Aries owner Scott Tycer has been recognized as one of the nation's top chefs. His crew shops and forages for ingredients that no other restaurant can offer, and Tycer hires farmers to grow things other restaurants have never heard of. But his restaurant suffered early on from the Houston dining scene's most notorious shortcoming: a lack of knowledgeable service staff. There is nothing more disappointing than eating in a restaurant where the ingredients are unique and unusual, the kitchen craftsmanship is brilliant, and the waitstaff is too clueless to explain any of it. Aries solved the problem by initiating a rigorous training program for its service personnel. The restaurant also has a captain on the floor to serve as a sort of uber-waiter, explaining the food and the details of its preparation in such detail that you're seldom left with any questions. Fine-dining restaurants in the rest of the city have a long way to go to live up to the level of service at Aries.