Critics Choice the 25 Greatest Restaurants in America

In June 1980 Playboy ran the first national survey to determine, once and for all, the 25 greatest restaurants in America. By polling the country's most respected food critics, writers and gourmets, we avoided the usual route of reviewing restaurants solely on the basis of one critic's opinion. So our Critics' Choice became a classic, the list against which other best-restaurant lists are measured.

Well, four years seemed a long enough time for any group of champions to bask in the glory of the winner's circle. We also knew that there is no such thing as once and for all in the restaurant business. So we decided that the Playboy Critics' Choice, like the election of a President and the Olympic games, should be a quadrennial event.

We again approached the 140 people who know dining best and asked them for their choices of America's finest restaurants without regard to cost or location. Each gave us five ranked selections, and the results were totaled and given to a statistician, who tabulated the final list. Our experts--from New York to California, New Orleans to Seattle--turn out to be a very fair-minded bunch. Stan Sesser, restaurant critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, voted for restaurants in New York, Illinois and Louisiana, as well as California. New York Times food writer Pierre Franey praised dining rooms in California and Illinois, as well as those closer to home. But the competition for the top spots was so stiff that we decided to expand our survey to include a second list of "regional favorites"--those that missed our top 25 by a few points and those that were less well known nationally but received enthusiastic support from critics locally. Besides the new national rankings, which will be cause for more than a few heated dinner-party arguments, there are a couple of differences in the way the survey was conducted. This time, we decided not to let restaurateurs or their chefs cast ballots. Although the chefs who may have voted for their own establishments in 1980 weren't statistically significant enough to have changed the rankings that year, we felt it would be simpler to exclude them this time. We also made sure there wouldn't be any conflict of interest in the cases of critics who have a consulting relationship with a restaurant.

So, putting aside methodology, what's new since 1980 in the dignified and cutthroat world of fine eating? For one thing, nearly half the restaurants are new to the list, and some in the top ten didn't even exist four years ago. Our first poll listed only one Italian restaurant, while this year there are four, which tells you just how fast and far Italian restaurants have come in this country in both cuisine and design. Oriental restaurants missed the list entirely (The Mandarin in San Francisco was number 19 last time but missed the cut this year), mainly because our experts noted how inconsistent Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Thai eateries can be from year to year.

Deluxe French restaurants still dominate our list, and for good reason: French restaurateurs and chefs are competing at the top of their form in this country and still serve as models of sophistication and the grand tradition of service and atmosphere. There are still very few restaurants in the world as great as Lutèce or L'Ermitage.

La nouvelle cuisine--the Seventies ideology that revolutionized dining rooms in France by abandoning clichéed classic dishes and promoting experimentation with locally available ingredients--was barely represented in our 1980 poll. But this time, almost every restaurant on our list has in some way been influenced by la nouvelle. The most important offshoot is the "new American cuisine," in which young American chefs began adapting new French methods to the American larder, so that a Pacific salmon might be served with American sturgeon caviar and a beurre blanc, accompanied by a Cabernet Sauvignon from California's Napa Valley.

This renaissance of American cooking--from innovators such as Berkeley's Chez Panisse to traditionalists such as New York's Coach House--is the most important culinary movement of the Eighties. The appearance on our list of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, The Quilted Giraffe, Commander's Palace, Michael's and The Four Seasons indicates how strong the trend is.

Finally, our poll acknowledges the advent of the superstar chef--such as Spago's Wolfgang Puck, Le Français' Jean Banchet, Ernie's Jacky Robert and others whose talents have made them sought after as consultants, commentators and cookbook authors. These folks make six-figure salaries, drive Mercedes and, if they do not own their restaurants outright, have no lack of backers ready to bank-roll what has become one of the most glamorous professions around. A superstar chef can break a restaurateur's heart when he is lured away. When Larry Forgione left Brooklyn's River Café last September, every one of our critics who had voted that restaurant onto our list withdrew his support to await further visits, leaving the place without a single vote.

We think Critics' Choice 1984 reflects some changes in American gastronomy and demonstrates the staying power of true excellence. Stick around. Four years from now, the number-three position may be taken by a 22-year-old chicano chef whose genius has transformed enchiladas into something sublime. But for now, here are the 25 to beat, and our congratulations to them all.

1. Lutèce--249 East 50th Street, New York, New York (212-752-2225). For the second time, Lutèce stands solidly at the top of our list, far outscoring its nearest rival. Lutèce's undisputed greatness lies not merely in the classic but imaginative cuisine of chef-owner André Soltner, nor in its 20,000-bottle wine cellar, nor in its restrained atmosphere and dignified service. What makes Lutèce unique is Soltner's ability to balance all those elements in perfect equilibrium, so that you are not overwhelmed with decor, badgered by too much service or wiped out by extravagant dishes. Lutèce is not a restaurant with strengths or weaknesses: Across the board, from its pâtés to its pastries, from its zinc bar to its skylighted garden room, from its crisp linen to its heavy silverware, everything is of the finest quality. Although Soltner and sous-chef Christian Bertrand can come up with complex culinary artistry, they can also stun you with a simple roast chicken or an apple tart based on Soltner's mother's recipe. They may bring in foie gras from Upstate New York or fresh crab meat from Maryland and make even the staunchest French gourmet admit its superiority. Speaking of whom, France's toughest critics, Christian Millau and Henri Gault, have pronounced Lutèce "the best restaurant in New York"; its unassailable position in American gastronomy is borne out by its again being elected our number-one restaurant.

