Best Restaurant

AriesWhen the editors of Food & Wine chose Aries chef Scott Tycer as one of the top ten new chefs in the country last year, they pegged Aries as part of a national movement. Highly trained chefs such as Tycer who run their own small restaurants are bringing kitchen craftsmanship to a new level in this country. It's an approach to cooking that requires enormous dedication. Aries doesn't have a freezer. Everything is made from scratch every morning. The chefs shop and forage for ingredients that no other restaurant can offer, and they hire farmers to grow things other restaurants have never heard of. Tycer's bread is so good, he opened a bakery, which now supplies many other Houston restaurants. But this kind of chef-driven restaurant also requires a sophisticated clientele. Houstonians who think that great restaurants cater to a demanding customer's every whim, from "sauce on the side" to a tomato salad in the dead of winter, are apt to be disappointed here. Go to Aries and let chef Scott Tycer cook for you. Odds are he will wow you with his considerable genius. If you need to "have it your way," you're better off at Burger King -- or Tony's.