"A meal at Mainlander feels like dining in the home of Blake Askew and Gordon Chen; the midcentury-style supper club is filled with smoked glass pickle trays, teak cocktail cups, and other pieces the two have collected over time. Only 20 customers can fit inside to enjoy nostalgic dishes, the types of things curious American home cooks once clumsily attempted (and sometimes fetishized) that here feel natural and unironic. During one visit, the monthly three-course menu started with a lazy Susan full of regional ingredients, including a crown of local baby lettuces, to be dipped into tangy Catalina-style dressing. The restaurant became a James Beard semifinalist in its first year, and the business pushes back against rigid, exclusionary labor practices by caring for its own." - Holly Fann, Joel Crespo
