"Ruffian is a 19-seat wine bar, but it has as much going on as places 10 times its size. All of the food on the rotating Mediterranean menu is cooked behind the bar in full view of everyone, and the small room quickly fills up with smells of toasting bread and frying bacon. They also blast old-school hip-hop from the speakers, making the usually-packed space even louder. You can’t make reservations, so this place is great for last-second dates, or a solo meal where you break the ice with strangers by asking which of the 250 natural wines they’re currently drinking." - matt tervooren