Suburban fine dining that screams special occasion.
Before you count them, let’s get it out of the way: there aren’t exactly 20 seats at Twenty Seats. The name is more of a mission statement than a rule, and give or take a few chairs, that mission remains clear throughout: to keep the lens focused, to strive for quality over quantity, and to give each and every diner unbroken attention.
On the service front, that means charming and engaged waitstaff working a hushed room. For the food, it means veteran chef Todd Stuart (longtime owner-chef of Petite Mort) delivering 10 intricate courses, ranging from snacks to eat with your hands right through to pretty petit fours. There’s composed dishes (a delicate tartlet filled with lightly smoked salmon, beetroot, roe and yuzu cream, say) among more street-style offerings (fried chicken dusted with powdered citrus) to start, while larger plates look to France with contemporary edge. Think lobster bisque whipped into a foamy sauce for medium-rare salmon with leeks. Or Black Onyx wagyu sheathed in charred cos lettuce with pureed Jerusalem artichoke, buttermilk sauce and bacon jam. A final cheese course of raclette gloriously draped over crisp potato and pickles, meanwhile, is as special as some of the vintages on the wine list. Twenty seats or not, better be quick.
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