It keeps getting harder to choose the best restaurant in Nashville, but chef Dale Levitski’s year-old venture Sinema is such a well-rounded contender (and had such a stellar year) that it earns our nod. The Top Chef alum may have moved here recently from Chicago, but he’s really settled in — exploring the bounty of Middle Tennessee ingredients and building strong relationships with local providers — and his culinary execution with prosaic items such as heirloom tomatoes, indigenous greens and pole beans is deft. The restaurant’s sleek interior, an homage to cinema that fills the former Melrose Theatre, may be the most glamorous Nashville’s ever seen, but it feels comfortably convivial, never fancy-pants. It’s the cornerstone of what could one day be a destination dining district to rival Germantown.
Best Restaurant
Sinema
Photo: Michael W. Bunch
