La Niçoise Café, Winchester

After founding small bistros and cafés throughout Nice, Paris, and St. Tropez, Frederick Boukaïa decided to bring his passion for rustic French cooking to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The result is La Niçoise Café. "I want people to be comfortable in my place," Boukaïa recently explained to the Northern Virginia Daily. "Nothing fancy. Nothing pretentious.”

Indeed, it's hard to feel alienated by the café's cozy, homespun ambiance and approachable menu of French comfort foods. It helps that you can't go wrong with any order, whether it's the grilled duck breast with crispy polenta or the mussels steamed in white wine with parsley, garlic, and shallots. To complement this cuisine, the café offers a curated selection of wines from regions throughout France, although the list also includes bottles from Australian, Italian, Californian, Algerian, and Virginian producers.