Animae

Animae argues that Filipino food belongs in a room this grand, and it wins the argument. Velvet booths, art deco glow, an old-fashioned steakhouse feeling dressed up for a night out — the setting alone would be enough for most restaurants to coast on. This kitchen doesn't coast. It takes homestyle Filipino dishes and gives them the glow-up treatment: tocino, usually a humble sweet cured pork, becomes a pork tomahawk steak with a beet glaze that reads as outrageous in the best sense. Kare kare gets swapped from oxtail to short rib, adding heft to the peanutty curry without losing its soul.

The menu's sharpening toward Filipino specificity, after starting broader as Pan-Asian, is the right call. These dishes carry more weight than the room's glamour needs to borrow — they're the reason the booths stay full.

The recognition backs up what's on the plate. Consecutive James Beard Best Chef California nods across multiple years, a Michelin selection, and repeated placement on national lists aren't flukes for a restaurant leaning on spectacle alone. Animae built the spectacle around cooking that earns it.