No. 8: 2941

The cloud of cotton candy in the silver bowl is meant to send diners on their way with a memory of childhood. It says a lot about chef Jonathan Krinn. Fun counts. So do the details.

Take the dining room, set in the Fairfax woods complete with manmade lake and koi pond. Or the half dozen breads in the bread basket (including a marvelous bacon-studded slab), baked each day by Krinn’s ophthalmologist-turned-baker father, Mal Krinn. Or the menu, which balances technique and whimsy: white-truffle risotto with a poof of foam; Lamb Four Ways, including a savory confit-filled phyllo triangle; orange cream savarin with mini creamsicles. Other dishes to watch for: artichoke salad, tuna tartare with green apple, wild-mushroom ravioli with smoked mushrooms, crispy black bass with citrus, bittersweet chocolate coulant with dark-chocolate caramel sauce and Tahitian vanilla ice cream. Then there’s the mint “caramel” bonbon—one of the most exquisite tastes of chocolate in this or any year—that brings a meal to a close.

The next morning turns up a crusty baguette in the doggie bag. 2941 wants to linger in the memory—and biting into the bread, you feel that it just might.