Welcome to Kangtown, where you'll find the latest West Coast restaurant reporting, analysis, and industry intel from me, your LA-based correspondent, Matthew Kang. |
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I’m back with a bang this week after taking a month off for parental leave (baby Marcelo and mom Rochelle are doing great, by the way). I’ve spent nearly a week dining through the Big Easy, taking down stuffed po’ boy sandwiches (at Parkway), duck gumbo as dark as mole (at Saint Claire), and crispy boudin balls (at Delacroix) while attending the second installment of the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list alongside Eater’s New York-based dining editorial manager, Melissa McCart.
The list reveal ceremony last night ended with a somewhat dramatic standoff between Chicago tasting menu restaurant Smyth and upstart Canadian counter restaurant Eight from the culinarily unhallowed city of Calgary. Smyth and its chef John Shields prevailed, taking the top spot from modern New York Korean restaurant Atomix, which slipped down to seventh. Check out the full winners list.
As we loosened our formalwear and walked off some muffulettas and caviar on the way back to the (maybe haunted, but luxurious) Hotel Monteleone, Melissa and I traded the gossip and tidbits we picked up throughout the night and the week. |
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The banquet hall just before the commencement of North America 50 Best Restaurants ceremony. Credit: Matthew Kang |
What I’m Hearing -
Oh Canada, you’re unstoppable. Our northern neighbor had 14 restaurants on the list compared to 36 in the U.S. One voter I spoke to (who didn’t want to be named) said they were shaking their head at the top results this year, mostly befuddled that Eight appeared out of nowhere to land at No. 2. “The Canadians really colluded on that one,” an unnamed food writer also said at the afterparty.
Another unnamed voter told me earlier this year that they wanted even more Canadian restaurants on the list. The rich want to get richer. Chef Aitor Zabala of Somni (which clocked in at No. 46) had a nicer take: “Canada is investing so much in exporting its food.” -
California and the greater West Coast need to start lobbying like the Canadians. The highest-ranked Californian restaurant, SingleThread, landed at No. 18, and the highest in LA was Holbox at 26. You can’t convince me that restaurants far to the north in Canada outclass the cooking talent and natural ingredients in the Golden State, but maybe I am biased. I’ll find out later this week when I stop by Toronto to try two restaurants that landed on this year’s list.
- Damn, New York! Learn to share. New York City had 13 restaurants on the list, the same as last year, though there was some turnover. Out: Four Horsemen, Cafe Carmellini, Via Carota, Saga. In: Kabawa, Torrisi, Semma, and Gramercy Tavern.
Not everyone at the event had love for NYC. “Some journalist asked me recently, ‘When are you moving to New York?’ I was like, what are you talking about?” E.J. Lagasse of Emeril’s in New Orleans said at a pre-ceremony event. “We just celebrated 36 years. I’d love to do another 36 years here. This restaurant is the most rewarding thing I’ll be able to do with my dad [Emeril Lagasse].”
- There was a lot of turnover elsewhere, too, with 18 restaurants added this year. I loved seeing relatively casual, a la carte restaurants like Holbox, Albi, Kalaya, Penny, Chubby Fish, and Moon Rabbit find space alongside a lot of two- and three-Michelin-starred tasting menus.
I’m not the only one. “I love that there is more diversity on this list; it’s not just fine dining like Michelin,” food and travel writer Amber Gibson said at the winners' conference following the ceremony. “I’ve been to Smyth, and they’re incredible. But to showcase a restaurant that’s not necessarily a $700 tasting menu experience, that is just as outstanding and worthy of recognition, I think that’s a really beautiful thing.”
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Even without the regional categorization of the James Beard Awards, the list did highlight some great spots in mid-sized cities. Recognizing Minneapolis’s Hmong-owned Diane’s Place, which serves an all-day menu (a true rarity on this list), is a huge deal, highlighting a cuisine that doesn’t get enough love outside of the Midwest. San Diego, often overlooked for larger awards like the Beards, got a nod with Addison.This kind of promotion can be huge. “Philly wants to keep everything for themselves. We were toiling in obscurity for a while,” Hanna Williams of Friday Saturday Sunday in Philadelphia (No. 40) said before the ceremony. “But now being on the list, it feels incredible. Thirty to 40 percent of people who come [into the restaurant] aren’t from Philly, and they keep the lights on.”
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Nok Suntaranon gives Mashama Bailey the North America's Best Female Chef award for 2026. Credit: Matthew Kang |
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But this year’s list doesn’t feature any restaurants from the Pacific Northwest (Portland’s Kann came off), the entire Southwest outside of California, the Northeast outside of New York City, or the Rockies (Alma Fonda Fina in Denver lost its spot). Puerto Rico and the entire Caribbean, ostensibly a featured part of this list, also came up empty (though the Bajan Farmer won the Champions of Change award). If the organization doesn’t rectify the dearth of Caribbean restaurants next year by mixing up where the voters are located, I imagine it’ll start getting flak.
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Overall, I’m pretty happy with the outcome of this year’s list. Like last year, when I attended the inaugural show in Vegas, I find 50 Best more thrilling than any other awards, the closest thing we have to a major sporting event. Michelin has its caste-like star system, and their parties are, frankly, less polished. I’ve attended the Beards, which is an extremely long show with all its speeches, and the awards can feel like politics, for better and worse. The 50 Best does it right: two hours of cocktails, one brisk hour of ceremony with no speeches, and then let the party go on. Everyone invited is on the list, so no one’s going home truly disappointed.
Eater’s coverage of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants event was produced with assistance from the 50 Best organization and New Orleans & Company. All editorial content is produced independently. Read more about Eater’s ethics policies here.
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