"CODA bills itself as a dessert restaurant, but that's a bit of a misnomer: Chef René Frank, former pastry guru at a three-Michelin-starred joint in northwest Germany, uses dessert techniques on mostly savory ingredients. The result: sophisticated small plates that look like desserts but don’t usually taste like them. A tasting menu consists of 15 gorgeous-looking plates that read like haikus: parsley root, coconut, pistachio; beetroot, raspberry, tofu; cacao, Jerusalem artichoke, cherry; and on. All are superbly creative, yet some work better than others on the flavor front; their signature caviar popsicle, made from Jerusalem artichoke-bourbon vanilla ice cream with pecan ganache and topped with caviar, is a definite highlight. Oh, and the kitchen doesn't use refined sugar—any sweetness you detect comes from fruits and vegetables." - Liz Humphreys
