Having spent the year travelling the country eating food at restaurants, Eater’s restaurant editor Bill Addison has painstakingly selected the top 38 places you need to know about. It’s a culinary mosaic of excellence featuring “avant-garde noodle bowls in Manhattan, soul-soothing roast chicken in San Francisco, Lebanese mezze in Michigan, the Russian layered salad known as “herring under a fur coat” in Portland, Oregon,” and more.
This year, San Gabriel Valley’s fiery strip mall taste-sensation Szechuan Impression was a freshman inclusion in the list alongside two other Los Angeles restaurants who made their debut in the annual list.
Jessica Koslow’s trendy neighborhood breakfast joint Sqirl earned its place for its famous sorrel rice bowl and the ricotta toast with jam–both of which are must-haves if you’re in the Silverlake area. Petit Trois, the tiny all-day cash-only French bistro helmed by chef Ludo Lefebvre alongside tastemakers Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook, made the cut too. Classics like “rolled omelets, butter-drenched burgundy escargot, and croque monsieurs” are transcendent and refined, says Eater.
It’s not all newcomers on the list. Known spots like Roberta’s in New York and Austin’s Franklin Barbecue were amongst a slew of restaurants that landed the Eater Hall of Fame award, having made the list for three consecutive years. Chicago featured heavily amongst the returning crowd with fine-dining institution Alinea, exceptional Korean bistro Parachute, and definitive twenty-first century beer hall The Publican (pictured up top) being spotlighted amongst the city’s exceptional dining scene.
Read the full list here to get to know the essential eating and drinking experiences in America right now. From magnificent tasting menus to colossal kebabs and turtle Bolognese. “These are places for us all to savor,” says Eater.
- Story by Ariel Katz