May 25, 2020
From Their Table to Yours: 9 Celebrated Restaurants Now Offering Take-Out and Delivery
April Stamm READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Takeout and delivery – often relegated to pizza, wings and other sharable favorites – is getting a five-star makeover thanks to high-end restaurants that are quickly pivoting to stay afloat, keep their employees on the payroll, and serve their communities.
EDGE unearthed our favorite picks in three of the U.S.'s most celebrated food cities: Chicago, New York City and Miami, and discovered that innovative chefs aren't letting COVID-19 stand in the way of a spectacular meal. It might seem like a splurge, but remember your order is a vital part of relaunching the economy – one decadent bite a time.
NEW YORK CITY
Red Farm
Chinese fare gets a farm-to-table makeover thanks to Ed Schoenfeld and Chef Joe Ng's Upper West Side and West Village outposts of Red Farm. Most of their modern takes on dumplings, egg rolls, noodles and rice dishes (pastrami egg rolls or lamb dumplings, anyone?) are available for pick-up and delivery, including their signature whole Peking duck (in limited quantities), served with steamed buns and three sauces.
Dante
West Village centurion, Dante, has been an NYC staple in various incarnations since 1915, attracting neighborhood folks and celebrities alike. Its current menu celebrates classic Italian cuisine and the rich tradition of craft cocktails. In addition to rustic bites like kale and farro salad and wild boar pappardelle, Dante also offers individual and large-format cocktails such as a chamomile Sazerac and the classic Boulevardier.
Cote
Simon Kim's inspired mash-up merges Korean barbecue with the classic American steakhouse.
Order the famous Korean bacon (house-smoked, crispy heritage pork belly with pickled jalapeno), a butcher's bowl (three USDA Prime cuts of beef over rice, pickles and kimchi), Wagyu paella, or opt to turn your kitchen into your own private steakhouse with the Cote Steak Care Package, which includes two one-pound, dry-aged ribeyes, banchan set, Cote salt blend and ssamjang – all ready for you to fire up the cast iron skillet and embrace your inner chef.
CHICAGO
Acadia
Get your two Michelin star fare delivered directly to your car while also helping the hospitality community that's been walloped with closures and lay-offs. Chef Ryan McCaskey's Acadia is now offering some of its best bites from the Maine-inspired menu normally only available in their serene dining room.
Favorite picks include the Acadia House Provisions Burger, slathered with caramelized onions, Duke's mayo, American cheese and pickles on a buttered brioche roll; Stonington Maine lobster roll and Jonah crab fried rice. Wine and cocktail kits are also available. Paying it forward, McCaskey has launched a weekly free market for hospitality workers. Sharing his abundance and overflow, restaurant workers from all over the Chicago area can pick up, free of charge, produce, meat and seafood to bring home to their families.
Alinea
Possibly the last place you'd think you'd be able to grab and go, chef Grant Achatz's bastion of modernity, Alinea, has always been known more like an experience than a place to grab grub.
Turning its culinary viewpoint on its ear, the three-star Michelin restaurant now offers a takeout experience packed with comfort and tradition. For pick-up and reheating at home for one to eight people, you can get a hearty multi-course meal. Recent offerings include a spring mix salad with goat cheese to start, Cassoulet (the legendary Toulousian casserole of confit duck, sausage and white beans), a side of green beans almondine and a banana cream tart for dessert.
Galit
Nestled in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, James Beard Award-winning chef Zachary Engel offers his unique spin on Middle Eastern dishes with unusual interpretations of hummus, mezze dishes, and sharable plates. Though typically not available for take-out (until now!), the dishes travel well and make for a decadent home feast. Consider tahina hummus finished with sumac and a generous glug of olive oil, Balkan stuffed cabbage (lamb, harissa and labneh) and chocolate chip halva cookies. Keep it local with a selection of Chicago beers such as the aptly named Troublesome Gose, a German-style blended beer from Off Color Brewing.
MIAMI
The Surf Club Restaurant
One of the country's most celebrated chefs, Thomas Keller, helms this riff on the Continental cuisine of the 1950s. Three-course pick-up menus are accessibly priced and change daily. Recent menus have included a Golden Age of Hollywood-inspired garden vegetable salad with pickles and Russian dressing, flank steak ropa vieja with chimichurri and rice pudding.
Fiola
One of Miami's most coveted tables can now be your kitchen table. Food and Wine's Best New Chef and James Beard Award-winner Fabio Trabocchi's Fiola Miami celebrates seasonal Italian cuisine with dishes like Gemelli primavera with eggplant, asparagus and roasted cherry tomatoes, chargrilled octopus and Florida Snapper. Cook at Home kits (dried or fresh pasta packed with curated sauces and accompaniments) and steaks, Berkshire pork chops and fish provide the essentials for a delicious at-home meal with quality ingredients.
Stubborn Seed
There's a buzz spinning around "Top Chef" Season 13 winner Jeremy Ford's hip eatery Stubborn Seed in South Beach and not just because of star power. A disciple of both Dean Max and Jean-George Vongerichten, Ford has turned a lot of culinary heads with his modern, ingredient-focused, farm-inspired fare. Now you can order everything from house potato rolls and fennel pollen and garbanzo chili dip to his Creekstone pork chop with black-eyed peas and asparagus for an on-the-floor living room feast. Nobody's watching so no napkins required.
Additional contributions by Matthew Wexler.
April Stamm is a lifestyle and food writer and chef based in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY.
