"Eat, sweat, swoon, and drink again" Chef Chintan Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar showcase the fringes of Indian cuisine in this Technicolor corner of the Lower East Side's Essex Market, creating food with a visceral, transportive energy by showcasing the cuisine's fringes: a paplet fry, which is a whole, fried pomfret fish dusted with ginger and cumin, an ideal partner to beer; a fiery, funky gurda kapo.

Thousands of miles away, it's the material of homes and market booths. And, yeah, it's hot. It is imperative that you put down the phone. The tapping and scrolling can make the globe appear small, but is this true? Eat, sweat, swoon, drink, repeat, and come to terms with yourself. There's a lot to learn in this world, and a lot to try. K.S. Dhamaka is located at 119 Delancey Street in New York, New York.

• Rate: 4.1/5.0; 332 reviews (Source: Google.com)
• Address: 119 Delancey Street in New York, New York.
• Website: http://dhamaka.nyc/

A jar, like a yogurt cup, is neatly wrapped in an aluminum wrapper. When you open it, smoke wafts into your nostrils, prompting you to reflexively lick the emulsions artfully positioned on the wrapper's backside. Trippy. The second meal is accompanied by a little almond cream skull, as if to say, "Get ready for a mind-bending ride, buddy."

So begins a voyage through chef Curtis Duffy and Michael Muser's surreal slow-burn tasting menu, which is tasty and amusing despite the serious modernist antics. (That's Matthew McConaughey on the bathroom's speaker, reading from his memoir.) The exotic wine combinations are downright fantastic, adding a new depth to what already feels like a gentle acid trip. Ever at 1340 West Fulton Street, Chicago —K.S.

• Rate: 4.9/5.0; 142 reviews (Source: Google.com)
• Address:1340 West Fulton Street, Chicago —K.S.
• Website: http://www.ever-restaurant.com/

Helen was a real lady who wore pearls and lived in a house with a grill. Her ability to work with coals carries on in the restaurant of her grandson, Rob McDaniel: The dry-aged 22-ounce Kansas City strip, coated with beef-and-herb-infused duck fat, and the fennely porchetta with crackling skin are two examples.

The restaurant is not a steakhouse, according to the chef. "However," he says, "I want them to be aware that we're here." They'll do it. If not for the steak, then for the sides, such as corn ribs, which are eighths of a cob served elote-style that curl up like a rib, or a smile, when eaten under the benevolent gaze of Helen's image on the wall. —Joshua David Stein, Helen, 2013 Second Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama.

• Rate: 4.7/5.0; 207 reviews (Source: Google.com)
• Address: 2013 Second Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama
• Website: http://www.helenbham.com/

Kevin Fink's Hestia, located among the glass towers of Austin's downtown, displays fire in all its Promethean and primeval beauty. It comes from a twenty-foot white-oak-fueled hearth with medieval-style levers operated by drawn-looking chefs. (Fink claims that during their first weeks in front of the grill, his chefs lose an average of fifteen pounds.)

Inches and seconds count when the temperature reaches 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. It's hard to believe that the same fire that tenderizes the halibut—kept three feet above the flame and served with an iridescent mirror glaze of brown butter sauce—is also responsible for the ferocious char on the dry-aged Wagyu bavette, with its sunset-red center and lacquered layers of potato and butter coiled into a tight, croissant-like bun.

Even the greatest of the desserts, the matcha kakigori (shown above), has a hint of fire. A scoop of burnt-honey ice cream, like a secret flaming heart, lurks within that frigid heavenly mountain of lavender and rhubarb salted cream. —J.D.S. Hestia is located at 607 West Third Street, #105, Austin, Texas.

• Rate: 4.5/5.0; 263 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 607 West Third Street, #105, Austin, Texas.
  
• Website: http://hestiaaustin.com/

To taste pitmaster Matt Horn's smokey meats, you'll have to get in line early, but the wait is well worth it. Brisket is the way to go, smoked low and slow over white wood for up to sixteen hours.

