The best new restaurant lists have started to come out in magazines and newspapers across the country, and we're going to try to track them for you at Serious Eats. But let's come up with our own Serious Eaters' List in the meantime.
I've been to eight of the ten restaurants on Frank Bruni's list of the Ten Best New Restaurants in New York:
1. Momofuku Ssam Bar (though including MSB as a new restaurant because of the date they officially started dinner service seems like a stretch to me.
2. Soto
3. (Tie) Anthos
4. Insieme
5. Park Avenue (Insert Season Here)
6. Resto
9. Pamplona
10. Mai House
I haven't been to 15 East or Allen & Delancey, ranked 7th and 8th, respectively, so I can't comment on them.
I wouldn't argue with including any of the restaurants included, though I might quarrel with the ranking. Bruni and many other critics have given Mai House short shrift, and I don't understand it. It is certainly the best Vietnamese restaurant in New York.
I also think a case could and should be made for the following:
El Quinto Pino: Maybe Bruni doesn't consider this a full-fledged restaurant since it doesn't have tables, but the terrific, something-old-something-new tapas make El Quinto Pino a must-visit for serious eaters.
Centro Vinoteca: It's ridiculously noisy, but Anne Burrell's food is gutsy, straightforward, and flat out delicious. Lord, that woman knows how to fry.
Prime House: Just for the 35 Day Bone-In Kansas City Strip Steak, not to mention the hanger steak.
Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill: The latest (and closest to my house) Bromberg brothers restaurant is a kind of Blue Ribbon's Greatest Hits concept, and why not? Perhaps the city's best fried chicken, exemplary sushi, and many other Bromberg haute comfort food specialties make this a restaurant anyone could find something delicious.
What are the best new restaurants where you live? Do tell, Serious Eaters. Let's try to compile a list of the Serious Eats' Best New Restaurants to Open Anywhere in 2007.
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