The Hot 10: Best New Restaurants in America 2012
The question I'm asked most often is, "What's your favorite restaurant in America?" And I always answer, "Are you kidding?" It's impossible to pick just one. My choice changes monthly, weekly, even daily. Ten years ago, it was most likely one of those "temples of gastronomy," a restaurant with 800-thread-count white tablecloths, entrées hovering around $40, and an exclusive atmosphere. Five years ago, things started to relax, and it wasn't just the food: The Clash played on the speakers, the chairs were backless, and customers balked at the long lines rather than the high prices.
So what kind of restaurants stand out to me in 2012? Well, to start, they're usually scrappy and personal, guided by chefs with a passion to create independently owned places they would want to eat at on their day off. As for what that style of restaurant looks, tastes, and sounds like, there are some common themes: husband-and-wife owners, small dining rooms and even smaller kitchens, no reservations and no tablecloths, counter-side seating around the open kitchen, tweezers in the kitchen, tattooed cooks, servers, and sommeliers, rough-hewn handmade plates, record players and random selections of vinyl in the dining room, and bargaine prix-fixe menus.
In our 2012 Best New Restaurants package, we'll introduce you to a new breed of restaurant. And while one place serves Thai-style street food and another makes dishes that look like an Instagram photo of the forest floor, they're all cut from the same cloth. And they're exactly where I want to eat right now. **
