Every year the James Beard Foundation honors the best of the best across American cooking, baking, bartending, and more. It’s kinda like the Oscars but for food and drink. The advantage being that with the James Beard Awards you can actually eat and drink all of it. Have you ever tried eating an Oscar? No one wants to eat an Oscar…
This year’s list for ‘Outstanding Restaurant’ represents the cream of the crop — chosen with this criteria: “A restaurant in the United States that serves as a national standard bearer of consistent quality and excellence in food, atmosphere and service. Eligible restaurants must have been in operation 10 or more consecutive years.”
We decided to offer you a visual tour of the six finalist to whet your appetite for some seriously delectable cuisine.
FRASCA FOOD AND WINE — BOULDER, CO
The brain trust of Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey and Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson created an eatery devoted to Friulano cookery — which is a sub-Alpine Italian cuisine. It’s all served with meticulously chosen wines, too.
Frasca Food and Wine’s focus is on “local farm cuisine, wine, and warm hospitality” and they’re still killing it nearly 15 years after opening.
HIGHLANDS BAR AND GRILL — BIRMINGHAM, AL
Chef Frank Stitt along with his wife and partner Pardis Stitt fashioned their restaurant as a French-inspired Southern kitchen. Highlands Bar and Grill has been a cornerstone of Alabama’s culinary scene since 1982. It’s all things seafood, biscuits, and grits — with a deeply French twist that elevates this restaurant into the stratosphere.
Don’t forget to enjoy a perfectly crafted Sazerac at their bar while you wait for a table at this classic establishment.
MOMOFUKU NOODLE BAR — NEW YORK CITY, NY
Wunderkind Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar is an institution in New York City and helped catapult him to celebrity chef superstardom with an empire of restaurants. It’s a must stop on any travel-foodie’s (troodie’s?) quest to eat the best food in the city.
Almost inexplicably, Momofuku Noodle Bar has remained true to its roots and serves some of the best noodles in a town full of awesome noodle bars.
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QUINCE — SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Chef Michael Tusk opened Quince back in 2003 with his wife and business partner Lindsay Tusk. Since then, Quince has been showered with awards (including three Michelin Stars) for its modernist blending of California and Italian cuisines.
With Chef Tusk each plate is its own work of culinary art — which has kept his restaurant on almost everyone’s “best of the best” lists for well over a decade.
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THE SPOTTED PIG — NEW YORK CITY, NY
Chef April Bloomfield’s New York City gastropub is home-cooking through the filter of truly refined brilliance. Since 2005, The Spotted Pig’s comfort food has tickled our nostalgia while bringing something new to the table by focusing on seasonal recipes alongside classics.
It’s also one of the more affordable and accessible places to get Michelin level food in the US.
TOPOLOBAMPO — CHICAGO, IL
Chef Rick Bayless has a deep roster of restaurants to choose from. But it’s his contemporary Mexican Chicago eatery that’s atop the list this year, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Topolobampo has been on the top of best lists since it opened back in 1989. The restaurant organizes its menu according to ideas like “vibrant, soulful, and enchanting,” giving the chef a broad range to work out new recipes and bold notions. This spot represents 25 straight years of experimentation.
