101 Best Casual Restaurants In America For 2017
Every year since 2011, we've set out to compile a comprehensive ranking of the 101 Best Restaurants in America. However, we've been hit with a dilemma: Does a restaurant like, say, the venerable Frank Pepe Pizzeria in New Haven, Connecticut, as stellar as it is for what it does, really belong in the same ranking as a place like Manhattan's Eleven Madison Park, with its three Michelin stars? While they're both celebrated establishments that serve incredibly delicious food, there's simply no way to compare the two; it's apples and oranges, pizza and foie gras. That's why two years ago we decided to separate out the casual from the fancy with an initial ranking of 50 casual restaurants, expanded to 101 two years ago. From hot dog shacks to taco joints, from neighborhood hangouts to legendary barbecue spots, these are amazing restaurants where price is no barrier to entry and you'll feel right at home in jeans.
101 Best Casual Restaurants in America 2017 (Slideshow)
With all that in mind, what makes a restaurant casual, exactly? It goes far beyond the dress code. Our main criterion was the price factor: Can two people fill themselves up and get out for less than $50, excluding tip and alcohol? Other factors we took into account were an overall comfortable and relaxed ambiance, a "destination" status (that is, is the place worth traveling for?), and a proven reputation and longevity.
To assemble our ranking, we took a similar approach to the one that we have used when compiling our 101 Best Restaurants in America. We began by reaching out to a panel of more than 500 of the nation's leading food writers, bloggers, and journalists, representing a wide spectrum of the American culinary landscape, and asked them to send us the names of their favorite casual restaurants.
Of course, we didn't stop there. We beefed up our initial list with additional restaurants culled from our existing rankings of America's best purveyors of pizza, burgers, hot dogs, tacos, and more, ending up with more than 500 restaurants that we believe represent a vast cross-section of America and the casual restaurants that make it great. From there we assembled a survey, classifying each restaurant according to both location and cuisine, and sent it back out to our initial panel. We asked them to vote for their favorites, but only ones that they'd dined at within the past two years.
In the end, we were left with a comprehensive ranking of the 101 Best Casual Restaurants in America. It's a list we can fully stand behind, and also one that supplements our ranking of the 101 Best Restaurants in America — which admittedly focuses on restaurants that are out of many people's price range — with a collection of restaurants that are affordable and accessible to all. (We didn't consider large chains like Shake Shack, and we left off restaurants that made it into our earlier ranking of the 101 Best Restaurants in America, as well as Asian restaurants, which are so varied and expansive that they're worthy of their own rankings.)[pullquote:left]
Our list spans the country as well as the entire gastronomic spectrum. The majority of the restaurants in our ranking are located in New York, California, and Texas (24, 13, and 9, respectively); however, 26 states and the District of Columbia are represented. Some 20 pizzerias, 15 barbecue spots, 15 burger joints, 13 hot dog stands, nine Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants, nine Southern and/or soul food joints, eight sandwich shops, five Jewish delis, four diners, and three establishments in categories of their own (like fast-casual vegan) made the cut.
So loosen your belt and get ready for a culinary tour of the best that America has to offer, from the restaurant where burgers were invented to a classic railroad-car-style diner, from life-changing Jewish delis to time-tested barbecue shacks. Click here to learn which 101 casual restaurants are America's best, and head to page two for the full ranking.
Additional reporting by Arthur Bovino.
#101 Attman's, Baltimore
#100 El Mago de Las Fritas, Miami
#99 Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Raleigh, N.C.
#98 Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, Los Angeles
#97 by CHLOE, New York City
#96 Swett's, Nashville, Tenn.
#95 Super Duper Weenie, Fairfield, Conn.
#94 Santarpio's, Boston
#93 Corner Bistro, New York City
#92 Hill Country Barbecue, New York City
#91 Nathan's, Coney Island, New York City
#90 La Super-Rica, Santa Barbara, Calif.
