.Most Innovative MenuA celebrity chef’s culinary lab

In these dark days, when the economy has scared all the cooks away from taking culinary risks, it’s hard to find a novel twist among the 748 apple-walnut-goat cheese salads and New York strips with blue cheese and potato gratin. But Le Théâtre’s Tanya Holland keeps pushing the boundaries. Looking for the perfect home base for her cookbook (New Soul Cooking) and TV (Melting Pot) career, Holland took over the helm of Le Théâtre fifteen months ago and uses the kitchen as her culinary laboratory. She is taking classic French fare and creolizing it with American and North African twists, resulting in dishes like pan-seared snapper on horseradish pomme purée with beet and hazelnut salad, or tuna tartare with pomegranate, mint, and sweet potato chips. We hope she keeps taking us places we’ve never been.