Step inside the Lyn-Lake area's best little bistro, the Gray House, and you may wish you lived in the neighborhood. The place is nothing like most nearby restaurants: The bar has open seats, you can hear the person across the table from you, and you don't feel uncool asking lots of questions about the different beers on tap. Most important, it's the caliber of food that sets it apart. Its menu is constantly being revised with dishes that showcase whatever is in season and whatever sparks the imagination of chef Ian Gray: fresh, bright, raw dishes like the tuna tartare with ground cherries, or the puzzlingly good cabbage and cava salad, perhaps an eggy handmade pasta stuffed with ham hocks, or approachable preparations of otherwise unfamiliar ingredients like grilled goat chops or spicy, cumin-scented goat chili. The Gray House is always changing, and yet from your little corner table it feels very much like it's your own place — a well-guarded secret, far from the ballyhoo just outside its Lake Street entrance.