#89 Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington, DC
#88 Guelaguetza, Los Angeles
#87 Crif Dogs, New York City
#86 El Real Tex-Mex, Houston
#85 Dick's, Seattle
#84 Cooper's BBQ, Llano, Texas
#83 Gray's Papaya, New York City
#82 Chris Madrid's, San Antonio, Texas
#81 Blue Benn, Bennington, Vt.
#80 Veselka, New York City
#79 Berghoff Café, Chicago
#78 American Coney Island, Detroit
#77 Zuppardi's, New Haven, Conn.
#76 Grill 'Em All, Los Angeles
#75 Weiner's Circle, Chicago
#74 Tattooed Moose, Charleston, S.C.
#73 DiNic's, Philadelphia
#72 Sylvia's, New York City
#71 Superdawg, Chicago
#70 Slows BBQ, Detroit
#69 Walter's, Mamaroneck, N.Y.
#68 Shapiro's Delicatessen, Indianapolis, Ind.
#67 Santa Fe Bite, Santa Fe, N.M.
#66 Big Bob Gibson's BBQ, Decatur, Ala.
#65 Father's Office, Los Angeles
#64 Pecan Lodge, Dallas, Texas
#63 Olneyville NY System, North Providence, R.I.
#62 Loveless Café, Nashville, Tenn.
#61 Distrito, Philadelphia
#60 Lafayette Coney Island, Detroit
#59 Fette Sau, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#58 Paulie Gee's, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#57 Guisados, Los Angeles
#56 Domilese's, New Orleans
#55 Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que, Kansas City, Kan.
#54 Pappy's Smokehouse, St. Louis, Mo.
#53 White House Sub Shop, Atlantic City, N.J.
#52 Mother's, New Orleans
#51 Gates Bar-B-Q, Kansas City, Mo.
#50 Canter's Deli, Los Angeles
#49 Geno's, Philadelphia
#48 Apizza Scholls, Portland, Ore.
#47 Corky's BBQ, Memphis
#46 Ted's, Meriden, Conn.
#45 Sally's Apizza, New Haven, Conn.
#44 Rubirosa, New York City
#43 Big Star, Chicago
#42 Pat's King of Steaks, Philadelphia
#41 Papa's Tomato Pies, Trenton, N.J.
#40 Motorino, New York City
#39 Tick Tock Diner, Clifton, N.J.
#38 Portillo's, Chicago
#37 Lombardi's, New York City
#36 Louis Lunch, New Haven, Conn.
#35 Henry's Puffy Tacos, San Antonio
#34 Gott's Roadside, St. Helena, Calif.
#33 White Manna, Hackensack, N.J.
#32 Una Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco
#31 Totonno's, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#30 Au Cheval, Chicago
#29 Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles
#28 PJ Clarke's, New York City
#27 Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco
#26 City Market, Luling, Texas
#25 JG Melon, New York City
#24 Al's #1 Italian Beef, Chicago
#23 Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, Ariz.
#22 Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, Nashville, Tenn.
#21 Cochon Butcher, New Orleans
#20 Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous, Memphis, Tenn.
#19 Patsy's, New York City
#18 Mi Tierra, San Antonio
#17 Kuma's Corner, Chicago
#16 Gus' Fried Chicken, Memphis, Tenn.
#15 Pink's, Los Angeles, Calif.
#14 Little Goat, Chicago
#13 Grimaldi's, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#12 Di Fara, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#11 La Taqueria, San Francisco
#10 John's of Bleecker, New York City
#9 Willie Mae's Scotch House, New Orleans
#8 Hominy Grill, Charleston, S.C.
#7 Second Avenue Deli, New York City
#6 Roberta's, Brooklyn, N.Y.
#5 Kreuz Market, Lockhart, Texas
#4 Arthur Bryant's, Kansas City, Mo.
#3 Franklin BBQ, Austin, Texas
#2 Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, New Haven, Conn.
#1 Katz's Delicatessen, New York City