Maple Ave Restaurant is the little shoebox that could. This tiny restaurant, now in its second life with chef Juste Zidelyte and her boyfriend and business partner Ricardo Teves, who serves as the general manager, still cranks out funky, fun, inventive dishes. Octopus with pork belly, green beans, boiled egg and olives somehow works because sometimes a plate of disparate players (hello Major League) do play well together. Pork confit steak, slowly cooked pork finished with a sear, which in and of itself is enough of a boggle, lies on top of a brown butter sweet potato puree and underneath a sour eggplant caponata and is finished with chimichurri. Again, this unusual combination makes this plate not only a fascinating study of cross-cultural dynamics at the table but also something enjoyable to eat.
Maple Ave Restaurant
Modern American | $$
147 Maple Ave. W, Vienna
