Cèpes

A wooden stag's head dominates the dining room at this hotel restaurant in the Veluwe, which sets the tone neatly: the menu runs to regional venison and locally grown asparagus, composed into a surprise tasting format that changes with what's nearby. The room mixes concrete and warm timber, and the chef names his suppliers the way other places name their wine regions. French in technique, very much Gelderland in spirit.

Two honors, in evidence: