Providence's Gift Horse Among Best New Eateries In America: New List

PROVIDENCE, RI — Gift Horse, a restaurant in Providence, was named among the 50 best new eateries in America this year by the men's fashion, style and culture magazine Esquire.

The 2023 list, published Tuesday, includes restaurants from well-known food hubs such as New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as other major metro areas including Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Honolulu, Chicago, Louisville, New Orleans, St Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and more.

Esquire said of Gift Horse:

"Seafood spots in New England tend to be encrusted with centuries of tradition. Nothing wrong with that. But at Gift Horse, chefs Ben Sukle and Sky Kim scrape off the barnacles and start anew. The result is a reinterpretation of what a raw bar can be. Yes, towers shimmer with the liquor of hyper-fresh oysters and clams. But (thanks to Kim) Korean flavors give an old genre new juice. That’s her scallion pancake studded with briny-sweet shellfish and smeared with soy-citrus mayo. And that’s her whole local fish (usually fluke or scup) deep-fried and served with rice and banchan and lettuce leaves for wrapping up each bite like, well, a gift."

Gift Horse is located at 272 Westminster in Providence.

Esquire noted that authenticity was a major theme this year among the restaurants. That was true for its Restaurant of the Year winner, Ilis in Brooklyn, where the chefs "prepared the fish as it would have been done centuries ago, wrapped in bark and cooked over flames." It was also true across the country at Poltergeist in Los Angeles, where the chefs "gave us a wild, experimental take on the fish taco, which was dipped in masa and fried. Both felt genuine, and each was delicious."

The magazine also named two eateries that earned Comeback of the Year titles and the coveted claim to Pizza Joint of the Year. Baroo in Los Angeles closed in 2018, but is now "decidedly all grown up," Esquire wrote in naming it the comeback winner this year for the West Coast. On the East Coast, Superiority Burger in the East Village of New York City earned the comeback honor, with its tantalizing vegan burger offerings.

Meanwhile, sure to stir the pot among pizza aficionados is Nonno's Family Pizza Tavern in Houston, which was named Pizza Joint of the Year.

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