2. The Four Seasons--99 East 52nd Street, New York, New York (212-754-9494). You pass through the basement doors of the magnificent Seagram Building into a foyer decorated with enormous color photos of the passing seasons. You check your coat and see that the person waiting to check his is Ted Kennedy. You walk up a grand staircase into the Grill Room, an expanse of dark woods and tall windows hung with draperies of metal beads. Here sit most of New York's publishing executives, talking deals with John Irving or Swifty Lazar. You may then pass through a hallway into the Pool Room, whose central fountain is surrounded by tables filled daily with anyone from Beverly Sills to whoever was on the cover of Fortune last week. All of it was designed by America's foremost architect, Philip Johnson, to impress the hell out of you, and it does. So you wouldn't think owners Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi, who have run the place since 1973 (it opened in 1959), would need to hire one of the most innovative chefs in the country--Seppi Renggli, a Swiss whose restless spirit is also among the most disciplined in any kitchen. Aside from being an exemplary master of the grill, Renggli is constantly coming up with such items as seafood risotto, sweetbreads with saffron and melon, grapefruit and tequila sorbet and an array of chocolate desserts to make your teeth throb. The Four Seasons has always been a forum of massive clout among the business community, but its more recent reputation as a great kitchen puts it in a category all by itself.

3. Le Français--269 South Milwaukee Avenue, Wheeling, Illinois (312-541-7470). Forget the 40-minute drive from downtown Chicago. Forget the suburban decor, the pretentious menu language and the way uncooked specials are displayed under plastic wrap. Concentrate instead on Jean Banchet's extraordinary cuisine, at which the printed menu and daily specials only hint. No chef in America has more young idolaters, and no chef in America has done more to teach, promote and graduate more brilliant young cooks than Banchet, who somehow finds time to consult for other restaurants around the country. No one will ever accuse Banchet of skimping on ingredients or portions, for on any given night, you'll be offered six or more pâtés and terrines, duck consommé with a dome of pastry, salmon and avocado in aspic with a vinaigrette and a tomato coulis, loin of lamb en croÛte with tarragon, sea bass in puff pastry, strawberry sablé, an assortment of sorbets and about 40 other dishes to choose among. The pricey wine list has depth and the tab will be very high--figure about $150 for two people--but you won't find food to match Banchet's at many places.

4. Chez Panisse--1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California (415-548-5525). Serious eaters have long credited Alice Waters, formerly a student of French culture at the University of California at Berkeley, with rescuing California cooking from the entrenched passion for burgers, brownies and carrot cake. Just about the time the free-speech movement and the hippies went on the wane in the late Sixties, Waters turned her own energies and iconoclastic spirit to good food--a reasonable outgrowth of the natural-foods movement that was also spawned in California. The result was Chez Panisse, opened in 1972 near the university and manned by friends and neighbors who started getting heavily into the distinctions between shiitake and enoki mushrooms. Today, Waters and her still-young crew turn out an endless array of traditional and innovative dishes based on the very freshest and finest ingredients available in the market place. That means Canadian golden caviar, Sonoma Valley goat cheese and plum tarts served with angelica-flavored ice cream. There's not much choice in the daily menu--everyone eats the same thing here in highly democratic Berkeley--but the results are wondrous, and the price for a five-course meal is $40 (up from about $18 four years ago), still modest for food of this high caliber.

5. Le Cirque--58 East 65th Street, New York, New York (212-794-9292). To say that Le Cirque is the most fashionable restaurant in New York is to suggest that Jackie Onassis is a celebrity. The current First Lady, Nancy Reagan, took her husband here for lunch, and on any given night it's a good bet you'll run into Henry Kissinger, Paloma Picasso, Barbara Walters or, better, Frank Perdue on your way to your table in this bright, cheery dining room. But New York has no dearth of celebrity restaurants; Le Cirque is different. Its suave owner, Sirio Maccioni, works the dining room, while chef Alain Saillhac is master of the kitchen. So while the too-rich and too-thin luncheon ladies nibble at plain fillet of sole, true gastronomes are feasting on caviar folded in a crepe or foie gras with endive or salmon in sorrel or partridge in Swiss chard. Maccioni himself created pasta primavera, now a staple of American restaurants, back in 1975, but he'd prefer to serve you fresh fettuccini doused with slices of white truffle he's just brought back from Italy. A simple little dish that will astonish you--just as the restaurant itself does.

6. K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen--416 Chartres Street, New Orleans, Louisiana (504-524-7394). Paul Prudhomme, owner with his wife, K., of K-Paul's, is larger than life. Indeed, at well over 400 pounds, he is nearly larger than the door to his own restaurant in New Orleans' Vieux Carré. But his reputation is even bigger among food writers, who credit him with singlehandedly championing the virtues of Cajun cuisine while creating his own dishes out of the tradition of Louisiana backwoods cooking. He was one of the star chefs at the economic summit conference held last year in Williamsburg, where he served blackened redfish and duck with pecans to such dignitaries as François Mitterrand and Margaret Thatcher. Prudhomme learned what he knows from his mother and became the chef at Commander's Palace (number ten on our list), where he perfected his ingenious style of down-home cooking. He opened K-Paul's five years ago, and people have been lining up around the block to get into his tiny storefront restaurant with its Formica tables, paper napkins and terrific waitresses. From the turtle soup to the Cajun popcorn (fried crawfish tails) to the rabbit-and-andouille-sausage jambalaya and eggplant with crawfish and cream, this is one of the most astonishing restaurants you'll ever run across, and as American as the luncheonette it resembles.

