"When we moved in across the street, I figured that a restaurant right next to an enormous high rise would probably just coast off convenience and churn out OK but basically uninteresting food. I was wrong! Having eaten here about half a dozen times, I think the concise description is that M. Wells is a restaurant run by a couple that loves running a restaurant. Looking at food, the menu changes slowly enough to revisit favorites but quickly enough that there are probably new dishes between visits. The cooking behind it seems to come from a place of real curiosity about how food can be delicious and interesting, with more attention paid to old techniques than new ones, and mercifully little of the stuffy pride that sometimes entails. It has the feeling of humans trying to do things they think are good and cool, with not much strategizing beyond that. Having eaten around the area for a couple of years, I think it is the best restaurant , whatever that means. We recently had multi-course dinner for two here and got out for just over $50 per person after tip (no drinks), which I think is extremely reasonable for what we got. Beyond the food, I appreciate how much random community stuff they do: they provide food/drinks/music/etc for both the annual neighborhood block party and marathon, and they also host classes and markets throughout the year. They apparently have live music now too. Overall, it seems like the sort of place that would be great for a couple of years and then close because the people running it optimized for being good instead of profitable ... except it has somehow stayed open for over a decade. I hope they keep going. P.S.: the annual meat pies are great."
