Photo: Matt Mancuso (potstickers); All Good NYC (Talde)
Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. is currently airing on Bravo, and while past seasons have inspired us to reserve a table and eat out, the era of self-isolation has changed all that. The restaurant business is hurting, but you can help out—even from the comfort of your own home. If you’re sick of daily PB&Js and midnight boxes of mac and cheese, you’ll want to add these spots to your quarantine meal rotation. (And check out the other guides in this series: California and Hawaii, Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, the Midwest, and the South.)
KAREN AKUNOWICZ
SEASON 13, SEASON 17 ALL-STARS
Fox & The Kife
BOSTON
If you had to cancel a trip to Italy this summer, drown your sorrows (and your carb cravings) with takeout or delivery via Caviar from this South Boston enoteca, a 2018 James Beard Award–winner for Best Chef: Northeast. By day, the restaurant sells fresh pasta by the pound and sauces by the pint; at night, expect daily specials such as pork milanese with saffron aioli and honeycrisp apples or crispy duck leg with white beans and prosciutto XO sauce.
SARA NGUYEN
SEASON 3
Wangs
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
This Park Slope takeout window is known for its tasty fusion of Southern soul food and East and Southeast Asian flavors. That means the namesake “wangs” are fried Korean-style and bathed in hot (or “not hot” sauce), the fried chicken sandwich is bolstered with traditional bánh mì toppings, the collard greens come with Chinese sausage, and the grits are cooked in coconut milk. Stop by for takeout or order delivery on ChowNow or Seamless.
SILVIA BARBAN
SEASON 14
LaRina Pastificio & Vino
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Leave it to an Italian-born chef to want to feed you now and keep your pantry stocked for later. This restaurant and fresh pasta shop in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood supplements its menu of burrata ravioli, spaghetti aglio e olio, and more with a market of gourmet Italian ingredients, such as colatura di alici (anchovy-based fish sauce) and salted capers from the island of Pantelleria—all available in-store or on Caviar.
PATTY VEGA
SEASON 11
Thai Diner
NEW YORK
The season 11 contestant is the chef de cuisine at this newly opened member of the Uncle Boons family of acclaimed Thai restaurants. Look for Thai Diner specials—like the chicken and banana blossom salad or the egg sandwich, with cheese, sai oua herbal sausage, and Thai basil wrapped in roti—on the delivery accounts (Caviar and Seamless) or at the takeout window of sister restaurant Uncle Boons Sister.
BART VANDAELE
SEASON 10
Belga Café
WASHINGTON, D.C.
In addition to bistro classics like a whole rotisserie chicken for two with crispy frites and salad, this Barracks Row Belgian restaurant is offering a very important service: brunch! Specials include cornbread waffles, green eggs, and the signature “doffle sandbich,” a doughnut waffle topped with bacon sprinkles, sausage, American cheese, special sauce, and a sunnyside-up egg. Order through the restaurant’s Square site, Uber Eats, Postmates, or Grubhub, and don’t forget to throw in a bottle of house cava or a make-your-own Bloody Mary kit.
SPIKE MENDELSOHN
SEASON 4, SEASON 8 ALL-STARS
We, The Pizza
D.C. METRO AREA
PLNT Burger
SILVER SPRINGS, MARYLAND
Morris American Bar
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Montreal-born chef and philanthropist has restaurants all over the D.C. metro area. Work your way through the creative pies—honey ham and pineapple, spinach and artichoke—at the three locations of We, The Pizza. Sample the Beyond Meat burgers, oyster-mushroom-based CHKN Sandwich, and oat-based soft-serve at the new vegan fast food joint PLNT Burger (available for pickup through Toast or delivery on Uber Eats or Grubhub). And then stock up on beers, wines by the bottle, and batch cocktails at Morris American Bar.
JASON CICHONSKI
SEASON 11
Messina Social Club
PHILADELPHIA
You don’t have to be a member at this 112-year-old South Philly social club to order takeout or delivery. Meal kits include fresh pasta from Cichonski’s Little Noodle Pasta Co., a sauce (such as ramp, pea, and hazelnut pistou or venison bolognese), plus optional proteins (meatballs or herb-roasted chicken) and hunks of Americana grana cheese. The restaurant also paired with 13th Street Cocktails to offer free cocktails with pasta orders.
DALE TALDE
SEASON 4, SEASON 8 ALL-STARS
Goosefeather
TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK
After years of success in Brooklyn, the two-time contestant decamped to the Hudson Valley to open this Hong Kong–inspired restaurant inside the 19th-century Kings Mansion at Tarrytown House. Available through Grubhub, Seamless, and UberEats, the restaurant’s new takeout and delivery menu includes family-style dinners and à la carte dishes, such as Cantonese roast duckling, General Tso’s shrimp, and wild mushroom slippery noodles.
TYLER ANDERSON
SEASON 15
Millwright’s Restaurant and Tavern
SIMSBURY, CONNECTICUT
Square Peg Pizzeria
GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT
The seven-time James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast serves homestyle meals that will remind you of holidays around the table with family, such as roast chicken or roast beef for four with all the sides. Order takeout or delivery on Toast and stock up on frozen soups and entrees like venison osso bucco or lasagna. Anderson also runs the new red-sauce joint Square Peg Pizzeria, which you can order from on Toast, Grubhub, Uber Eats, or Waiter Wheels.
FABIO VIVIANI
SEASON 5 FAN FAVORITE, SEASON 8 ALL-STARS
Chuck Lager America’s Tavern
PIKE CREEK, DELAWARE
The Florentine fan favorite’s growing restaurant empire stretches from Oklahoma to Illinois to Florida. In Delaware, his internationally inspired tavern is offering affordable family meals for delivery or curbside pickup, such as a build-your-own carnitas taco kit, which includes a six-pack of beer for $40, or a filet mignon dinner—four steaks, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and garlic knots for $60. Check Instagram for weekly specials.