7. The Quilted Giraffe--955 Second Avenue, New York, New York (212-753-5355). It's too bad Barry Wine didn't name his lovely small restaurant after himself instead of calling it The Quilted Giraffe--it just doesn't sound like a restaurant that takes itself seriously. But then, The Quilted Giraffe (so-called because of the whimsical use of giraffe quiltings and figurines) wasn't a restaurant many critics took very seriously in the first place. It began in a New York suburb and (continued on page 118) Critics Choice (continued from page 100) moved in 1979 to Manhattan, where it quickly established itself as a quirky place serving some of the more eccentric forms of la nouvelle cuisine--lots of strange fruit sauces and combinations of spices, meat and fish that didn't always click. But since our last survey, critics agree the restaurant has come into its own. The service is formal without being pretentious and the food is exciting. You may encounter lamb sausage with couscous or lobster and smoked scallops with a julienne of vegetables. How about an old-fashioned potpie with a new-fashioned filling of wild mushrooms, foie gras and smoked beef? Or a chocolate sundae with halvah? The place is a lot of fun, though the prices aren't, and time will tell just what new direction Wine will take. Make reservations weeks in advance.

8. Le Perroquet--70 East Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois (312-944-7990). James Villas, food editor of Town & Country and author of American Taste, has called Jovan Trboyevic, owner of Chicago's esteemed Le Perroquet, "positively, absolutely the greatest restaurateur in America," and a lot of people agree with him. Trboyevic, now in his 60s, opened Le Perroquet (the parrot) in 1972, and today it still reigns as one of the most discreetly designed and sophisticated dining rooms in the U.S. The restaurant is on the third floor of an office/apartment building, and you reach the premises by private elevator, by which time the maître d', who has already noted your name, leads you to a smartly set, uncluttered table in front of a deep-red banquette. The menu is brief, buoyed by a few specials and knowledgeably explained by a captain who never intrudes upon your meal. You might begin with a tart of wild mushrooms or mussels cuddled in vermouth, then move on to duck legs cooked in zinfandel or monkfish in a white butter sauce, then end the evening with a raspberry soufflé or a perfect floating island. The atmosphere is quiet and romantic. You almost take places like Le Perroquet for granted; but, especially for a first visit, it's a revelation of just how fine the experience of dining out can be.

9. La Côte Basque--5 East 55th Street, New York, New York (212-688-6525). Even the best restaurants sometimes grow tired and then grow tiresome, and that is precisely what happened to La Côte Basque in the late Seventies. It lost its glamor, it lost its allure and, finally, it lost its customers. It took the canny professionalism of new owner Jean-Jacques Rachou to turn things around, starting with a freshening of the delightful Basque murals and a revamping of the kitchen, which he staffed entirely with young Americans. Soon the regulars came back, and so did the critics--with high praise--and in the four years since our last poll, La Côte Basque has again been placed near the top. It certainly has sizzle, from the moment you push through the revolving doors just off Fifth Avenue and look down a narrow row of banquettes crammed with VIPs. Rachou's is a rich and varied menu, and the offerings are all heavily enriched with some of the most luscious sauces this side of Paris--a casserole of lobster and scallops in cream; salmon and bass in a lobster sauce and a champagne sauce; and sumptuous desserts such as cassis cake, mocha, vanilla and chocolate dacquoise and the best soufflés in New York.

10. Commander's Palace--1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana (504-899-8231). Commander's Palace has been the real show place of New Orleans since 1880, and it is still that--not only because of its gracious Victorian grandeur but because it is here that the owners, the Brennan family (Ella, Dick, John and Dottie), have elevated Creole cooking to the highest levels of gastronomy. Paul Prudhomme (now owner of our number-six restaurant) was chef at Commander's and became the catalyst for what the Brennans now call "haute Creole," the combining of New Orleans classics with lighter fare. The result is such exquisite dishes as oysters Trufant, made with local oysters poached in their own liquor with cream and topped with caviar; trout studded with tiny pecans and drawn butter; Creole cream-cheese ice cream; and bread-pudding soufflé. Commander's is enormous, and it bustles the way you'd hope in this kind of town. The American-wine list is great, and the Brennans are the epitome of Southern gentility.

11. L'Ermitage--730 North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (213-652-5840). Four years ago, L'Ermitage was elected to a place high on our list just at the time that chef-owner Jean Bertranou died, and there were fears in the food community that no one could replace him. Happily, L'Ermitage is still here. Bertranou's widow, Lillian, and nephew, Patrick, now manage the elegant premises with its fireplaces, suede-fabric walls, upholstered chairs and sumptuous table settings, while the responsibility for the cuisine is in the hands of Michel Blanchet, who was Bertranou's protégé. L'Ermitage was Los Angeles' first world-class restaurant for deluxe dining and, with just a nod toward what has been called "nouv-L.A. cuisine," Blanchet remains dedicated to the proposition that fancier is better--and more delicious. This is a place you go to not for a slice of pounded veal and a glass of Perrier but for a jambonette of chicken--that is, a leg that has been deboned, stuffed with foie gras and truffles and served with a butter-cream sauce dotted with sweetbreads and wild mushrooms. And that's just one course. If anyone needs a lesson in how remarkably fine grande cuisine can be, head for L'Ermitage--and take about $120 for two.

12. The Coach House--110 Waverly Place, New York, New York (212-777-0303). For 35 years, The Coach House has reigned in Greenwich Village as the quintessential American restaurant--even if the menu includes superb renditions of baked clams provençal and coupe aux marrons. The glory of The Coach House's deceptively simple menu is in the quality of ingredients and their preparation by a brigade of mostly Cuban cooks under the eye of one of New York's most venerable restaurateurs, a Greek named Leon Lianides. Here, amid rich wood panels and fine paintings, you can dine on the best roast prime ribs, chicken potpie, fresh Maryland crab meat and roast duck with brandied plums and wild rice you'll encounter. This is what traditional American food is supposed to taste like, and it is to Lianides' credit that he is, after more than three decades, still improving and experimenting. The Coach House, with its black waiters, Cuban chefs and Greek owner, is as close as you'll come to finding the best of America's melting pot.

