Californian restaurants in North America
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A
Downtown
Smack in downtown, this is an ideal spot to start an evening. While the California fare is solidly good, it’s not particularly innovative, but the bar makes great cocktails and the tasty appetizers appeal to peckish eaters who don’t want to fill up before a performance.
reviewed
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B
Jardinière
Her formidable reputation as Iron Chef, Top Chef Master and James Beard Award winner precedes her, but star chef Traci Des Jardins is better known at her namesake restaurant Jardinière as a champion of sustainable, salacious California cuisine. She has a way with California's organic vegetables, free-range meats and sustainably caught seafood that's probably illegal in other states, lavishing braised oxtail ravioli with summer truffles and stuffing crispy pork belly with salami and fig. Go Mondays, when $45 scores three decadent courses with wine pairings.
reviewed
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Carmel Belle
Fresh, often organic ingredients flow from Carmel Valley farms onto tables at this charcuterie, cheese and wine shop hidden in a mini mall.
reviewed
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Coi
Chef Daniel Patterson's wild tasting menu featuring foraged morels, wildflowers and Pacific seafood is like licking the California coastline. Black and green noodles are made from clams and Pacific seaweed, and purple ice-plant petals are strewn atop Sonoma duck's tongue, wild-caught abalone and just-picked arugula. Only-in-California flavors and intriguing wine pairings ($95; pours generous enough for two to share) will keep you California dreaming for a while afterwards.
reviewed
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Commonwealth
California's most imaginative farm-to-table dining isn't in some quaint barn, but the converted cinderblock Mission dive where chef Jason Fox serves crispy hen with toybox carrots cooked in hay (yes, hay), and sea urchin floating on a bed of farm egg and organic asparagus that looks like a tide pool and tastes like a dream. Savor the $65 prix-fixe knowing $10 is donated to charity.
reviewed
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C
Commonwealth
California's most imaginative farm-to-table dining isn't in some quaint barn, but the converted cinderblock Mission dive where chef Jason Fox serves crispy hen with toybox carrots cooked in hay (yes, hay), and sea urchin floating on a bed of farm egg and organic asparagus that looks like a tide pool and tastes like a dream. Savor the $65 prix-fixe knowing $10 is donated to charity.
reviewed
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D
Frances
Chef/owner Melissa Perello earned a Michelin star for fine dining, then ditched downtown to start this market-inspired neighborhood bistro. Daily menus showcase bright, seasonal flavors and luxurious textures: cloudlike sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi with crunchy breadcrumbs and broccolini, grilled calamari with preserved Meyer lemon, and artisan wine served by the ounce, directly from Wine Country.
reviewed
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E
French Laundry
A high-wattage culinary experience on par with the world's best, French Laundry is ideal for marking lifetime achievements. Book exactly two months ahead: call at 10am (or try OpenTable.com at midnight). If you can't score a table, console yourself at Keller's nearby note-perfect French brasserie Bouchon; or with chocolate cake at Bouchon Bakery.
reviewed
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F
JoLé
Small plates, modest prices and outsize flavor – chef-owned JoLé evolves seasonally and scores high marks for consistency and farm-to-table flavors.
reviewed
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Catalina Country Club Restaurant
Creative California fusion.
reviewed
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Curry Village Taqueria
Shares a deck with the Pizza Patio.
reviewed
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Furnace Creek Ranch General Store
Has a balanced (but expensive) selection at its general store.
reviewed
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Railroad Park Dinner House
Set inside a vintage railroad car, this popular restaurant/bar offers trainloads of dining-car ambience and California cuisine.
reviewed
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G
Bicycle
Striking colored walls, a spacious interior and a hip art-gallery feel accent the French, South American and Asian fusion cuisine.
reviewed
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Village Corner
This classic California bistro has a lovely, flower-filled patio with an open-pit fire. The menu is long and portions are generous.
reviewed
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Fig Cafe & Winebar
Sonoma's take on comfort food: organic salads, Sonoma duck cassoulet and free corkage on Sonoma wines, in a convivial room with vaulted wooden ceilings.
reviewed
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Peppers MexiCali Cafe
Small and wooden-floored Peppers serves the gamut of Mexican classics as well as complex seafood dishes. There's a good wine and beer list.
reviewed
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Wool Growers
Bakersfield's oldest Basque restaurant is a simple eating hall loaded with character. A fried chicken dinner will leave you full for a week.
reviewed
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Red House Cafe
This upscale café is in an 1895 house with a nice veranda. Always jammed with locals, you can enjoy dishes as diverse as unusual salads and steak frites.
reviewed
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H
Parkside Cafe
Parkside Cafe is famous for its hearty breakfasts and lunches, and noted far and wide for its excellent coastal cuisine. For dinner, reservations are recommended.
reviewed
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Vineyard Room
DCA's white-tablecloth dining room serves contemporary Cal-Italian cuisine in three- or four-course set menus, from polenta and portobello to prosciutto and veal.
reviewed
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Good Life Café
Stomach-stuffing Mexican breakfasts, healthy veggie wraps, brawny burgers and big salad bowls make this place perennially popular.
reviewed
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I
Hush
Laguna's favorite for hipsters with cash to burn, and their parents. Macaroni and cheese comes with lobster and crayfish while pork chops are wrapped delightfully in sage.
reviewed
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J
Fish & Farm
Ecocomfort food showcases organic produce, sustainable seafood and humanely raised meats, all sourced within 100 miles - plus cocktails blended with seasonal, organic fruit.
reviewed
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K
Emile's
Emile's, run by Swiss-born chef Emile Mooser since 1973, is San Jose's longstanding standard-bearer. The setting is romantic, if slightly dated, and the California-European cuisine fabulous.
reviewed