The fatty regions melt in your mouth, while the slimmer ends remain solid but juicy, and the bark retains its bite. This fusion of central Texas barbecue and Black foodways, dubbed "West Coast barbecue" by Horn and his wife Nina, feels monumental, but you can tell that huge things are only getting started. Horn Barbecue is located at 2534 Mandela Parkway in Oakland, CA. —Mamoon, Omar

• Rate: 4.5/5.0; 384 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 2534 Mandela Parkway in Oakland, CA. —Mamoon, Omar
  
• Website: http://www.hornbarbecue.com/

The cuisine of Felipe Riccio's ambitious new restaurant changes twice a year, drawing inspiration from different parts of the Mediterranean. In the interim, the facility is closed for a month while the personnel travels across the region gathering information. The dining room at March, on the other hand, does not have the atmosphere of a classroom.

The current nine-course tasting menu delves into the abstract world of Andalusian cuisine. The fried tortilla contains angulas, small eels that resemble white spaghetti with eyes. Mariscos en conserva, a wonderland of escabeche'd clams finished in jamón fat, is commonly pickled and sold in jars. March is a constant advance toward the avant-garde, as the name implies.March is located at 1624 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas, March —J.D.S.

• Rate: 4.8/5.0; 37 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 1624 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas
  
• Website: https://www.marchrestaurant.com/

Although the ingredients are ancient, for most people, tasting things like sweet and nutty hand-harvested wild rice is new and revelatory—a taste of a history nearly lost by colonization. Tasting dishes created completely of indigenous ingredients at chef Sean Sherman and Dana Thompson's restaurant, constructed in a disused mill along the Mississippi River, is soul-nourishing.

Then there are the tea mixes made by indigenous people. Fresh berries strewn across a conifer-preserved rabbit. And the wild-rice tart is electrifying, because of the absence of colonization elements (such as wheat or refined sugar). Eating here gives you a taste of both the past and the future. Owamni is located at 420 First Street South, Minneapolis, Minnesota—K.S.

• Rate: 4.8/5.0; 373 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 420 First Street South, Minneapolis, Minnesota—K.S.
  
• Website: http://owamni.com/

As the frost on my martini began to melt, a server emerged with a freshly chilled glass and poured the remaining elixir into it, ensuring that I didn't take another drink that wasn't perfectly icy. The Harvey House exudes the opulence of a Great Lakes supper club. But it'll be Shaina Robbins Papach and chef Joe Papach's deceptively basic food that makes you want to visit the upper Midwest again.

A relish platter with pressed celery and roe-topped sous vide deviled eggs. Walleye sautéed with its own mousse on top of a crouton-crisp layer of bread. In a delicate meringue shell, apple pie is presented pavlova-style. Yes, it's classical technique combined with midwestern cuisine, but the end result is so much more: delight, surprise, and more. The Harvey House at 644 West Washington Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin —K.S.

• Rate: 4.7/5.0; 166 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 644 West Washington Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin —K.S
  
• Website: https://www.theharveyhouse.com/

Cadence delivers a cry de coeur in the shape of vegan southern food that cuts through the pandemonium from a little sliver of a space on New York's unique East Seventh Street. The term "vegan" might be polarizing, but Cadence serves incredibly delectable, inventive dishes that don't use any animal products. Is it really that important that chef Shenarri Freeman's black-eyed-pea-and-garlic pancake, which is a cross between sweet and salty and topped with caviar-like pickled mustard seeds, is dairy-free?

Do you know that no animals were hurt in the production of the Bolognese sauce, which is served as part of a delectable deep-fried lasagna? No. Gravy is what they call it. And whether or not it's vegan gravy is irrelevant. Cadence is located at 122 East 7th Street in New York, New York.

• Rate: 4.5/5.0; 97 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 122 East 7th Street in New York, New York
  
• Website:https://www.overthrowhospitality.com/venues/cadence

Chef Mohammad Abutaha serves enormous, juicy spits of seasoned spicy chicken marinated in yogurt, cut, grilled, and wrapped in a large wrap before being smeared in garlicky toum sauce, a traditional Levantine condiment.