13. La Grenouille--3 East 52nd Street, New York, New York (212-752-1495). Romantic? It's said that no woman who ever sat on one of the red banquettes in La Grenouille and stared across the dining room, with its pale-green walls, expansive mirrors and enough flowers to stock a royal wedding, has ever felt less than beautiful. The people who eat here look as if they grew up here--lots of old money and a good number of trust-fund preppies line the crowded walls each night--and Madame Charles Masson nods knowingly to her clientele as she passes by each table. To be sure, there was some concern when her husband died in 1975, but her sons Philippe and Charles, Jr., took up the reins and, working with longtime chef André Joanlanne, have kept La Grenouille (which means "the frog" and which regulars call "the frog pond") fresh, bright and as classic as ever. This devotion to classicism in the menu has caused La Grenouille to be criticized by many gourmets as out of touch with the trend toward nouvelle cuisine, but no one seriously debates the quality of the (continued on page 200) Critics Choice (continued from page 118) preparations here. The cold hors d'oeuvres, fresh pea soup, cheese soufflé, striped bass with fennel and chocolate mousse are textbook examples of the reason classics exist in the first place.

14. Le Bec-Fin--1523 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (215-567-1000). Last September, chef-owner Georges Perrier--yet another of those brash, brilliant young Frenchmen who have stirred things up in American kitchens--moved his tiny brownstone restaurant from Spruce Street into much larger quarters decorated with all the grandeur of a Loire Valley château. Nevertheless, Perrier will still seat only 50 people twice each evening, at six and nine o'clock, for $62 per person--and those persons have to make reservations long in advance. Larger quarters notwithstanding, Perrier wants to oversee it all--from each plate decoration to every pastry cart that leaves his domain, and it is that dedication that has made him famous in and out of Philadelphia. Perrier did not so much spawn imitators in the City of Brotherly Love as he did serious competitors, and largely thanks to his success, Philadelphia is getting a reputation for fine dining.

15. Michael's--1147 Third Street, Santa Monica, California (213-451-0843). Just the fact that Michael's is in Santa Monica, well off the beaten track even for such a mobile population as L.A.'s, meant that it had to be better than trendier places closer to Beverly Hills. Indeed, it is a credit to owner Michael McCarty that when his celebrated chef, Jonathan Waxman, left last summer, only one or two of our critics questioned the future of the restaurant and most told us they put their money on McCarty's talent to maintain a superior kitchen, no matter who was doing the cooking. Restaurants don't get much better looking than this--pale-peach walls, changing artwork from Michael's personal collection and a garden out back that is just about the prettiest spot in all Santa Monica. The food is straight-down-the-line California cooking--perfectly grilled meats and fish, simple sauces and flavors as bright as sunlight. If Michael's seems a bit mannered by now, that's only because McCarty was the one who set the standards.

16. Le Lion D'Or--1150 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. (202-296-7972). Jean-Pierre Goyenvalle put the nation's capital on the gastronomic map when he opened his first restaurant, Jean-Pierre (still a fine place run by Jean-Michel Farret), back in 1972 and then did even better when he opened Le Lion d'Or eight years later. Soon lawyers, ambassadors and politicians were booking tables in Goyenvalle's cellar dining room, and the new international set that overran Washington in the late Seventies made this its favorite spot for deluxe cuisine. Le Lion d'Or is not the most beautiful restaurant in town; the decor--striped silk walls and clashing fabric patterns--is old-fashioned. But, as the old gourmet said, "You can't eat the furniture," and when you sit down to a plate of Goyenvalle's crawfish in cream or his sweetbreads casserole or a slice of his chocolate walnut cake, you're likely to breathe a sigh--and maybe even miss a vote back in the Senate. The wine list is excellent and has great depth. Prices are steep, but you're paying for the privilege of dining with some of the most powerful lawmakers and lobbyists in Washington.

17. Ma Maison--8368 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California (213-655-1991). The Los Angeles restaurant to be seen in, and to eat in, for most of its ten-year existence. It would be easy to attribute the intense fame of Ma Maison to owner Patrick Terrail's unflagging instinct for public relations, including his celebrated refusal to list the restaurant's telephone number (even though it's printed in every gourmet guide to fine California restaurants). In a town that thrives on celebrity, if Ma Maison didn't have at least half a dozen movie stars on the surprisingly casual garden-patio Astroturf each lunchtime, it would only be because a plague had hit the studios the day before. That may be enough for success of a sort, but it is, in fact, Terrail's cuisine that has continued to captivate serious diners who couldn't care less whom Goldie Hawn is sitting with in the corner. Ma Maison was among the very first--if not the first--to bring truly fine nouvelle cuisine to Los Angeles and, over years of adaptation, the food has gotten better and more dependent on the cornucopia of California ingredients. If Ma Maison has slipped a bit since our last poll, it is only because it is now sharing some of the spotlight with its former chef Wolfgang Puck, who left in 1982 to open his own place, Spago, which promptly broke onto our list. It is to Terrail's credit that he has maintained his position: From the great country bread to the superbly reduced sauces to very special chocolate cake, Ma Maison is still in the forefront of L.A.--and therefore U.S.--restaurants.

18. Rex--Il Ristorante--617 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, California (213-627-2300). There is, quite simply, no other restaurant in the world as stunning in design as Rex, for the simple reason that no other restaurant in the world is located in the converted two-story space of one of old L.A.'s most extraordinary Thirties art-deco buildings--an ex-haberdashery called the Oviatt Building, complete with Lalique glass, massive 30-foot pillars and walls of finely veneered cabinets and drawers. Presiding over all this redone splendor is principal owner Mauro Vincenti, a man who is absolutely manic in his devotion to detail and to the crusade for bringing Italy's nuova cucina to Americans. Vincenti is as much a philosopher of the table as a restaurateur, and he will go to Apicius and to Renaissance libraries to find recipes for such dishes as "Venus' belly button" (green tortellini served with asparagus, vegetables and truffles) or red mullet with orange slices or a soufflé of passion fruit and peach. The best way to sample all that Rex offers is to go for the six-course dinner menu ($55)--and that gives you only an inkling of the kitchen's innovative style.

