Two New York City restaurants are among Food & Wine's newly released Restaurants of the Year list.
Le Coucou in Soho and Olmsted in Brooklyn are in the magazine's third annual selection of restaurants of the year, a list of the "10 most exciting new places to eat in America now," according to Food & Wine.
The magazine's editors dined at hundreds of restaurants in 20 cities across the U.S. over a period of six months before whittling down their selection to the top 10 most "magnetic" openings of the year.
"This year's winners are raising the game in astonishing ways, showing us that food can be as fun as expressive, and as philanthropic as it is delicious," Food & Wine says.
Of the Greg Baxtrom-helmed restaurant in Prospect Heights, Food & Wine raves, "If Olmsted didn't do so much so perfectly, it would be that cute-to 11 Brooklyn restaurant we might have loved to hate. Instead, on a foggy night the week before Christmas, we found ourselves dopey in love -- surrendering all cynicism in its ridiculously picturesque garden, wrapped in a folksy blanket, uncharacteristically giggling as we dumped the last of the rum into the thermos of housemade Swiss Miss."
Food & Wine called Baxtrom's cooking "as delicious as it is resourceful and value-driven, often making magic out of ingredients that other restaurants might pass over," highlighting the torn scallops grilled with celeriac, apple and spicy peanuts and uni-stuffed pierogies and sweet potato.
"In the end, Baxtrom's cooking dazzled us," Food & Wine said. "But it was his spread-the-love mentality that won us over for good."
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On Le Coucou, headed by Daniel Rose, Food & Wine says, "Like everyone else in NYC, we were swept away by Rose's reverie, and by his sensational food -- a bewitching double helix of Old and New World notions."
"Cloud-like pike quenelles in a brandied sauce speak of the bast; halibut in beurre black with daikon 'choucroute' overdelivers on our current obsession with all things fermented," Food & Wine said.
"At Le Cocou at least, haute rides again."
Here's the full list of Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year 2017:
- Here’s Looking At You, Los Angeles – Chef Jonathan Whitener
- June’s All Day, Austin – Sommelier June Rodil
- Le Coucou, New York City – Chef Daniel Rose
- Olmsted, Brooklyn – Chef Greg Baxtrom
- Roister, Chicago – Chef Andrew Brochu
- Rooster Soup Co., Philadelphia – Chefs Michael Solomonov and Erin O’Shea
- Tartine Manufactory, San Francisco – Chef Sam Goinsalvos, Baker Chad Robertson and Pastry Chef Liz Prueitt
- Turkey and the Wolf, New Orleans – Chef Mason Hereford
- Tusk, Portland, OR – Chef Sam Smith
- Waypoint, Cambridge, MA – Chef Michael Scelfo
