Picán Chef Dean Dupuis of Atlanta's South City Kitchen moved west to run this upscale restaurant (pictured) in booming Uptown. His refined approach to Southern cuisine mainstays is a revelation: Chicken livers on toast ($11) are surrounded by chunks of Benton's bacon and onion-marsala sauce. A Caesar salad ($9) comes with nubbins of cornmeal-battered okra and grits croutons. And his braised collard greens are as fresh as they are spicy. 2295 Broadway; 510-834-1000 or picanrestaurant.com

Pizzaiolo Chef Charlie Hallowell, a veteran of Chez Panisse, raised the bar for casual dining in Oaktown when he opened his seasonal Italian restaurant in a former hardware store. The menu veers from chicken-liver crostini with pickled shallots ($9) to wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas to excellent pastas and sides like rapini with garlic and chile ($5). 5008 Telegraph Ave.; 510-651-4888 or pizzaiolooakland.com

Barlata For his new tapas bar, chef Daniel Olivella (who's also behind SF's B44) set up shop on the other side of the Bay Bridge. Six dishes--including house-cured sardines with smoky pimentón ($7)--are cleverly served in the latas (cans) for which the restaurant is named. Other standouts include genre classics like tortilla Española ($7) and less familiar Spanish specialties like the Catalan-influenced mar i muntanya: lamb meatballs and squid in chocolate-tomato sauce ($8). 4901 Telegraph Ave.; 510-450-0678 or barlata.com

Adesso Who knew sports bars and artisanal charcuterie were bosom buddies? The owners of Italian hot spot Dopo, apparently: Their easygoing offshoot down the street features an enormous flat-screen, but most of the clientele is focused on their plates, layered with some of the 33 different kinds of house-made salumi ($6 to $9 each). There's also a bounty of antipasti, panini and five varieties of pâté, including pigeon with speck and oregano ($9). 4395 Piedmont Ave.; 510-601-0305