"There’s definitely a place for peaceful bars, but if drinking in a library isn’t your bag, get yourself to Embla. The music is loud, the stripped-back dining room almost always chockablock, and the lighting so dim you occasionally wonder if the owner forgot to pay the electricity bill. This crew wants you to have a good time—they certainly are—and categories such as “orange, oxidized or otherwise weird on purpose” make traversing the multifarious wine list effortless and fun. The food is ridiculously good, too: scallops roasted in butter over the wood fire get zip from kumquat zest, and whipped fish on chicken-skin crackers makes for a superior single-bite snack." - Ellen Fraser