Restaurants in Tallahassee

Andy Reiss, the fellow behind Andrew's Downtown, is a longtime restaurateur and ardent advocate of businesses in the city center. The Italian fusion sister of Andrew's Capital Grill & Bar, Andrew's 228 offers small plates and entrees in a classy bistro setting. Chefs here prepare Mediterranean-inspired nibbles, such as calamari and chorizo in red wine, along with decidedly American snacks that include black-eyed pea hummus with potato chips and rock shrimp popcorn with saffron-Old Bay aioli. The meats showcased in the main courses come from sustainable farms and local waters, while much of the produce hails from area fields or Mother Earth's crisper drawer.

Beneath red paper lanterns and a wooden canopy, Miyako’s sushi chefs roll and dice more than a dozen varieties of sushi. In addition to simple, classic combinations, chefs create complex rolls such as the Miyako, a blend of shrimp tempura, soft-shell crab, and conch. Back in the kitchen, chefs plate classic Japanese dishes such as teriyaki, tempura, and hibachi. Patrons can observe sushi chefs as they dice behind the wraparound bar or dine at dark wooden tables amid Japanese art and shoji screens.

Rhonda Foster, owner and head chef of Liam’s Restaurant, founded Liam's with two maxims in mind: think locally and organically, and take the pretension out of fine dining. After hot-gluing the restaurant into a cozy, historic brick building in downtown Thomasville, Rhonda began purchasing ingredients from local sustainable-growth farms. To this day, Rhonda and her employees take an active role in every step of the farm-to-table process, whether they’re touring the actual farms to ensure their methods are organic or they're hunting for wild turkey and duck themselves.

From the open kitchen, chefs transmogrify the fruits, vegetables, meats, and artisan cheeses of their research into ever changing seasonal menu, which includes daily seafood specials such as the mushroom-crusted Ahi Tuna. Diners can look in on the cooksmanship while chatting with Rhonda and her husband Scott about culinary techniques or chewing strategies as the two slow-cook enticing dishes, such as the sautéed Duck & Mushroom confit with truffle oil. For smaller appetites, the duo plates up a selection of nearly a hundred artisan cheeses flown, shipped, or catapulted in from around the globe.

Craft brews from breweries like Dogfish Head and North Coast line the shelves alongside wines from California, Germany, and France. Liam’s also serves up weekday lunch and a Saturday European-style brunch, and periodically hosts themed events such as chocolate tastings, Taste of Spain, Lobsterfest, and Beer Club.:m]]

After growing up in his father's pizzeria, native Italian Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco set out serve pizzas using the secret sauce and simple rules he learned from his father. Each Marco's Pizza location makes its dough fresh each morning and slathers pies with a blend of never-frozen cheeses and a red sauce that incorporates three types of vine-ripened tomatoes and imported spices. Along with its fleet of signature pies, Marco's serves up sizzling and meaty sub sandwiches, as well as spicy wings and platters of sausage and meatballs.

Extreme Wings takes taste buds to the flavor's edge with a menu featuring casual eats as well as hearty chicken offerings. As chicken wings flutter forth, vegetarians can also select fowl-free wraps or salads. Open every day until midnight, the casual eatery stands as a beacon for hungry night owls and those looking for tasty bait to lure a raccoon into a rival bobsled team’s sled.

The chefs at A La Provence show discipline in their commitment to classic French recipes as well as to how they source ingredients; they use only natural grass-fed beef from Harris Ranch, domestic veal and lamb from Marcho Farms or Strauss Farms, and fish and shellfish brought fresh daily from Southern Seafood. Using these meats, they craft a gallery of traditional French- and European-American fusion dishes, relying on precise recipes rather than just carving steaks into the shape of Napoleon's face. They showcase their talent and creativity through a nightly changing amuse-bouche, a bite-size appetizer that servers ferry to tables before the main dinner. They follow this introduction with French classics such as rack of lamb, duck confit, and filet mignon. At lunch, they prepare salmon and rainbow trout with sides such as herb risotto and garlic haricots verts. The aromas of these dishes and international wines fill the stone-tiled dining room, where walls are hung with mirrors in gilded frames, delicate sconces, floral displays, and oil paintings of tree-lined French streets.