The Top Ten Best New Restaurants: No. 7, January 2012

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo earned their stellar reputation with Animal, a casually spare room where they injected mirth and irreverence into the nose-to-tail discussion. At Son of a Gun they've swapped out the protein and broadened their source of inspiration, channeling those hoary coastal dives with a Miller Lite sign buzzing in the window and killer seafood in the short-order kitchen. Adorned with potato chips, plump browned rolls bulge with lobster. Plates of sliced Benton's country ham arrive heaped with warm corn bread and honey butter. Alligator schnitzel is topped with hearts of palm slaw that's shot through with a Myers's Rum sauce. Don't let the ship wheels and netting and seaside knickknacks on the walls fool you: They're not just kitsch; they're a tip of the toque (or trucker's cap, at least) to an increasingly rare type of restaurant where nothing gets gussied up.