NEW YORK: Like a ’90s nightclub plopped into the middle of NYC’s Lincoln Center, Tatiana glows blue and chain-link gold, blasts Lauryn Hill and Biggie, and serves the most exciting food we’ve tasted at a fancy restaurant, ever. We’re especially fond of the absurdly tender short rib pastrami suya, served with caraway coco bread, inviting you to build sliders. Tatiana is one of the hardest reservations in town, but for a restaurant that feels like a paradigm shift in fine dining, it’s worth it.

PHILADELPHIA: There’s nothing else in Philly quite like Provenance, a restaurant that serves a procession of 20-plus modern French dishes. The $225 tasting menu wanders from caviar-topped or gold-dusted seafood snacks to more substantial—but no less intricate—helpings of scallop and seared pork belly in a kimchi beurre fondue. It’s the kind of place where a single dish has three duck preparations, somehow packaged in just two bites, and desserts are almost too stunning to eat.

It's always been difficult to find any fault with The Catbird Seat. The old location used to be one of our highest-rated restaurants, but recent meals at the new space pushed it over the threshold. Now, it's the highest-rated restaurant in Nashville. The experimental fine dining powerhouse recently got a makeover, and the food has ascended to near untouchable heights. Everything you eat will be inventive and downright delicious.

MIAMI: It makes sense that Tâm Tâm started out as a sexy pop-up supper club, because dinner here is still a social event worth circling on your calendar. But you’re not coming to this Vietnamese restaurant in Downtown just to post a forehead selfie in one of the mirrors on the wall. You’re here to eat some of the most delicious food in Miami. Many of Tâm Tâm’s best dishes—like the sticky fish sauce caramel wings and the tamarind glazed pork ribs—are gloriously messy. Maybe don't wear white.

CHICAGO: Oriole in Chicago will give you one of the best meals of your life for a high price tag ($295). Despite the price, the environment (which you enter through a non-working freight elevator in an alley in the West Loop) isn’t stuffy at all. Attentive servers provide just the right amount of context while presenting you with dishes that will reframe your thoughts—like a truffle pasta with the power to finally convince you that truffles aren’t always a scam.

AUSTIN: There’s a distinct Texas twang to Odd Duck. It’s wood smoke, fire, chiles, game, and Gulf Coast seafood, with a menu that riffs on classic Texan dishes like tamales, cornbread, green chili pork shoulder, and icebox cake. The menu at this upbeat, semi-casual restaurant gets revamped at a rapid-fire pace. From day to day, every dish is subject to change, either because of seasonality, the chefs’ whims, or how the wind’s blowing. It’s the kind of place you go back to over and over again.

SAN FRANCISCO: There’s no place in San Francisco like Noodle In A Haystack. This pop-up-turned-restaurant in the Richmond has just 12 seats. It’s run by a ridiculously charming husband and wife duo that’ll gladly swap Tokyo recs as you dig into chawanmushi from across the counter. Throughout the night, eight to 10 Japanese-inspired courses ($195) land in front of you like they were dropped into this mortal dimension from the pearly gates.

HOUSTON: Nancy’s Hustle in Houston is the cool restaurant that gets better with every visit. The music is effortlessly curated and the lighting is set to the perfect hue of date-night amber. It's one of the hardest reservations to book, but Nancy's is worth the effort. The menu rotates with the seasons, but count on the mainstays like the fluffy Nancy Cakes, double-patty topped with briny pickles, and the delicate lamb tartare to be on the menu (which means they should also be on your table).

PORTLAND: Langbaan is always the right call for a big night-out dinner when you want to spend a small fortune on modern Thai dishes built to impress. It's from the restaurant group that includes Eem and Yaowarat, and takes over Phuket Cafe Wednesday-Sunday (Phuket Cafe is still open then). The ever-changing $135, five-course tasting menu will start with a parade of sweet, spicy, and funky one-bite wonders and then move on to plates. Reservations go fast.

ATLANTA: New American restaurant Lazy Betty didn’t just kick off the tasting menu boom in Atlanta, it set the standard for what lavish multi-course experiences could be. The menu shifts frequently to incorporate a range of seasonal ingredients—and to keep repeat diners on their toes. Courses sway from straightforward (tender filets of cod or wagyu beef in a buttery wine sauce) to unexpected (a beef wellington play with a giant scallop coated in a herby truffle custard).