Fairview

I seldom take advantage of valet parking, but I do when I dine at Fairview. Somehow, driving up the long approach to the Washington Duke Inn, a palatial luxury hotel built in the manner of an English country estate, transforms me from a small town Southern boy, reluctant to hand my keys over to a stranger, into a sophisticated man about town. I like to arrive early and --another thing I rarely do -- enjoy a cocktail in the bar before adjourning to the dining room. A Maker's Mark Manhattan, perhaps, "shaken not stirred" as the bar menu says, and poured tableside. (Full review)