By Stefanie Gans and Rina Rapuano
Clarity
Vienna | Modern American | $$$$
It couldn’t be more clear. It was at the top of the menu with a box around it. Of course, it’s what the restaurant wants guests to order. Is touting “first of the season Alba white truffles” a gimmick? Sure, truffles and its oil passed through the trend machine (on pizza, popcorn, mac and cheese) but the real imports from Italy are a special occasion. Clarity employed the fungi over a plate of radiatore pasta, little nubs resembling radiators, and it delivers on paying $27 for an appetizer portion as soon as that pungent, intoxicating scent floats through the air.
This post originally appeared in our November 2019 issue’s 50 Best Restaurants cover story. For more food reviews, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
A last-of-the-summer soup is thick with peppers, corn and okra, and a little spice cuts through the creamy texture. Softened beef cheeks sink into a soupy polenta that is all the better for the beef’s drippings. Dessert feeds the chocolate monster in us all with a luxe, elegant and large-portioned plate filled with chocolate in various forms, most importantly as a huge disk of pot de creme. // 442 Maple Ave. E., Vienna
