The Best Restaurants Of 2019

In 2019, the most wildly creative restaurants to open in years took their respective cities by storm, beloved old-timers continued to rack up new legions of fans and health-conscious diners were provided with more options than ever before. Our list of the best restaurants of 2019 encompasses universally beloved fine dining restaurants, casual institutions where time stands still, perfect pizzerias both old and new, trendy must-visits, classic steakhouses as well as some of the very best restaurants to have opened this year. These are the very best restaurants of 2019.

Acadia is a two-Michelin-starred masterpiece under the auspices of chef/owner Ryan McCaskey and has been racking up legions of devotees since opening in 2011. Guests can choose from a couple different experiences, including sitting in the bar area and ordering one of the best burgers in America, pimento cheese, a lobster roll, oysters or 24-hour pork shoulder with truffle polenta — all of which are priced below $20. If you want something a little more upscale, take a seat in the elegant yet understated main dining room and be served a $185 tasting menu with dishes like chawanmushi with abalone, pine and dashi; smoked potato with quail egg, potato jus, white truffle and cottonbell cheese; and Elysian Fields lamb with beet, clam, caviar and dill.

The menu at Alinea, one of the most expensive restaurants in America, can sometimes sound deceptively simple ("scallop, citrus aroma," "lobster, curry, Earl Grey, grapefruit," and the like), but what shows up on the plate is original and dazzlingly good. Chef/owner Grant Achatz consistently turns out some of the most imaginative and delicious contemporary (or modernist, if you will) cuisine in the country, and it's better than ever after closing down a few years ago for an extensive five-month renovation. At Alinea, you never quite know what you're going to be served, but a paradigm-shifting experience is all but guaranteed.

There are only 22 seats at Versailles-born Dominique Crenn's three-Michelin-starred flagship Atelier Crenn, where guests drop $335 on advance reservations in order to experience her acclaimed multi-course modernist tasting menu. In lieu of a menu, however, guests receive an original poem composed by Crenn; its lines loosely correspond to what diners can expect to receive (Crenn describes her cooking style as "poetic culinaria"). For instance, "Warriors ashore bathe in a glow as luminous as its gilded crown" is Dungeness crab with seaweed and whey; and "By the shimmer of black pearly, tumbling in the ashen cloud" is golden osetra caviar with potato and onion. This is some truly high-concept dining, yet it is not precious or pretentious. As of Oct. 1, the restaurant is meat free, focusing just on seafood and vegetables.

At Bazaar Meat, the ceaselessly energetic Jose Andrés has a menu that includes plenty of Spanish tastes, an extensive raw bar, plenty of fresh seafood and the option of pre-ordering an entire roast suckling pig, but there's no denying that this is a steakhouse at the end of the day. Look no further than a real-deal A5 Kobe rib-eye, a châteaubriand for two from California's Brandt Beef with pomme soufflé and périgord sauce, a 20-ounce grass-fed bone-in strip loin from Wisconsin's Strauss Farm and a true rarity: a rib-eye of "vaca vieja," an 8-year-old working Holstein from California.

A love letter to chef Jeremy Fox's Midwestern roots and California produce, Birdie G's has a big, comforting menu filled with intriguing spins on big, bold comfort food. Cast iron cornbread, a rustic pork terrine, traditional Italian sausage ravioli, steak frites, a traditional relish tray and a whole section of the menu dedicated to Texas toast (try the "Sloppy Jeremy" with strawberry-kicked bolognese) seamlessly blend the old and new. There's also a decidedly Jewish slant, with artisan matzo, noodle kugel, matzo ball soup and a Hangtown fry/matro brei hybrid (called Hangtown brei, obviously); and a few fine-dining offerings "from California ranches and waters," like lamb with Persian spices, saffron yogurt and crispy dill rice. This menu is all over the place, but in the most fun and exciting way possible.

High-profile organo-loca-sustainavore Dan Barber has found the perfect home at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a beautiful restaurant on the year-round farm and educational nonprofit Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This literal farm-to-table restaurant prepares multi-course meals (costing $278 per person) based largely on the day's harvest, served in a gorgeous and minimalist dining room with a vaulted ceiling, reclaimed wood floors, cream-colored walls, plenty of windows, well-spaced tables, hanging plants and (of course) white tablecloths. The serene and upscale dining room, the high-end cuisine and the pastoral setting combine to create one of the most romantic dining experiences in America.

A no-holds-barred celebration of all things meat, Bullard is chef Doug Adams' homage to his native Texas. There's a Cobb salad with smoked tri-tip, a dry-aged burger, braised elk shoulder, smoked pork belly for two, a slow-smoked beef rib with green sauce and fresh flour tortillas and half or whole smoked chicken. But produce doesn't get short shrift — it's all impeccably sourced from local farmers and there's a real effort to fuse both Portland and Texas into a cohesive whole, which is best exemplified by the restaurant's logo: a flag that's a cross between the state flags of Texas and Oregon.

