Top 100: The restaurants that missed this year’s list
The most difficult challenge of formulating the Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants each year is not just what to include, but what to cut. Obviously for every addition there needs to be a subtraction.
This year I added 19 restaurants, and ended up with 109 entries just before deadline. Then I had to cut, chopping off some places I truly thought deserved to be there.
I have a close relationship to all these restaurants because I’ve visited each one at least three times, and in some cases more than a dozen times, depending on how long they’ve been on the list. Each year I return to the previous year’s restaurants to ensure they still deserve a place in the Top 100.
At the final selection, it came down to nuance — location, style of cuisine and other service and decor details that might give one place a slight edge over another.
So what follows are the restaurants removed from the list, and why I made the decision to cut them. AQ: Axing this restaurant was particularly painful because I truly admire the food crafted by Mark Liberman and how they change the decor with the four seasons. However this year, 26 of the Top 100 entries offered a fixed price menu format, as does AQ, so I needed to get more diversity in the list.
Bocadillos: I love the small plate concept, and this tapas restaurant has been on the list since it opened in 2004. However on my check-in visit, the food was very good but didn’t have that extra spark of excitement to seal the deal.
Bouchon: The food is always solid at this Yountville restaurant, but on two visits it felt as if the food was being prepared by rote.
Central Kitchen: The service bordered on annoying, and the prices didn’t seem justified for the food, albeit well prepared.
Dock at Linden Street: The restaurant and brewery installed a new chef late last year and the menu was simplified and pared down. Some of the best preparations didn’t make the cut.
Farmshop: It was difficult to take a Marin County restaurant out of the mix, but the food on my visit slightly disappointed. Greens: I was underwhelmed on a dinner visit, and because it was a pioneer when it opened in 1979 and was the only vegetarian restaurant on the list, I returned for a second time. It confirmed that the food had lost its edge.
Gialina: I’ve always loved the pizza here, but on the last meal it was unevenly cooked and the other offerings didn’t make up for it.
Hopscotch: The Asian-influenced menu in a diner setting is compelling, but on my trip to Oakland the flavors didn’t come together as they had in the past. Maven: Some staff movements seem to have had an unsettling effect on the experience. The food and cocktails were still good — I appreciate the idea of pairing each dish with a specific cocktail — but less inspired than I found on earlier visits.
Molina: A chef change also changed the dynamics at this Mill Valley restaurant, where much of the food is cooked over fire.
Monsieur Benjamin: Salt is the enemy of this kitchen; at my check-in visit more than half the dishes needed a seasoning adjustment.
Nido: The rustic nature of the Mexican food at this Oakland restaurant set it apart, but it lacked finesse this time around.
Nojo: One of the few easy deletions. Owner Greg Dunmore sold to a Japanese company and the concept has changed.
Piccino: This was also a very difficult deletion because this restaurant helped put Dogpatch on the map. I still love the feel of the place and the food. While the preparations remain steady, the menu hasn’t quite kept up with the competition. Picco: Longtime chef Jared Rogers left to open a restaurant in South Carolina; a new chef did not have time to settle in before my deadline.
Scopa: The restaurant is tiny, seating only 36 in a cramped narrow space, and getting a seat can be as difficult as winning the lottery. On my check-in visit the Italianinspired menu didn’t have the same soulful character that set it apart on previous visits.
Sante: I admire what Andrew Cain has done to transform the dining room at this restaurant at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. I have nothing negative to say about the experience, which has a more traditional approach and is expensive. In the end I just shut my eyes and deleted.
Trick Dog: There can be no doubt that this is primarily a bar – one that changes its whimsical menu every six months – and the food is perfect for the venue, which is why it made the list in previous years. Today more restaurants are blending the two, and I decided it was more relevant as a bar than a restaurant.