Roxanne

Roxanne is Alexandra Holt’s teeny 26-seater in the Italian Market, where she’s serving up experimental cuisine in a $75 eight-course tasting menu. The dishes feel like they were created from the basket of random ingredients on Chopped–calf brains, beets, and herbed brioche drenched in an overly tangy sauce, and lion’s mane mushroom and pear in a hollandaise so smoky it felt like a punch to the throat. Her pastries are a delight, like the persimmon pancakes, but we can’t quite figure out what they were doing next to pork cheeks and peppercorn. If you want to play Ted Allen, head in for dinner (we’ll stick to the weekend croissants and canelés).