19. Spago--8795 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (213-652-4025). Spago sounds as if it should be a Czech circus, and there's something to that when you see the chef-owner, Wolfgang Puck, sporting a red baseball cap and the maître d', Bernard Erpicum, sporting a Gallic rendition of Fifties Ricky Nelson fashions. The place is loud and jammed to the raw wood rafters with the most famous celebrities, the most gorgeous starlets and the most unattractive agents in Hollywood. The amount of table hopping and cheek kissing going on makes you wonder if you've really come to one of America's greatest restaurants. And when you see everybody order pizza and calzone, you wonder if you got the name and address wrong. Not to worry: Puck, lately of Ma Maison, has long been considered one of L.A.'s real gastronomic treasures, and when he puts his mind to making pizza or calzone, you can be sure it will be the best, the most unusual and the most expensive you've ever eaten. Not surprisingly, Puck and chef Mark Peel also provide more sophisticated sustenance, such as whole baby Dover sole with ginger and lime or a perfectly pink and tender saddle of lamb made with boiled garlic and cooked over oak and avocado woods. The desserts are among the best in the West. Spago is a wonderful hybrid that could only have been bred in L.A.

20. Valentino--3115 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, California (213-829-4313). "Let's have fun tonight!" says Piero Selvaggio, the exuberant owner of Valentino, when he hears you'd like to sample the evening's specialties. Perhaps the eggplant with cheese, garlic and olive oil? A mousse of dried tomatoes, basil and spinach? Zucchini flowers with Gorgonzola, followed by a pasta such as fettuccini done in an infusion of funghi porcini mushrooms? Perhaps most memorably, you'll sample a wine from one of the five or ten greatest lists in the world--a wine cellar of incredible breadth, depth and variety, from the finest California Chardonnays to the rarest Brunello di Montalcino from Tuscany. The next night, of course, all those dishes may change, for chef Pino Pasqualato, under Selvaggio's instructions, has a repertoire of Italian dishes that seems endless. No other Italian restaurant in America can match the improvisational range of Valentino.

21. Ernie's--847 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California (415-397-5969). Ernie's is the reddest restaurant you'll ever eat in--from floor to ceiling, from wall to scarlet wall. Old-time San Franciscans wouldn't change one crimson inch of it, because Ernie's has long been the quintessence of San Francisco's Barbary Coast heritage--shamelessly opulent, enormous and constantly booked with regulars who come here for some pretty basic fare of steaks and chops. And that's what the food was for many years: basic, unsurprising, uninspiring. Owners Victor and Roland Gotti decided to take a bold step a few years ago by bringing in a young chef named Jacky Robert, who was given a free hand in making over Ernie's kitchen in the nouvelle style. Today, Robert tries a lot of strange combinations, and not all of them work. But his fascination with seasonings and strange spices has transformed a lovable old red turkey into a bird of exotic plumage--though still in scarlet hues. Ernie's is an edifying example of a marriage of the old and the new in American restaurants.

22. IL Nido--251 East 53rd Street, New York, New York (212-753-8450). If you like your Italian restaurants with red-checkered tablecloths, murals of Mount Vesuvius and porcine waiters dishing out gloppy, overcooked pasta, then Il Nido will come as something of a shock. Not only is its food as refined as any you'll find but the entire spirit of the place impresses you with the consummate display of northern Italian sophistication, from the reserved decor to the grace with which owner Adi Giovannetti makes his diners feel like special guests. There will be real scampi flown in just that morning or a plate of buffalo mozzarella or crostini di polenta or corn meal topped with chopped livers and mushrooms. Nowhere else will you find risotti like Il Nido's, and the veal, always the test of a kitchen's quality, is the best. By banishing forever Italian stereotypes, Il Nido has, in its brief five years, influenced the course of Italian restaurants in New York more than any other.

23. Felidia--243 East 58th Street, New York, New York (212-758-1479). Notice how many chefs credit their mothers with their inspiration? It's downright heartening. Lidia Bastianich, co-owner with her husband, Felix, of Felidia (a combination of their first names), is the real thing. She epitomizes the maternal tradition of cooking, for she roams her dining room coaxing customers to try this, taste that.... You're not likely to find food quite like this anywhere else in America, for the Bastianiches come from Istria, on the border of Yugoslavia and Italy, and they have introduced such native dishes as Krafi (mozzarella, fontina, parmesan and ricotta cheeses mixed with veal, lemon, orange rind, raisins and rum) and pheasant prepared with sguazet sauce of wine-dark richness. Felidia is a smart-looking brick-and-wood dining room whose centerpiece is a table crammed with seasonal specialties you may pick and choose from for your antipasto. The wine list is one of the most interesting in New York, and the Bastianiches' genuine concern for a customer's satisfaction can make you feel that Mom loved you best, after all.

24. Jean-Louis--2650 Virginia Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. (202-298-4488). Jean-Louis Palladin brought la nouvelle cuisine to Washington when it was still truly nouvelle. His vision has paid off: Robert Finigan, who published a highly critical Private Guide to Restaurants, picked Jean-Louis as his top choice in America. The restaurant is in the basement of the Watergate Hotel, which gives the place an intriguing cachet, especially at lunch, when Jean-Louis functions as a private club. (For five bucks on top of your $30 lunch tab, you can become a member for the day.) With its mirrored ceiling and fabric-lined walls, Jean-Louis looks like a spaceship designed by Calvin Klein. On the way in, you see a display of wonderful desserts and, just beyond, an extraordinary wine cellar displaying some very rare Bordeaux and Burgundies. The meal itself will be memorable--grilled shrimps with green- and red-pepper sauces, cod set in basil leaves, foie gras with wild mushrooms, lamb with thyme and those great desserts. There's ample reason to keep your eye on Jean-Louis' star.

