(NEW YORK CITY) - The service is soothing, the wine list always fascinating, and although there may be a better deal for a business lunch in midtown, I haven’t found it.

(CARRBORO, N.C.) - The Neals spice their own pastrami. They mix olive salad in-house for muffulettas. But breakfast is when they toss down the gauntlet.

Lovers of roast-beef sandwiches seek out Chicago’s Italian beef and Philadelphia’s cheesesteak. Least appreciated (outside Louisiana) but best of all is the roast-beef po’ boy....

If timing is everything, this seems like one odd moment for serious—and pricey—new restaurants to be debuting around Manhattan.

A country boy from Madisonville, TN, ascends to the porcine firmament.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Washington’s latest neo-speakeasy mixes up both classics and more modern inventions.

(CHICAGO) - At this fiercely local, adamantly handmade pasta workshop, there’s only one way to order.

(NICE, ITALY) - The wood-burning oven at this place produces a perfect pie: The crust is thin, with irregular blisters and blackened spots, and as flavorful as country bread.

Our roundup this week includes a Beltway bar worth the wait, killer pasta in Chicago, and perfect pizza in Nice.

One restaurant owner came up with a surefire way to raise cash for a pledge drive.