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Forget sous vide: Some of America's most exciting restaurant kitchens are going back to the oldest cooking method there is—fire. Live-fire cooking is hardly new, but lately the hearth has become a fixture in restaurants across the country, with chefs turning to glowing embers, wood-burning grills and open flames to cook everything from steak and whole fish to vegetables, focaccia and even cocktails.
The appeal goes beyond the smoky, charred flavors fire can produce. In many dining rooms, the hearth sits in full view, turning dinner into a bit of a show. Ahead, seven restaurants putting live-fire cooking front and center.
Malka: West Palm Beach, FL
At Malka West Palm Beach, Michelin-starred chef Eyal Shani brings live-fire cooking to his first kosher-certified restaurant, where a custom wood-burning grill commands the dining room. Outfitted with two hibachi grills, a rotisserie skewer, hanging shelves and a smoking cabinet, the setup lets the kitchen roast, smoke and char meat, fish and vegetables in different ways. Standouts include the Perfect Pumpkin Steak, charred on the hibachi, and the Whole Fish Roasted on a Terrifying Fire. Plus, the restaurant occupies a historic West Palm Beach building, fittingly a former butcher shop and factory.
What to order: The Whole Fish Roasted on a Terrifying Fire, if only for the image it conjures
Ci Siamo: New York, NY
Ci Siamo may be known for its housemade pastas, but the wood-burning oven and grill are just as important to chef Hillary Sterling’s cooking. At the Manhattan West restaurant, whole trout comes off the fire with pine nuts and mustard greens, vegetables like carrots and zucchini are roasted or smoked and bistecca alla Fiorentina gets the full Tuscan treatment. The dining room has the warmth to match, with an open kitchen, soaring windows and plenty of wood throughout.
What to order: The visually arresting trout, served whole
Ajax Downtown: Denver, CO
Nearly everything at Ajax Downtown gets some time with the fire, from Rocky Mountain-raised meats and seasonal vegetables to bread and even cocktails. Custom grills are at the center of the Denver restaurant’s kitchen, turning out dishes like ember-roasted beets, mesquite-smoked chicken and sourdough baked in the coal oven. The restaurant also has a dedicated dry-aging room, where chef Jared Becker ages locally raised beef, lamb and venison before select cuts hit the grill. Even the bar gets in on it, charring spent lemon husks to make cordial for cocktails.
What to order: Dry-aged steaks are superb—aged and grilled both in-house
Corkfire: Temecula, CA
At the aptly named Corkfire restaurant, live-fire cooking starts just outside the kitchen. The restaurant at Temecula Creek Inn draws produce from its own Chef’s Garden, located about 150 yards away, then puts many of those ingredients to work over embers and flame. Executive chef Jonathan Alcala uses ember roasting, wood-fire grilling and flame finishing across the California-inspired menu, with dishes like fire-roasted peppers with salsa macha, charred broccolini and a nightly garden-to-flame special built around what’s in season.
What to order: Veggies! Opt for whatever is fresh from the garden and savor the charred preparation.
Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann: Miami Beach, FL
Few chefs are as closely associated with live-fire cooking as Francis Mallmann. The Argentine chef has built an international reputation around cooking over flame, and at Los Fuegos inside Faena Miami Beach, guests get a front-row seat. Drawing on the traditions of Argentine asado, the kitchen uses an open fire to char and smoke locally sourced meats, seafood and vegetables. On Sundays, the restaurant goes all in with its parrillada, a spread of skirt steak, ribeye, lamb, chorizo, domino potatoes and more designed for sharing. Like the hotel it occupies, Los Fuegos is theatrical and art-filled, with rich red furnishings and a decidedly glamorous feel.
What to order: Parillada, a traditional Argentine wood-fired spread of skirt steak, ribeye, lamb, chorizo, and domino potatoes
Maydan: Los Angeles, CA
Fire has always been fundamental to Maydan. Chef Rose Previte first opened the Middle Eastern restaurant in Washington, D.C., then brought it to Los Angeles, where a roaring hearth sits at the center of the action. Drawing on cooking traditions from across the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus, the menu is built for sharing, and the best way to go all in is the $95-per-person Tour of Fire, a family-style set menu served with freshly baked tanoor bread warm from the hearth. The L.A. restaurant is located inside Maydan Market, Previte’s 10,000-square-foot food hall in West Adams.
What to order: Hearth-baked tanoor bread is a winning side for everything on the menu.
Metsi’s Wood-Fired Italian: Columbus, OH
Metsi’s takes an intentionally old-school approach to Italian cooking. Helmed by chef BJ Lieberman, the restaurant embraces what he calls “regressive cooking,” a return to the wood and flame used long before modern kitchen equipment. Much of the menu is cooked over a custom-built, 10-foot wood-fired hearth that anchors the open kitchen, where diners can watch dishes take shape over the flames. That includes a wood-fired artichoke with garlic aioli, roasted pepper and lemon, plus heartier mains like snapper, osso buco and eggplant parm.
What to order: Scottadito—grilled lamb chops with an espresso rub, sunchoke purée and grilled endive.
Oriana: New York, NY
Chef Andy Quinn and sommelier Cedric Nicaise, the duo behind The Noortwyck, make a sprawling custom wood-fired grill the centerpiece of their Nolita restaurant, Oriana. The menu moves from embered oysters and wood-fired salmon to bigger, shareable dishes like barbecue duck, giving the hearth plenty to do beyond the usual steakhouse territory. The dining room is just as dramatic, with scarlet leather banquettes, dark wood and a 25-foot mural by artist Tunji Adeniyi-Jones stretching across one wall.
What to order: Order the smoked chicken because when someone recommends the chicken, you know it's good
