Encina

Since opening in the fall of 2020, Encina has become a chef’s restaurant: people who cook for other people for a living, dine here. The blue pancakes have become legendary, but the menu, which changes somewhat, offers tender wagyu beef cheek pastrami served with pimento cheese, a decadent turkey leg confit you could share (but you won’t want to) and blackened red fish. The prices may say this is a place for a special night out, but the equation is there for a good neighborhood restaurant: food you crave, consistent service and a space you want to be in.