A Very Open Kitchen: The Catbird Seat

The newly famous Catbird Seat restaurant is in the same building as The Patterson House bar, just next door and up the stairs. Here, though, the kitchen occupies the middle of the bare room instead of a bar, encircled by a counter for diners. There are no menus. The several small courses on offer are often surprising, but chefs Josh Habiger and Erik Anderson know just what they’re doing—be it a baba ghanoush sorbet, salmon poached in chorizo oil served with corn pudding and parsley sauce or something as simple and sublime as blueberries over yogurt purée and puffed rice. Diners are guests in the chefs’ kitchen here, eager to eat what is served and drink what brilliant sommelier Jane Lopes recommends. Everyone leaves feeling grateful. 1711 Division St.; thecatbirdseatrestaurant.com.