At chef Daniel Patterson's Coi, the $250 11-course seafood-heavy tasting menu changes daily, but expect dishes like fluke cured in kombu with muscade squash, new potato and celtuce with comte and tarragon, poached and grilled lamb with chard and garum, and frozen lime marshmallow with coal-toasted meringue. Patterson recently returned to the helm after a three-year hiatus (he opened the restaurant in 2006 and ran it until 2016), so now's a great time to experience it.

Chef Dave Beran spent years as one of legendary Chicago chef Grant Achatz's right-hand men — first at Alinea, then as executive chef of Next (winning a James Beard Award for his efforts). So it came as no surprise that when he decided to strike out on his own, he dreamt big and bold. Dialogue is an 18-seat restaurant and tasting counter (three tables and eight seats at the counter) from which Beran and his team serve a seasonally inspired, Japanese kaiseki-influenced, multi-course tasting menu. Like at many high-end tasting counters, the market-driven menu changes on a near-daily basis depending on what's fresh and in season, but Beran's objective is to tell a story through food. So expect dishes like "a salad of mints with lilac," "three years of peaches," "uni, chipotle morita, fermented tomato" and "steak 'au poivre,' salanova lettuce, yeast."

Although Eleven Madison Park opened to much fanfare and subsequent acclaim in 1998, it was Danny Meyer's hiring of Swiss-born Daniel Humm to helm the kitchen in 2006 that elevated the place to the level of the finest restaurants in the country. The chef is still firmly in control, and while he will tailor his single $335 multi-course tasting menu to accommodate allergies, dietary restrictions and ingredient preferences, there is no a la carte selection available. The particulars of the dishes change frequently, but the technique is contemporary French and modernist. The ingredients are heavily New York-based, and the culinary traditions on which the food is based are often those of Gotham street or deli food, producing notably unique results (a roasted dry-aged duck, scented with lavender and honey, is a standby). A recent renovation gently modernized the dining room (and completely overhauled the kitchen), and reservations are just as difficult to get as always. If you can snag one, however, and can spare the expense, this is easily one of the best restaurants in America for a special-occasion meal.

Pitmaster Aaron Franklin and his wife Stacey started selling barbecue from an Airstream trailer in 2009, and today they're running one of the most highly praised restaurants in America, serving barbecue that's widely regarded as the very best you'll find anywhere. How did they get there? For one, attention to detail. The quality of the meat, the care and attention put into the seasoning, the wood, the smoking process and the carving — Franklin literally has it down to a science, and the crowds show up in droves every day to sample the fruits of his labor. Salt and pepper, meat, smoke and time are all that go into the brisket, ribs, pulled pork and turkey, and the end result is, well, perfect. Visiting Franklin Barbecue is a pilgrimage that all barbecue lovers should make, but it requires some planning: Folks show up as early as 8 a.m. to claim a place in line, the doors open at 11, and they close up shop as soon as the meat runs out, usually around 3. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but a tourist trap restaurant worth visiting.

Stephanie Izard's perpetually packed West Loop restaurant Girl & the Goat is a constant party, where bold, endlessly creative, globally inspired family-style dishes comfortably walk the tightrope between envelope-pushing and comfort food. The sense of community and comfort are readily apparent, from the soundtrack of pop and rock hits playing in the background to the broad, communal bar table. Dishes like roasted beets with green beans, white anchovies, avocado creme fraiche and breadcrumbs; grilled octopus and pork belly with spiced black bean; crisp braised pork shank with buttermilk dressing, apple kimchi and naan; and goat empanadas with miso-bleu aioli are just part of the reason why "Top Chef" season four winner Izard won the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef: Great Lakes accolades in 2013.

The cooking is simply exquisite in this opulently furnished dining room in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. As the first restaurant opened in America by the famed, award-winning Robuchon, who passed away in 2018, Joël Robuchon maintains the highest standards under the guidance of chef Christophe de Lellis. Everything is impeccable, from its superb service and impressive wine list to such finely crafted dishes as Le Caviar Imperial, a disc of king crab topped with an ample amount of osetra caviar, atop a crustacean gelee dotted with cauliflower puree. The 18-course tasting menu is a truly memorable experience. Not only is the food incredible, but you'll remember the damage it did to your bank account. At $445 a head, Joel Robuchon ranks among the most expensive restaurants on Earth.