It's just delectable. Going Abboudi-style—that is, adding french fries—is much better. The whole thing is about the size of your forearm, and each mouthful becomes better and better until the very final bite, when the juices concentrate and drip down your wrists. Oakland, California's Shawarmaji is located at 2123 Franklin Street. —O.M.

• Rate: 4.5/5.0; 301 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 2123 Franklin Street. —O.M.
  
• Website: https://www.theshawarmaji.com/

The romance is a pleasant surprise. A vast patio with science-lab tables and plastic school chairs, lit night string lights and the moon (if you're lucky), with panoramic views of the low-slung row houses and the Walt Whitman Bridge, is located atop an old art deco high school.

Then a gracious staff brings out chef Michael Ferreri's sophisticated Sicilian fare—a fritto misto with juicy prawns and fried lemons, handcrafted al dente trofie pasta twists, and a superb caponata. Natural wines are served, Prince performs, and South Philly becomes the hippest, most romantic neighborhood in the city. Irwin's is located at 800 Mifflin Street in Philadelphia, PA. —K.S.

• Rate: 4.6/5.0; 141 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 800 Mifflin Street in Philadelphia, PA. —K.S.
  
• Website: https://www.irwinsupstairs.com/

The menu focuses on mushroom oysters and bivalve oysters, both of which are highly sustainable. Oyster shells are also utilized to make the candles. This isn't, however, a preachy establishment.

Chef Rob Rubba serves watermelon with peanuts and oysters (it just works) and a mushroom, corn truffle, and potato dish that tastes exactly like the forest floor. The tasting menu, which costs $75, will persuade you that the future of oyster eating can be both delicious and enjoyable. —K.S. Oyster Oyster is located at 1440 Eighth Street NW in Washington, D.C.

• Rate: 4.8/5.0; 71 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 1440 Eighth Street NW in Washington, D.C.
  
• Website: http://www.oysteroysterdc.com/

That crunchy, earthy dirt of fennel pollen and sesame seeds in the hummus may do it. Maybe it'll be the quail kebab's gleaming flesh. Whatever it is, you will be astonished at Iris at some point.

Chef John Fraser has managed to bring this Greek/Turkish jewel to a stretch of midtown Manhattan associated with lonesome office buildings, and people are surprised by the flavor combinations, a Turkish wine on sommelier Amy Racine's awareness-expanding list, the alacrity of the service, and overall that chef John Fraser has managed to bring this Greek/Turkish jewel to a stretch of midtown Manhattan associated with lonesome office buildings. Iris is located at 1740 Broadway in New York, NY. Jeff Gordinier (Jeff Gordinier)

• Rate: 4.6/5.0; 82 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 1740 Broadway in New York, NY.
  
• Website: https://www.irisrestaurant.nyc/menus/

At Myriel, a river of untamedness runs beneath the surface. On the ground floor, it's hygge central, with well-dressed patrons crammed into a snug room for dishes of lamb meatballs and apple pie; downstairs, chef Karyn Tomlinson and her staff are slaughtering whole pigs.

This is Scandinavian grandma food with a hint of Fäviken, Sweden, where Tomlinson worked in the kitchen. Even if Minnesotans are too shy to admit it, Myriel is one of the most groundbreaking new places in America. Myriel is situated at 470 Cleveland Avenue South, St. Paul, Minnesota—J.G.

The staffs here feel that good food are a basic human desire at Myriel. They feel that sharing beauty is a manner of showing one's concern for one another. They believe that the hospitality industry is deserving of respect. They also believe that service is a way of life rather than a collection of chores. They provide Bishop Myriel's open-hearted hospitality as a way to interact with one another in their hectic lives.

To find quality ingredients, they are happy to work with small, local farmers. They take delight in processing those ingredients with care, taking great care and time to fill their pantry with house-made charcuterie, bread, and preserves. Their menu changes frequently because it is based on what is good at any given time.

• Rate: 4.6/5.0; 61 reviews (Source: Google.com)
  
• Address: 470 Cleveland Avenue South, St. Paul, Minnesota
  
• Website: http://myrielmn.com/