Three Philly restaurants named to North America’s 50 Best Restaurants
Kalaya, Friday Saturday Sunday, and Royal Sushi & Izakaya all snagged coveted places on the first-ever North America restaurant list.
Three Philadelphia restaurants have made it into the inaugural edition of North America’s 50 best restaurants. The awards took place Thursday night at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas.
Philly won big, illustrating the city’s significant entrance onto the international gastronomic stage, two months ahead of the debut of Michelin’s inaugural Northeast Cities edition. Kalaya came in at 7, Rittenhouse’s Friday Saturday Sunday at 16, and Royal Sushi & Izakaya at 32.
The rankings are interspersed with special awards, such as those recognizing restaurants and individuals that stood out for their sustainability or community-minded initiatives, as well as ones recognizing the best pastry chef and the best female chef. Kalaya chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon received the special award for North America’s best female chef.
This is the second time a 50 Best Restaurants Awards ceremony was held in Las Vegas. Last year, the World’s 50 Best list was announced at the same venue.
The ceremony started with a cocktail reception where each of the chefs of the recognized restaurants received a red scarf and walked a red carpet. The awards ceremony followed, announcing the rankings of each restaurant, counting down from 50 to one.
Atomix in New York City, a restaurant that serves a contemporary Korean fine dining tasting menu, was named the best restaurant in North America.
The World’s 50 Best Awards have region-specific awards for Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. There are also lists for best bars and best hotels. Typically, restaurants ranked 51-100 are announced prior to the ceremony, but no such list was announced for North America.
The annual World’s 50 Best list draws from these regions for a worldwide ranking. The North America list encompasses the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Mexico’s restaurants are ranked in the Latin America list. The publication of the North America edition 50 Best list this year coincides with the Michelin Guide’s growing presence in North America.
One of the eight North America academy chairs is former Inquirer food editor Jamila Robinson, now the editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit.
The list is voted on by 300 anonymous voters selected by the academy chairs and spread across the North America. They each select their eight best dining experiences over a designated voting period.
“While there is no criteria as to what is deemed best, we leave it up to each expert to decide for themselves,” said William Drew, the director of content for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in his speech prefacing the countdown.
“There are still tightly enforced voting rules to adhere to in order to ensure the ranking is as credible as possible … The list is a simple computation of those votes.”
“Any type of restaurant is eligible to be voted for. This is not designed to be a fine dining list, but simply a list of brilliant places to eat,” said Drew. Even so, the places named to the 50 Best list are predominantly fine dining establishments.
American restaurants have seldom placed on World’s 50 Best lists, which have favored Europe and Latin America.
The rankings frequently overlap with Michelin stars, perhaps a hint at which restaurants will won the coveted distinction when Michelin announces its latest crop of honorees in Philadelphia this November.