7 Best CA Restaurants: The New York Times List

CALIFORNIA — Just a month aftr the 2021 Michelin Guide was released, the New York Times released it's own restaurant list of "The 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."

They found seven California restaurants that were a taste above other establishments in the United States, with four in Northern California and three in the Southland.

"The Food desk dispatched critics, reporters and editors around the country to find the 50 most vibrant and delicious restaurants in 2021. They’re not ranked, but together they reflect the rich mosaic of American dining."

Here are the California choices, along with their reviews:

Mini Kabob, Glendale

There are only a handful of tables in this tiny dining room, which is uncomfortable and hard to maneuver, but who cares? The Martirosyan family’s small Armenian restaurant serves some of the finest lule kebabs in the Los Angeles area. The meat is finely ground in the back a couple of times a day, delicately emulsified with fat, served hot and still running with juice — tender, but with a gentle bounce. The “mini kabob” is a simple miniature beef lule wrap that’s habit-forming and rightfully famous in town, but Armen Martirosyan’s daily off-menu experiments are equally delicious. Just ask.

Mister Jiu’s, San Francisco

Brandon Jew’s glamorous restaurant in an old Chinatown banquet hall started out strong five years ago with banquet-inspired fare, but it’s only gotten stronger — the exquisite food and the soaring dining room somehow more joyful and dazzling than ever. Though his newer projects hold their own delights, like the casual takeout-inspired Mamahuhu (with its Platonic ideal of kung pao chicken), Mister Jiu’s is a destination.

n/naka, Los Angeles

The exquisite kaiseki cuisine that Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama turn out at n/naka isn’t meant to be packed up in boxes and distributed on the sidewalk, but the restaurant adapted when dining rooms closed during the pandemic, assembling dreamy, multitiered bentos for three months, with playful little mounds of macaroni salad and minuscule pickles alongside beautiful mounds of chirashi. The serene, unadorned dining room reopened in June.

Nari, San Francisco

Dinner at Nari is family-style, so a meal there feels more like a merry feast than a dainty tasting menu. And if you still think of fine dining as a bunch of small courses, served one at a time, Pim Techamuanvivit’s Thai restaurant is a mind-bending revelation, with freshly pounded nam priks and brilliantly nuanced curries inspired by traditional haute Thai food, as well as an exciting cocktail and wine list that focuses almost entirely on women producers.

Pearl River Deli, Los Angeles

At first glance, Johnny Lee is a purveyor of Cantonese char siu and silky-skinned Hainan chicken in neat, easy-to-carry-home boxes. But the kitchen inside Far East Plaza often transforms into something else, celebrating Chinese cuisine’s vast range, with cold braised beef shanks one night and specials of clay pot rice with crispy bottoms another. Mr. Lee’s culinary ambitions outgrew the small kitchen months ago, and he’s opening a second space just down the street. There, he plans to serve Hong Kong-style breakfasts, and his pastry chef collaborator, Laura Hoang, will make breads and pastries including Vietnamese pate chaud.

The Anchovy Bar, San Francisco

Anyone can pop open a tin of caviar and serve it on ice. The real luxury is much farther down the food chain — a handful of fresh, gleaming anchovies, caught, gutted and brined earlier in the day. The Anchovy Bar, run by Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of State Bird Provisions, serves fresh, silvery fillets with toasted bread and fixings, and treats the glorious seafood of the West Coast with all the care it deserves, from Hama Hama oysters and Monterey squid to Marin Coast octopus and geoduck clams.

The Marshall Store, Marshall

At the briny western end of the country, on a timeworn deck overlooking Tomales Bay just 50 miles north of San Francisco, you can slurp down raw Pacific oysters while looking out over the very beds where they were grown. Some may say the grilled oysters Kilpatrick — topped with garlic butter, Worcestershire sauce, bacon and parsley — are a bivalve too far, but don’t listen. There’s no reason not to have a dozen of each.

Read the full story with all 50 U.S. restaurants in The New York Times.

Also see: 90 CA Restaurants Named To 2021 Michelin Guide: LIST