Perfectly charred steaks and chops have been served at New York institution Keens since 1885. Before you're served your expertly cooked, dry-aged sirloin, filet mignon, prime rib, porterhouse for two or porterhouse for three, have a look around. This labyrinthine shrine to old New York is spread over two floors and three townhouses and features memorabilia from more than 100 years of New York history, including playbills, political cartoons and photographs, as well as a collection of more than 50,000 pipes from the era when regulars like Babe Ruth and Teddy Roosevelt would store theirs there. If you go once, try the porterhouse or the spectacular prime rib. If you go twice, try the famous mutton chop, a 26-ounce lamb saddle that's nearly two inches thick and dates back to the restaurant's earliest days.

Since opening his Michelin three-starred Los Gatos restaurant Manresa in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2002, chef David Kinch has defied conventional culinary categorization. The best way to describe him and his cuisine is to use one word: original. His $295 tasting menu changes nightly and is sourced primarily from local farms, and each dish features vast landscapes of ingredients and flavors that are thoughtful and experimental, but never overwrought.

This lush, modern and inviting Thai restaurant from the team behind the Michelin-starred Kin Khao opened in August and is already being hailed as San Francisco's most exciting new restaurant. Chef Pim Techamuanvivit named the restaurant Nari, which is Thai for "women," as a subtle tribute to Thai female cooks, and as another nod, each creative cocktail is named after a Thai literary heroine. As for the food, it's big, bold and unapologetic. Fried bites of Northern Thai headcheese, fried sweetbreads glazed in sriraja-tamarind sauce, spicy squid and pork jowl and mixed seafood curry roasted in a banana leaf are standout starters. As for mains, try the gaeng ranjan (funky, spicy beef soup with sweet peppers and shrimp pasta), massaman gae (lamb shank curry with grilled onions and nectarines) and gaeng rawaeng (whole cornish game hen with turmeric and lemongrass, served with roti). This is occasionally challenging, occasionally very spicy stuff, but if you just dive in, you'll be rewarded.

Chef Dave Beran went the French route for his follow-up to Dialogue, with simply astonishing results. It opened in September after much anticipation, and already it's one of the hottest spots in town. At Pasjoli, Beran is turning Southern Californian ingredients into classic French cuisine inspired by Parisian markets, and the menu is chock full of high-end traditional French fare, including scallop quenelle with caviar beurre blanc, milk-fed pork with de puy lentils and roasted cippolini onion, turbot meunière and an omelette with fines herbes, black truffle and gruyere. The star of the menu, a whole roast duck a la presse for two, costs $165 and is only available by pre-order.

Old-school pizza slices are having a moment in New York City, and no place best exemplifies the trend more than Paulie Gee's Slice Shop, a spinoff of the venerable Paulie Gee's. Pizza master Paul Giannone isn't reinventing the wheel here — he's just using quality ingredients and a whole lot of skill to turn out pizza slices that taste exactly how you want them to, the perfect fusion of crust, sauce and cheese. Making a perfect slice of traditional New York pizza is a lot harder than it looks, but Slice Shop is pulling it off.

When Pizzeria Beddia first opened in 2013, it was a two-man operation — just Joe Beddia and his friend John Walker serving 40 pies a night, four nights a week, in a cash-only, no-phone, no-bathroom space. After being named America's Best Pizza by Bon Appetit in 2015, crowds began lining up hours in advance for a chance to snag one of the four available styles of pizza. But sadly, Joe finally tired out and closed up shop in 2018. The second coming of Beddia opened in Fishtown about a year later. This is a far more standard operation, with a full staff, a horseshoe-shaped bar, wine, kombucha on tap and a selection of small plates. Two things remain unchanged, however: the crowds and the pizza. There are still just four pizzas on the menu, and Joe is still using super high-quality ingredients and organic flour to turn out crisp, savory pies with uncooked sauce lending a bright zing.

Like fried chicken? Then no trip to Nashville should be complete without a trip to Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, a homespun restaurant started by Thorton Prince more than 70 years ago that serves the platonic ideal of Nashville-style fried chicken, known for its spiciness. There's only one thing to decide: Do you want your chicken mild, medium, hot or extra hot? If the name of the restaurant doesn't warn you, even the "mild" is fairly spicy, so be careful. Served with white bread and pickle coins, the chicken itself is crispy, crunchy and fall-off-the-bone tender. A trip to Prince's is one you're not likely to forget, especially if you order it extra hot.

Chef Billy Durney is beloved in the New York food world, as his Hometown Barbecue is widely regarded as serving the finest barbecue in the city (there's a line out the door more often than not). So when Durney announced that his long-awaited follow-up would be a classic American tavern inspired by places like Peter Luger and McSorley's, New Yorkers were legitimately excited. Red Hook Tavern opened in July and started racking up stellar reviews, making tables difficult to come by. It's already become a classic New York must-visit, largely propelled by its stunning, perfect 8-ounce burger (which very well might be the best burger in the city at the moment), but the rest of the menu, including country ham croquettes and a pan-roasted half-chicken, prove that this is no one-trick pony.