25. Parioli Romanissimo-- 24 East 81st Street, New York, New York (212-288-2391). A sliver of a dining room on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Parioli Romanissimo is considered by some to be the premier Italian restaurant in a city that probably has more Italian restaurants than Venice and Florence combined. What distinguishes owner Rubrio Rossi's dining room is his complete familiarity with the best traditional dishes of Italian gastronomy, as well as an abiding investment in the less familiar offerings of northern Italian cooking, such as vitello tonnato or carpaccio or a rack of eight lamb chops done alla romana, with a sweet-and-sour sauce called mostarda di Cremona. Portions here express the very Italian viewpoint that another few ounces of veal or pasta never hurt anyone, so go along with Rossi's largess. Of course, this largess is going to cost you plenty, but you'll feel you got your money's worth and probably even learned to love at least a couple of new dishes.

1. Lutèce, New York, New York

2. The Four Seasons, New York, New York

3. Le Français, Wheeling, Illinois

4. Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California

5. Le Cirque, New York, New York

6. K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, New Orleans, Louisiana

7. The Quilted Giraffe, New York, New York

8. Le Perroquet, Chicago, Illinois

9. La Côte Basque, New York, New York

10. Commander's Palace, New Orleans, Louisiana

11. L'Ermitage, Los Angeles, California

12. The Coach House, New York, New York

13. La Grenouille, New York, New York

14. Le Bec-Fin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

15. Michael's, Santa Monica, California

16. Le Lion D'Or, Washington, D.C.

17. Ma Maison, Los Angeles, California

18. Rex--IL Ristorante, Los Angeles, California

19. Spago, Los Angeles, California

20. Valentino, Santa Monica, California

21. Ernie's, San Francisco, California

22. IL Nido, New York, New York

23. Felidia, New York, New York

24. Jean-Louis, Washington, D.C.

25. Parioli Romanissimo, New York, New York

"What's new since 1980 in the dignified and cutthroat world of fine eating? Nearly half the restaurants."

"Our experts--from New York to California, New Orleans to Seattle--turn out to be a very fair-minded bunch."

America's 25 Greatest Restaurants 1980

for your reference, here are the rankings from our list four years ago

1. Lutèce, New York City

2. Le Francais, Wheeling, Illinois

3. The Four Seasons, New York City

4. L'Ermitage, Los Angeles

5. La Caravelle, New York City

6. Le Perroquet, Chicago

7. Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California

8. The Coach House, New York City

9. The "21" Club, New York City

10. Ma Maison, Los Angeles

11. Maisonette, Cincinnati

12. La Grenouille, New York City

13. The Palace, New York City

14. Windows on the World, New York City

15. Le Bee-Fin, Philadelphia

16. Ernie's, San Francisco

17. Trattoria da Alfredo, New York City

18. Commander's Palace, New Orleans

19. The Mandarin, San Francisco

20. Le Lion d'Or, Washington, D.C.

21. London Chop House, Detroit

22. Jack's Restaurant, San Francisco

23. Fournou's Ovens, San Francisco

24.-25. L'Orangerie, Los Angeles

24.-25. Tony's, Houston

Choice Critics

Molly Abraham--Restaurant critic, The Detroit Free Press.

Colman Andrews--Restaurant critic, Los Angeles Times; food writer, Metropolitan Home.

Anonymous restaurant critics--Texas Monthly.

Mary Lou Baker--Food writer; former food editor and restaurant critic, Baltimore magazine.

Robert Lawrence Balzer--Food and beverage editor, Travel-Holiday.

Ariane and Michael Batterberry--Food consultants and founding editors, The International Review of Food & Wine.

Michael Bauer--Food critic, Dallas Times-Herald.

Joseph Baum--Restaurant consultant.

James Beard--Author of numerous cookbooks, including James Beard's American Cookery.

Anthony Dias Blue--Food critic, WCBS-Radio, New York, New York; wine editor, Bon Appétit.

Paul Bocuse--Chef-owner, Paul Bocuse Restaurant, Lyons, France; cookbook author.

Sharon Boorstin--Restaurant critic, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

Fred Brack--Former food critic, The Weekly, Seattle.

Patricia Brooks--Restaurant critic, The New York Times (Connecticut section); author of Best Restaurants New England.

Ellen Brown--Food writer, USA Today.

Patricia Brown--Editor at large, Cuisine.

Giuliano Bugialli--Author, The Fine Art of Italian Cooking.

Marian Burros--Restaurant critic, The New York Times.

Ann Teresa Callen--Food historian, cookbook author.

Paul A. Camp--Senior features editor, Chicago Tribune.

Michael Carlton--Dining critic, The Denver Post.

Craig Claiborne--Food editor, The New York Times; author of several books, including A Feast Made for Laughter.

Maureen Clancy--Food editor, San Diego Union.

Bruce David Colen--Restaurant critic, Los Angeles magazine; publisher, Bruce David Colen's "The Good Life" Newsletter.

Elaine Corn--Food editor, The Louisville Courier-Journal.

Darrel Corti--Wine merchant and food authority.

Richard Cox--Restaurant critic, San Diego magazine.

Ann Criswell--Food editor, Houston Chronicle.

Dale Curry--Food editor, The Times-Picayune.

Stephanie Curtis--Former restaurant columnist, Food & Wine.

Michael Demorest--Senior writer, Time.

Katherine Dinsdale--Associate editor, D magazine.

Stanley Dry--Restaurant columnist, Food & Wine.

Lois Dwan--Restaurant critic, Los Angeles Times.

Jane Ellis--Associate features editor, New York Post.

