30 editor picks across United States.
30 restaurants worth the trip across United States, editor-ranked by TableJourney. All United States guides.
Katie Button and Felix Meana's Cúrate in Asheville opened on Biltmore Avenue in 2011 and won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding.
OrderThe jamón ibérico with pan con tomate, plus the paella Valenciana for the table.
TipBook on Resy 30 days ahead. Bar seats and the chef's counter take walk-ins from 17:00; arrive at opening.
Neptune Oyster on Salem Street has run the city's defining raw bar in Boston since 2004. 42 seats, no reservations, Gulf of Maine lobster roll on a buttered.
OrderThe hot-buttered lobster roll, full-claw and tail.
TipPut your name on the iPad at 16:30, walk to a bar, and return when they text. The 20:00 wait can run 90 minutes.
Sean Brock's Husk in Charleston opened on Queen Street in 2010 and rebuilt Southern fine dining around heritage Anson Mills grains, Sea Island peas.
OrderThe skillet cornbread with bacon-fat butter, plus whatever the wood grill is running tonight.
TipBook on huskcharleston.com. The bar serves the full menu walk-up from 17:00 onward, no reservations needed.
Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope's FIG in Charleston has been the neighbourhood-scaled dining benchmark since 2003. Kitchen leans lowcountry, seasonal.
OrderThe fish stew with house-cut potatoes and aioli; rotates by season.
TipBook 30 days ahead on Resy. Bar seats are first-come Booking recommended for weekends.
Sam Hart's Counter- earned North Carolina's first Michelin star and a Green Star in 2025, with rotating tasting-menu themes on West Morehead in Charlotte.
OrderThe full tasting menu. Themes rotate every three months around a single concept.
TipReserve on Tock as early as you can. Counter- holds the only Michelin star in the Carolinas, and demand jumped after the November 2025 awards.
Alinea in Chicago is Grant Achatz's three-Michelin-star tasting menu at 1723 N Halsted, the dining room that codified American modernist fine dining.
OrderWhichever course needs your two hands; the kitchen is unsentimental about it.
TipBook the Gallery flow if you want the full theatre; Salon is the quieter, three-course-less option.
Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder is Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson's James Beard-winning Friulian dining room since 2004, the kitchen.
OrderThe four-course Friuli tasting menu and the frico caldo to start.
TipBoulder is a 40-minute drive from Denver. Frasca Caffe next door runs walk-in pasta and aperitivo without a reservation.
Ricky Moore won the 2022 James Beard Best Chef Southeast award at this counter-service fish shack, elevating NC coastal seafood traditions nationally.
OrderFried fish plate, Hush-Honeys, Fish tacos
Goldee's Barbecue in Fort Worth is a Michelin-recognised pitmaster destination open only Friday through Sunday, and sells out early most days.
OrderBrisket, pork ribs, house-made sausage links, banana pudding.
TipArrive at opening or call ahead. They sell out most Fridays by 13:00 and do not restock once the pit is empty.
Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand is the late chef's only US restaurant, a three-Michelin-star French dining room and the only three-star kitchen in Las Vegas.
OrderThe full 16-course menu degustation; the chariot of bread alone runs a dozen varieties.
TipTasting-menu only at dinner; lunch and the prix-fixe shorter menus run lower price points if 16 courses is too much.
Sanford on North Jackson Street has anchored Milwaukee fine dining since 1989, with a tasting menu chef Justin Aprahamian has run since 2012.
OrderThe Surprise menu, a multi-course tasting that changes with the season and the kitchen's mood.
TipReservations open four weeks out and the dining room is small; book before the JBA semifinalist announcements each spring.
Gavin Kaysen's Spoon and Stable on North 1st Street has anchored Minneapolis fine dining since 2014. James Beard Best Chef Midwest 2018 winner.
OrderThe hand-cut pasta course and the wagyu bone marrow with sourdough toast.
TipBook six weeks out; the chef's counter seats four and goes fast. Bar seats hold space for walk-ins from 17:00.
Sean Sherman's Indigena by Owamni inside the Guthrie Theater runs the country's most serious Indigenous kitchen in Minneapolis since June 2026.
OrderBison steak with smoked blue corn and the maple-glazed walleye when in season.
TipDoubled in size from Water Works; 204 indoor seats plus 100 patio. Book three months ahead for weekend dinner; bar seats walk-in at 17:00.
Mark Iacono's candlelit Carroll Gardens pizzeria in New York City turns out a coal-fired Brooklyn pie and a calzone, cash only, BYOB, no reservations.
OrderThe plain margherita, charred-crust slice.
TipWalk-in only. Put your name down at 17:30, then come back at 19:30; the wait is the room's whole social fabric.
Katz's on East Houston has cured, smoked and hand-sliced pastrami in New York City since 1888. The corner-of-the-counter sandwich is the deli's whole point.
OrderHand-cut pastrami on rye, mustard, half-sour pickle.
TipTip the slicer a dollar when you get your ticket; a thick fatty slice samples your way and the sandwich comes built right.
