Tei An

Teiichi Sakurai's Arts District restaurant has been one of America's most acclaimed soba destinations for nearly two decades — Sakurai (formerly of Teppo and a James Beard semifinalist) makes the soba noodles by hand daily, runs a serious sake program, and treats Japanese noodle tradition with the kind of single-format discipline most American kitchens don't attempt. The room is intimate and design-forward. For destination soba in a city that has been quietly home to one of the country's best Japanese craftsmen.