It’s a place to chow down and loosen Chesapeake Oyster
up as you distribute warm embraces to friends
Co. is her radical,
from the old neighborhood and friends you just generous-spirited
met fifteen minutes ago. Keith Corbin’s cooking approach to inclu-
makes you keep waving the server back to your
siveness: Her
table for more: “Wait, actually, I know we’re
actual goal is to
already getting the oxtails and rice, but can we get make sure that
the skillet fried chicken, too, and the candied yam
everyone feels at
gratin?” Corbin’s collaboration with California
home.
pioneer Daniel Patterson already feels as though
it has been a beloved fixture for decades.

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