AAA: Florida a fine dining mecca

Florida is a fine-dining mecca, ranking high among states with the most toprated restaurants, according to AAA.

The Auto Club Group released its 2019 Five Diamond Award list and Florida ranks second for the most Four Diamond eateries, with 54 of 656. It also has three Five Diamond restaurants, ranking fifth on this year’s list of 67 nationwide.

Professionally trained inspectors visited more than 650 U.S. establishments unannounced, rating them on overall food, service, decor and ambiance.

Criteria to make the cut as a Five Diamond restaurant includes leading-edge cuisine of the finest ingredients, uniquely prepared by an acclaimed chef, and served by expert service staff led by a maître d’ in extraordinary surroundings.

Four Diamond restaurants “provide distinctive fine dining, creatively prepared, skillfully served, often by a wine steward, amid upscale ambiance,” according to AAA. Dates in parenthesis denotes when restaurants first received the designation.

Go to AAA.com/ diamonds/diamond -awards to see the full list.

Five Diamond restaurants

■ Palme d’Or, inside in The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables (2014)

■ Victoria & Albert’s, inside Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spain Orlando (2000)

■ Salt, in The Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island (2012)

Four Diamond restaurants in South Florida

Aventura

■ Bourbon Steak, a Michael Mina Restaurant (2017)

Boca Raton

■ Arturo’s Ristorante

(2006)

■ Kathy’s Gazebo Cafe (2000)

Fort Lauderdale

■ Rainbow Palace (1996)

Hollywood

■ Diplomat Prime (2002)

Lake Worth

■ Paradiso Ristorante (2011)

Miami Beach

■ Barton G. The Restaurant

(2004)

■ Casa Tua Miami (2004)

■ Hakkasan (2010)

■ Los Fuegos (2017)

■ Matador Room (2016)

■ Mr. Chow (2016)

■ Pao by Paul Qui (2016)

■ Scarpetta (2010)

■ The Bazaar by Jose Andres (2015)

Miami

■ Alter Restaurant & Bar (2018)

■ Area 31 (2009)

■ Atrio Restaurant and Wine Bar (2005)

■ Bazaar Mar by Jose Andres (2017)

■ Naoe (2015)

■ Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill (2012)

Palm Beach

■ Cafe Boulud (2004)

■ HMF (2014)

Sunny Isles

■ Il Mulino New York

(2007)

Surfside

■ Le Sirenuse Restaurant & Champagne Bar (2018)

■ The Surf Club Restaurant by Chef Thomas Keller (2018)

Weston

■ Ireland’s Steakhouse (2008)

Four Diamond restaurants in Orlando

■ A Land Remembered (2008)

■ Cala Bella (2008)

■ Christini’s Ristorante Italiano (2005)

■ Norman’s (2004)

■ Primo (2004)

■ Luma on Park (2010) in Winter Park

CAFE BOULUD/COURTESY Cafe Boulud at the Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach ranks among AAA’s Four Diamond restaurants in South Florida.