Restaurants in Baileys Crossroads

The homey restolounge serves a whimsical menu of modern American fare nightly, with lunch offered Saturdays and brunch on Sundays. The pared-down dinner menu features sharable, wine-complementing, meal-starting sustenance, served in three portion sizes. Opt for the cabernet-marinated, char-grilled baby lamb “lolli-chops,” served with chipotle pesto ($10+), or go for the truffle oil-infused roasted mushrooms, simmered in a Madeira cream sauce ($7+), before indulging in Social’s crispy roasted chicken ($16) entree. The weekend-launching Saturday lunch menu offers Social’s succulent Sonoran fish tacos, three tortilla envelopes of mahi mahi sprinkled with jalapeno cabbage, roasted jalapeno, and clementine pico ($8.95), while Sunday brunch boasts the spicy Lafayette Benedict, a Creole take on the breakfast classic, with sautéed crawfish and chorizo ($11.95). Or try the Grand Marnier- and orange zest-battered French toast, topped with fresh strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar ($7.95).

Tara Temple builds a banquet of a bridge between the culinary traditions of Thailand and Japan with its menu of Far East favorites. For starters, try the chicken satay ($6), skewered chunks of chicken glazed in peanut sauce and cucumber relish, or the sinus-clearing tom yum soup ($6). Main dishes include standard Thai sustenance such as curry and noodle bowls, as well as Japan-centric fare such as sushi. Wade through the wealth of the tofu-filled green curry ($11), kick consumption up a nourishing notch with the spicy salmon roll ($6.50), or opt for onomatopoeic opulence with the stir-fried crispy-duck kapow ($13), dressed in a Thai basil sauce. Tara Temple's lunch menu serves up bento boxes containing items such as beef katsu ($11) or shrimp tempura ($13). All bento boxes come with a six-piece California roll, miso soup, and house salad. The seaweed salad ($5) and the house salad ($7), dressed in your choice of dressing such as ginger or mustard soy, offer options for vegetarians and cannibalistic heads of lettuce.

An expansive dividing screen of embossed trapezoids forms a complex, glowing tessellation through which patrons can glimpse the next dining room. There, the wooden bar seems not to have been built, but to have grown organically at a tapered angle from of the smooth hardwood floor. Between the cushy banquettes, wine cabinets are lit from below and ornately carved slabs of stone from Lebanon hang on the walls.

Tendrils of smoke unfurl like dark blossoms from the kitchen, where a brick oven fueled by natural, all-wood charcoal roasts kebabs, removing excess fat and sealing in flavor. The cooks take a firm stance against chemicals and preservatives, slicing meat fresh daily and utilizing all-natural olive oil cold-pressed and filtered in Lebanon. Servers take a moment to adjust to the gentle lighting as they bear dishes to tables, where glasses clink together, filled with one of more than 100 bottled wines. Lebanese arak, an anise seed liquor, cools over ice on the surface of a granite counter polished to a patina by the excited chatter of geologists.

Café Olé's menu will fills diners' empty tank with Turkish, Spanish, Moroccan, Italian, French, and Lebanese fuel. Pass a plate of grilled portobello napoleon, which layers fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with pesto and fresh basil ($7), or gobble garlicky black-bean hummus with grilled pita chips ($5). Hot dishes include the Lebanese celebration, with tender, grilled chicken dressed up in hummus and lemon-pepper aioli atop nutty bulgur wheat ($8). Café Olé recommends two to three small plates, or mezze, to fill one human. If you’re whiling away midday doldrums, quicker lunch options are available, as is brunch on weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Grille at Morrison House sets tongues atwitter with a menu, helmed by Chef Dennis Marron, of modern American cuisine boasting a French influence. Sample the gastronomic goods with the chef's tasting menu, featuring five courses running the gamut from starter to dessert and prepped with local ingredients. Appetizing openers are yellowfin tuna sashimi with pickled red onion and seaweed salad, or soup, available in fennel-bisque, baby-carrot-puree, and fingerling-potato-cream variations. Next up is the choice of foie gras torchon or braised pork cheeks—both scrumptious segues into the third course. While a shrimp cocktail is offered as tray tres, diners may wish to opt for The Grille's signature dish, the progression of scallops. The Poseidon-preferred plates of mouthwatering mollusks begin with a diver scallops crudo —the Italian version of sushi—before delving into a cold smoked scallop and a seared day-boat sea scallop, and then ending with a coquilles St. Jacques. A lamb loin and a pork loin are the carnivore-friendly options for the fourth course, with a cheese plate or a dessert rounding out the tasting menu.

Kanpai Japanese Restaurant encourages diners to raise their glasses over platefuls of fresh sushi and traditional Japanese entrees. Inside the restaurant—which takes its name from a word that means “cheers!” —patrons gather around the sushi bar and watch as chefs set pieces of yellowtail, white tuna, and smoked salmon over rice and slice up various specialty rolls. Meanwhile, the wait staff carries salmon and chicken teriyaki from the grill to dining room tables both indoors and out. Throughout meals, patrons can sip wine and sake, or kick back with a bottle of Japanese beer.