Florence Fabricant--Restaurant critic, The New York Times (Long Island section); contributing writer, Signature.

Robert Finigan--Publisher, Robert Finigan's Private Guide to Restaurants.

Pamela Fiori--Editor in chief, Travel & Leisure.

Ron Fonte--Editor and publisher, The Friends of Wine.

Malcolm S. Forbes--Publisher, Forbes magazine.

Pierre Franey--Food writer, The New York Times; author, The 60-Minute Gourmet.

Frances Freedman--Publisher, Atlantic City magazine.

Christine Arpe Gang--Food editor, The Commercial-Appeal, Memphis.

Lila Gault--Author, The Northwest Cookbook; wine and spirits editor, Country Living.

Paul Gillette--Editor and publisher, The Wine Investor; author, Playboy's Book of Wine.

Hedy Giusti-Lanham--Co-author, The Cuisine of Venice.

John Golden--Editor in chief, Great Recipes.

Marion Gorman--Editor, Gastronome.

John Gottfried--Restaurant critic, New Jersey Monthly; co-author, The New York Pocket Restaurant Guide.

Emanuel Greenberg--Food and drink writer, Playboy; co-author, The Pocket Guide to Spirits & Liqueurs.

Gael Greene--Food writer, New York magazine.

Toni Griffin--Food editor, San Diego Tribune.

Dotty Griffith--Food editor, The Dallas Morning News.

Thomas J. Haas--Publisher, Nation's Restaurant News.

Phyllis Hanes--Food editor, Christian Science Monitor.

Zack Hanle--New York editor, Bon Appétit.

Valerie Haskell--Restaurant critic, The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Nika Hazelton--Food writer, National Review; author, American Cooking.

Howard Hillman--Author, The Art of Dining Out.

John Hinterberger--Restaurant critic, The Seattle Times.

Moira Hodgson--Editor and restaurant columnist, Vanity Fair.

Tom Horton--Editor, Spirit of Aloha magazine.

Polly Hurst--Food critic, Philadelphia magazine.

Jay Jacobs--Restaurant critic, Gourmet.

Judith Jones--Cookbook editor; co-author, The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook.

Barbara Kafka--Food columnist, Vogue.

Sherman Kaplan--Restaurant critic, WBBM-Radio, Chicago; author, Best Restaurants Chicago and Suburbs.

Rob Kasper--"The Happy Eater" columnist, The Baltimore Sun.

Allen H. Kelson--Editor in chief and restaurant critic, Chicago magazine.

Jackie Killeen--Publisher, 101 Productions restaurant guides.

Smitty Kogan--Director, Champagne News and Information Bureau and Sherry Institute of Spain.

Matt Kramer--Food and wine columnist, Pacific Northwest.

Carole Lalli--Restaurant critic, Manhattan Express.

George Lang--Restaurateur, consultant, writer.

Jenifer Harvey Lang--Food writer and chef.

Bob Lape--Author, Bob Lape's Dining Guide.

Leo Lerman--Former features editor and restaurant columnist, Vogue.

Liz Logan--Restaurant critic, Orlando Sentinel.

John Mariani--Author, The Dictionary of American Food & Drink; co-author, The New York Pocket Restaurant Guide.

Tom Martin--Food critic, Memphis magazine.

A. J. McClane--Author, The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery.

Peter D. Meltzer--Columnist, The Wine Spectator.

Ferdinand Metz--President, The Culinary Institute of America.

Stephen Michaelides--Editor, Restaurant Hospitality.

Robert Michelet--Former restaurant critic, The Oregonian.

Christian Millau--Co-publisher, Le Nouveau Guide; co-author, Gault-Millau Guides.

Bryan Miller--Food writer, The New York Times; former restaurant critic, Connecticut and Northeast magazines.

Donna Morgan--Food editor, The Salt Lake Tribune.

Richard Nelson--Cooking teacher.

Sean O'Connell--Editor, publisher, Fine Dining.

Barbara Gibbs Ostmann--Food editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Fenella Pearson--Editor, Italian Wines & Spirits.

Jacques Pepin--Author, La Technique; TV host, Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pepin.

Anne Burn Phillips--Food editor, The Atlanta Constitution.

Boa Pixa--Restaurant critic, San Francisco Examiner.

Joe Pollack--Restaurant critic, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dorothee Poison--Food editor and restaurant critic, The Arizona Republic.

Ann Powell--Assistant managing editor, Savvy.

Vincent Price--Co-author, A Treasury of Great Recipes.

Jim Quinn--Food columnist, Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine.

Steven Raichlen--Restaurant critic, Boston magazine.

Ruth Reichl--Restaurant critic, California magazine.

William Rice--Editor in chief, Food & Wine; coauthor, Where to Eat in America.

Phyllis Richman--Restaurant critic, The Washington Post.

Lynne Roberts--Restaurant critic, Women's Wear Daily.

Egon Ronay--Author, Egon Ronay's TWA Guide to 500 Good Restaurants.

Marie Ryckman--Food writer, The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Robert L Sammons--Syndicated food and travel writer.

Gus Sounders--Restaurant critic, The Boston Herald.

Richard Sax--Author, Cooking Great Meals Every Day; cookbook critic, Cuisine.

William Schemmel--Food and travel writer, Good-life.

Arthur Schwartz--Food editor, New York Daily News.

Donna Segal--Food editor, The Indianapolis Star.

Stan Sesser--Restaurant critic, San Francisco Chronicle.

Marvin R. Shanken--Editor and publisher, The Wine Spectator.

Robert Shoffner--Food and wine editor, The Washingtonian.

Art Siemering--Food editor, The Kansas City Star.

Sandra Silfven--Food critic, The Detroit News.

Raymond Sokolov--Author, Fading Feast; editor, leisure and arts page, The Wall Street Journal.