Open since April, Venezuela-born chef Enrique Limardo's Seven Reasons serves Latin fusion fare inspired by his travels to Peru, the Amazon and the Caribbean. It's a brick-walled, multi-level space with a bustling bar and an open kitchen, and the menu is fun, accessible and seriously inspired. It's separated into snacks, small plates, medium plates and large plates, so you can customize your meal from start to finish. We suggest you plan on sharing: Start with bluefin tuna tartare with enoki and chipotle, mini Venezuelan arepas and a butternut squash cacao tart; move on to cauliflower tempura with mango chutney and lamb loin with coconut curry sauce; and finish up with a fried whole fish with seafood rice and creole sauce or a 24-ounce Berkshire pork chop. And with dishes including "Vegetarian Insanity" and "Sweet Potato Madness," non-meat-eaters will have plenty to love, too.

Yes, chef Jessica Koslow's insanely hip Los Angeles restaurant, Sqirl, is a must-visit (and must-Instagram) hotspot, but don't knock it till you try it; this vegan-friendly destination is really that good. Its menu is loaded with healthy, well-composed and stunningly beautiful dishes, many of which have already begun to influence menus nationwide. Try the sorrel pesto rice (with preserved Meyer lemon, lacto-fermented hot sauce, watermelon radish, French sheep feta, poached egg and house-made bacon); The Hash (potato, jerk kabocha squash, charred scallions, fermented habanero and fried egg); long-cooked chicken and rice porridge (with dried lime, ginger, turmeric, cardamom ghee, frizzled onions, cilantro and a poached egg); or one of the various toasts (avocado, house-made ricotta) and you'll see what all the fuss is about.

Thomas Keller is a perfectionist who approaches contemporary American food with classical technique. His French Laundry in Napa Valley, with its now-famous blue door, has established new standards for fine dining in this country. Two $325 nine-course tasting menus are devised each day (one traditional, one vegetarian), and no single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal. The classic "oysters and pearls," pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and caviar, is a perennial favorite. While items like sauteed filet of Japanese bluenose medai, mac and cheese and hearth roasted Elysian Fields Farm lamb may sound simple enough, the refinement with which they are presented is anything but.

You have to marvel at the Michelin three-starred Meadowood in Napa Valley, and at its chef, Chris Kostow. Kostow creates a new menu every night based on what's fresh and seasonal. You will have to lay down some coin for the experience — the tasting menu costs $350, the chef's counter menu runs $600 per person, a three-course meal at the bar costs $150 and the "fireside snacks" menu costs $110 — and if you want to truly enjoy the experience, you should really stay at the adjacent luxury hotel, which will make the visit considerably more expensive but commensurately more wonderful. How's the food, you ask? Expect modern American cuisine featuring masterful technique and deft mixes of texture and flavor; alternately playful, straightforward and serious. Meadowood is good. Really, really good.

Saying Turkey and the Wolf is a sandwich shop is like calling the Kentucky Derby a horse race — sure, it's accurate, but it's so much more than that. This place is a certified New Orleans phenomenon. The ingredients are fresh and high-quality and just about everything is made in house, but this place has a real personality too — it's the culinary playground of chef Mason Hereford, whom Bon Appétit calls "a cross between Jeff Spicoli from 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' and Willy Wonka." Yes, the restaurant and its chef are zany, but schtick will only get you so far. Try the fried bologna sandwich (with locally made bologna, hot English mustard, potato chips, shredded lettuce, Duke's mayo and American cheese), the smoked ham (with ham, cranberry, herb mayo, aged cheddar and arugula) or the collard green melt (with slow-cooked collards, Swiss, pickled cherry pepper dressing and coleslaw), and chase it with a playful cocktail (one contains gin, fennel liqueur and Skittles). You'll understand the hype.

You haven't truly had fried chicken until you've had it from Willie Mae's, the legendary restaurant located in New Orleans' Treme neighborhood since 1957. Look around the two no-frills dining rooms and you'll see nothing but fried chicken, even though other offerings, like smothered veal, are available (and delicious). But if it's your first (or second, or third) time there, get the chicken. Perfected by Willie Mae Seaton (who passed away in 2015 at age 99) and today safeguarded by her great-granddaughter Kerry, the chicken is, simply put, otherworldly. Wet-battered and fried to order, the chicken is shiny, craggy, light, not greasy and shatteringly crisp and crunchy. Underneath, the meat is impossibly moist and juicy. This fried chicken will change your life, and it's one of the 101 most iconic dishes in America.

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