The best restaurant you ate at last year

by Nicole Weston, Posted Jan 1st 2007 @ 3:04PM

At the end of the year, restaurant critics usually put together lists of the top restaurants - or the top dishes in Frank Bruni's case - creating a new "hit list" of restaurants for their city for the next year. San Francisco's list includes Dosa, Nopa, Coi, Kaygetsu and Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. Seattle has cheap eats on their list, as well as pricier places, as does New York. All are surely fine eateries, but these lists are not the be-all and end-all of dining in their respective cities. Are your favorite restaurants included?

Restaurants are left off because they aren't trendy, aren't new or are just plain overlooked and I know that some places that I like to eat don't always make the cut. I'm not saying that this makes them the best restaurants in any given city, but that doesn't mean that they don't deserve some recognition. Is anyone up for making our own list of reader favorites from around the country/world? List some of your favorite restaurants in the comments (along with a city and/or website, if applicable) and we'll see if we can't come up with something even better than the standard newspaper top tens.

Filed Under: Raves & Reviews, Lists, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: 2006, best, best restaurants, dining, favorites, list, restaurant, restaurants

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

1-02-2007 @4:51PM jen said... For Boulder, Colorado I'll list some of my favorites from the past year:

Flagstaff House:
http://jenyu.net/fd/restaurants/flagstaff/

John's Restaurant:
http://jenyu.net/fd/restaurants/johns/

The Kitchen:
http://jenyu.net/fd/restaurants/kitchen/

... and don't forget Jax Seafood House, Full Moon Grill, and Laudisio.

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1-02-2007 @9:01PM Alex said... Just for all those Melbournians (Australia), Jacques Raymond is where I go to impress. I was staggered by the knowledge of the sommelier as well as how interesting the food all was. Fresh cubes of raw tuna covered in a sheet of melted sugar with herbs through it - it's the kind of smarmy clever you wish you could imitate at home, but inevitably end up creating Frankenstein food monsters with hideously more limbs than you expected.

http://www.jacquesreymond.com.au/
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1-02-2007 @10:09PM fumbducker said... vegas people: how about rosemarys? i love that place.
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1-03-2007 @11:36AM hilsy said... After a short discussion with my wife, we think that our Fall visit to a relatively new restaurant in Portland, Oregon, Iorio, was our top experience of 2006. That includes a vist to the Portland foodie haven of Sympatica last Fall. The food and the atmosphere were fantastic.

Sympatica was good and we are heading there again in two weeks for a friend's birthday gathering, but Iorio was a better dining experience and had wonderful food paired with great wines suggested to us by the wait staff. Oh, and our original venture into the restaurant had us meet the head chef who sent us across the street to wait for 30 minutes at the pub, Lucky Labrador, where she and I met seven years ago.

Good stuff.

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1-03-2007 @9:23AM mike said... Craft in Dallas at the W Hotel
http://www.craftrestaurant.com/craft_dallas_style.html

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1-03-2007 @10:18PM Ima Wurdibitsch said... In the DC area, I highly recommend http://www.tallularestaurant.com/. I recently had the most amazing meal there and blogged about it (twice) at http://wordybitch.blogspot.com.

To the poster who stated there weren't any great restaurants in Houston, I must disagree. Please make reservations and go to Mark's (http://www.marks1658.com). I envy you living so close to such an amazing dining experience.
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1-04-2007 @6:42PM Jenny said... It had to be Bouchon in Vegas. Truly wonderful meal and amazing desserts!
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1-07-2007 @10:23PM Chris said... Had a great meal at Lumiere in Vancouver, the petits fours were exceptional, Per Se lived up to very high expectations, Gordon Ramsey's royal hospital road was just as good though they won't do a wine pairing..., Mistral in Seattle was very good and I had an amazing meal at home cooked by a friend who spent several years at El Bulli. Best dish of the year and one I will never forget, Thomas Keller's Oysters and Pearls.
Most unusual, risotto with capers and coffee, it works...
This year, El Bulli's on the list...
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1-10-2007 @5:46PM Kris said... Ame in San Francisco was the best, in a year that included my first visit to French Laundry. The service was perfection, only exceeded by the freshness and impecability of the food. I still have dreams about that meal.
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3-28-2007 @1:33PM mineola said... There is a new place in queens boulevard, Tangra Wok which offers delicious fusion chinese food. We thoroughly enjoyed the Chicken Lollipop, Chicken in Tangra Wok special sauce as well as the chicken hakka noodles. We loved the food particularly because this is a unique restaurant which offers chinese food with a twist. The ambiance is fabulous and is ideal for big groups. If I remember, their web site is www.tangrawok.com.
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3-22-2007 @4:47PM Amy said... Visit Magnolia Cafe in Chicago. They have heavenly potato/blue cheese cakes...Yummy!
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3-22-2007 @4:54PM Amy said... here's the site of Magnolia Cafe in case you want some information before you go to the restaurant
http://magnoliacafeuptown.com
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