Cobble Hill Restaurants

Go to La Vara with a few friends, because you’re going to want to order everything on the menu, starting with the fried chickpeas and working your way through everything that looks good—it all is. Chef Alex Raij serves up southern Spanish cuisine with Jewish and Moorish influences, so house-cured salt cod is served with citrus, olives, egg, and pomegranate, and a half chicken is served with spiced onions and cumin.

Chef Elise Kornack (formerly under April Bloomfield at Spotted pig and sous at Aquavit) is as ambitious a chef as we've seen in a long time. The 12-seat space on a brownstone-lined Sackett Street that she runs with her wife (they do everything from hosting, to dishwashing, to waiting tables and cooking) is tasting menu only, with a focus on vegetables. Elise does some stunning stuff with the most simple things: Shitakes and sunchokes are turned into a crunchy, creamy tartare, while a barley miso broth in a dramatically large bowl serves as the mid-meal rest. The space itself is tiny and looks like the inside of a Kinfolk journal—white on white with a smattering of plants and books.