Only the top 40 restaurants were ranked in 2011's Best Restaurants list.
This Annapolis spinoff from longtime DC chef Bob Kinkead lacks the polish of his venerable Kinkead’s, but the place has established itself as one of the area’s prime destinations for seafood.
Longtime Kinkead partner James Huff commands the kitchen, which transforms daily catches into superb soups and chowders, fry baskets (a gorgeous fritto misto of clams, oysters, and bay scallops), and robust interpretations of local specialties.
Main courses are sometimes more flat than vivid—a recent crabcake platter was composed of oddly squishy cakes—but the restaurant has achieved a surprising consistency and the staff, previously a detriment, is now an asset: Servers are quick to offer a taste of wine, and their explanations of dishes are concise and informative. Come dessert, the Eastern Shore–style caramel cake and the seasonal tarte Tatin taste like instant classics.
Also good: Malpeque oysters on the half shell; mussels in a creamy yellow curry; seafood chowder; Yucatán-style tuna soup.
Open Wednesday for dinner, Thursday through Sunday for lunch and dinner. Expensive.
>> See all of 2011's Best Restaurants
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