Russ & Daughters has slung appetising on East Houston in New York City since 1914: hand-sliced smoked salmon, sturgeon, schmaltz herring and bagels to take.
OrderThe Classic: Gaspe Nova lox, cream cheese, tomato, onion, capers on a poppy bagel.
TipThe shop is for take-away. Sit down at Russ & Daughters Cafe around the corner on Orchard for table service.
Chef Junghyun Park's 14-seat counter in NoMad runs the most ambitious Korean tasting menu in New York City. Two Michelin stars, ten courses, $385 set price.
OrderThe full tasting; ordering anything off it misses the point.
TipReservations open 60 days in advance on Tock at midnight; set an alarm. Wine pairing or non-alcoholic both excellent.
Chef James Syhabout's Commis holds two Michelin stars on Piedmont Avenue. A spare ten-course tasting changes nightly across two seatings in Oakland.
OrderSlow-poached egg yolk, Ten-course tasting
Chef David Utterback's Benson sushi counter is a two-time James Beard Best Chef: Midwest finalist, built on fish-ageing technique and Nebraska sourcing.
OrderChef's omakase: dry-aged fish nigiri in a style rarely seen outside coastal cities.
Zahav in Philadelphia is Michael Solomonov's modern Israeli room near Society Hill, James Beard's Outstanding Restaurant in America in 2019 and one.
OrderThe lamb shoulder for two with the hummus tehina, the way it has been ordered since 2008.
TipBook 30 days out on Resy at 10am Eastern. The Mesibah feast lands at the family table.
Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix is Chris Bianco's wood-fired pizzeria in Heritage Square, the James Beard kitchen long called the best pizza in America.
OrderThe Wiseguy, with wood-roasted onion, smoked mozzarella and fennel sausage.
TipThe Heritage Square original has stood at 623 Adams since 1997; arrive at open or expect a wait, no reservations for small parties.
Eventide Oyster Co on Middle Street opened 2012 from Big Tree Hospitality, rebuilding the Maine oyster bar around a brown-butter lobster roll on a bao.
OrderThe brown butter lobster roll on a Bao bun, plus a dozen oysters from the granite bar.
TipWalk-up only for the bar; tables open online via Resy 30 days ahead.
Al Forno on South Water Street invented grilled pizza in 1980 under Johanne Killeen and the late George Germon. Wood-fire kitchen, baked pasta.
OrderA grilled pizza Margherita and the baked penne with tomato cream sauce.
TipTuesday to Saturday only, 17:00-20:30. No reservations for parties under five; walk in by 17:15 or book on Tock.
Red Iguana on West North Temple, the Cardenas family's Mexican room since 1985 and Utah's most awarded restaurant, runs the state's defining moles.
OrderA combination platter with mole negro and mole verde plus a pomegranate margarita.
TipWait can run over an hour; cross to Red Iguana 2 at 866 W South Temple or order takeout via the operator's site.
Takashi on Market Street, chef-owner Takashi Gibo's downtown sushi room since 2004, runs Salt Lake's defining omakase at the bar plus a full Japanese menu.
OrderOmakase at the sushi bar; the menu's signature rolls plus sashimi for the table.
TipWalk-in only; arrive before 17:30 on a weekday or after 21:00 to skip the wait. Closed Sundays.
Mixtli is San Antonio's first Michelin-starred restaurant, where chefs Diego Galicia and Rico Torres build a rotating tasting menu around one Mexican region.
OrderWhatever region the rotating tasting menu is exploring this season.
TipThe menu changes every several weeks and focuses on one region of Mexico at a time. Book on Tock well ahead; seats are limited.
Addison in San Diego is William Bradley's three-Michelin-star tasting room at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the only three-star kitchen in Southern California.
OrderThe full tasting menu; the seasonal caviar course is the room's signature.
TipTasting menu only; book six weeks ahead, jacket preferred. Pair with a Grand Del Mar overnight if the budget allows it.
Melisse is the 14-seat tasting counter hidden behind Citrin in Santa Monica, a two-Michelin-star room from Josiah Citrin and chef partner Ken Takayama.
OrderThe full tasting menu; the kitchen builds it around the week's market
TipAround 800 dollars for two before wine, with a strict no-cancellation policy; book two to three weeks out.
Mashama Bailey's Grey runs from a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal on MLK, a Port City Southern menu rooted in West African and Lowcountry technique.
OrderWhatever is running in the dining room that night; the bar serves a tighter Diner Bar menu walk-up.
TipBook via Resy for the formal Dining Room. The Diner Bar takes walk-ups along the bar and runs a la carte until close.
Canlis in Seattle is the city's enduring fine-dining room: Aisha Ibrahim's five-course menu, a 1950 cedar lodge above Lake Union, and Food and Wine's number.
OrderThe five-course chef's menu with Aisha Ibrahim's Filipino-tinged Walla Walla onion course.
TipTuesday and Wednesday open with quieter dining rooms and the same kitchen; the bar pours the same wine list at half the formality.
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