Susan Spedalle--Fine-dining editor, Nation's Restaurant News.

Anthony Spinazzola--Food and wine writer, The Boston Globe.

Stendahl--Pseudonym for the restaurant critic of WNCN-FM Radio, New York, New York; author, Best Restaurants New York.

Horace Sutton--Editor, Signature.

Dick Syatt--Talk-show host, WRKO-Radio, Boston.

Elaine Tait--Restaurant critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Doris Tobias--Food and wine writer; chairman of New York Wine Writers Circle.

Robert Tolf--Restaurant critic, Fort Lauderdale News/Sun-Sentinel.

Geri Trotta--Contributing editor, Gourmet.

Alan Tucker--Editorial director, Fodor's Travel Guides.

Patricia Unterman--Restaurant critic, San Francisco Chronicle.

Ann Valentine--Food editor, The Houston Post.

Marilou Vaughan--Editor, Bon Appétit.

James Villas--Food editor, Town & Country.

Jeanne A. Voltz--Author, The Flavor of the South.

Patricia Weitzel--Food editor, Cleveland magazine.

Diane Wiggins--Food editor, St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Burt Wolf--Syndicated-TV food reporter; coauthor, Where to Eat in America.

Roger Yaseen--American president, Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs; publisher, Gastronome.

Regional Favorites

Some of the restaurants on the following list missed making our top 25 by a few points. Others represent the regional critics' choices of the best in their locales. Others are new, exciting and the ones to watch in years to come.

Alabama

Highlands a Bar & Grill, Birmingham (205-939-1400)

Arizona

Vincent's French Cuisine, Scottsdale (602-998-0921)

California

Gustav Anders, San Diego (619-270-5577)

Bernard's, Los Angeles (213-612-1580)

Fournou's Ovens, San Francisco (415-989-1910)

The Mandarin, San Francisco (415-673-8812)

Saint-Estèphe, Manhattan Beach (213-545-1334)

Santa Fe Bar & Grill, Berkeley (415-841-4740)

The Sardine Factory, Monterey (408-373-3775)

Seventh Street Bistro, Los Angeles (213-627-1242)

René Verdon Le Trianon, San Francisco (415-982-9353)

Colorado

Café Giovanni, Denver (303-825-6555)

Greenbriar Inn, Boulder (303-440-7979)

Connecticut

L'Americain, Hartford (203-522-6500)

Leon's, New Haven (203-789-9049)

District of Columbia

Cantina d'Italia (202-659-1830)

Le Pavilion (202-833-3846)

Florida

Bern's Steak House, Tampa (813-251-2421)

The Colony Restaurant, Sarasota (813-383-5558)

Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant, Miami Beach (305-673-0365)

Maison et Jardin, Orlando (305-862-4410)

Painted Bird, Coral Gables (305-445-1200)

La Vieille Maison, Boca Raton (305-421-7370)

Georgia

The Abbey, Atlanta (404-876-8831)

La Grotta, Atlanta (404-231-1368)

Hawaii

Bagwell's 2424, Honolulu (808-922-9292)

Chez Michel, Honolulu (808-955-7866)

John Dominis, Kewalo Basin (808-523-0955)

Idaho

The Sandpiper, Boise (208-344-8911)

Illinois

Ambria, Chicago (312-472-5959)

Indiana

Café Johnell, Fort Wayne (219-456-1939)

Kentucky

Casa Grisanti, Louisville (502-584-4377)

Louisiana

The Caribbean Room at the Pontchartrain Hotel, New Orleans (504-524-0581)

Mosca's, Avondale (504-436-9942)

Maryland

Haussner's, Baltimore (301-327-8365)

Olde Obricky's, Baltimore (301-732-6399)

Tio Pepe, Baltimore (301-539-4675)

Massachusetts

Chillingsworth, Brewster (617-896-3640)

L'Espalier, Boston (617-262-3023)

Legal Seafoods, Boston (617-426-4444)

Restaurant Jasper, Boston (617-523-1126)

Michigan

The London Chop House, Detroit (313-962-0277)

Missouri

Richard Perry / Restaurant, St. Louis (314-771-4100)

The Savoy Grill, Kansas City (816-842-3890)

Stroud's, Kansas City (816-454-9600; 333-2132)

Tony's, St. Louis (314-231-7007)

New Jersey

Knife and Fork Inn, Atlantic City (609-344-1133)

The Pear Tree, Rumson (201-842-8747)

The Tarragon Tree, Chatham (201-635-7333)

New York

An American Place, New York, New York (212-517-7660)

Amerigo's, the Bronx (212-792-3600)

The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant, New York, New York (212-490-6650)

Hubert's, New York, New York (212-673-3711)

Maxime's, Granite Springs (914-248-7200)

La Tulipe, New York, New York (212-691-8860)

Ohio

The French Connection, Cleveland (216-696-5600)

Maisonette, Cincinnati (513-721-2260)

Peasant Stock, A Restaurant, Dayton (513-293-3900)

Oregon

L'Auberge, Portland (503-223-3302)

Pennsylvania

Déjà-Vu, Philadelphia (215-546-1190)

DiLullo's, Philadelphia (215-725-6000)

Joe's, Reading (215-373-6794)

Sarah's, Pittsburgh (412-431-9307)

Tennessee

The Bradford House, Memphis (901-523-1915)

Dux, Memphis (901-529-4199)

Texas

Agnew's, Dallas (214-458-0702)

The French Room at The Adolphus, Dallas (214-742-8200)

Jean-Claude, Dallas (214-653-1823)

The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas (214-559-2100)

La Réserve, Houston (713-871-8177)

Routh Street Cafe, Dallas (214-871-7161)

Utah

The Roof Restaurant, Salt Lake City (801-531-1000)

Washington

Rosellini's Other Place, Seattle (206-623-7340)