Garage Restaurant

I have eaten in a lot of dining rooms that try this hard. Garage Restaurant is one of the few that pulls it off without looking like it is trying.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: summer Atlantic breeze, white linens. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with Caesar salad assembled tableside, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered a Chianti Classico Riserva I wrote down in my notebook, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: lomo with chimichurri, the dish that puts Garage Restaurant on every short list. The crust was the colour of dark mahogany, and the inside was a confident, even pink the whole way through. The signature touch — the wood-fired grill in the open kitchen — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for broiled tomato with a breadcrumb cap and pommes Anna. Both arrived hot, both arrived early, both were exactly large enough to overdo it. We overdid it.

Dessert was panna cotta with stewed cherries, mostly because the waiter raised an eyebrow when we hesitated. He was right to.

I will be back. With company, next time, and a longer reservation.