Thursday, February 16, 2012
News The Catbird Seat Scores No. 5 in 'GQ' List of Top 10 New Restaurants in America
Posted by Dana Kopp Franklin on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:34 AM
More evidence that Nashville eatery The Catbird Seat is earning a prominent place in the national restaurant scene: GQ magazine has ranked it No. 5 in its annual list of Top 10 New Restaurants in America.
The announcement comes just days after Catbird's chefs, Josh Habiger and Erik Anderson, cooked dinner at the James Beard House in New York. The invitation to the dinner, which took place Monday, is considered a prestigious honor.
The Catbird Seat, which features an innovative setup with just 32 seats around a U-shaped chef's bar where Habiger and Anderson directly serve seven or more courses to diners, is the only Southern restaurant on the list. In fact, it's one of only four of the Top 10 not situated on the coasts.
(Next and Ruxbin in Chicago and Barley Swine in Austin, Texas, are the others. Ashley Christensen Restaurants in Raleigh, N.C., got a separate nod as "Mini-Empire of the Year.")
The Catbird Seat is a high-profile flagship of entrepreneur Ben and Max Goldberg's Strategic Hospitality group.
Check out the full GQ release, including all 10 restaurants, after the jump.
GQ Names "The Ten Best New Restaurants in America" for 2012NEW YORK, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — GQ has announced "The Ten Best New Restaurants in America" for 2012. The annual feature appears in the March issue of the magazine, available on newsstands nationwide February 21. Alan Richman and the editors of GQ spent the past year crisscrossing the country and comparing notes on an all-star freshman class. From a culinary time machine in Chicago to a tiny chef's table above a bar in Nashville, they've compiled the list of everywhere you should be digging in. This year's list—topped by chef Michael Voltaggio's modern eatery Ink, in Los Angeles, CA—helps prove that there's one sector of American life that still isn't broken: our restaurants.
The "Ten Best New Restaurants in America" selected by GQ for 2012 are:1. Ink (Los Angeles, CA)
Modernism Never Tasted So Good2. Brushstroke (New York, NY)
Our Finest Japanese Import3. Next (Chicago, IL)
No Holds Barred, Nothing Left Behind4. Mission Chinese Food (San Francisco, CA)
The Pop-up That Endured5. The Catbird Seat (Nashville, TN)
The Best Duet in Nashville6. Picca (Los Angeles, CA)
Peruvian Is Here to Stay7. The Woodsman Tavern (Portland, OR)
We'll Be at the Bar8. Mica (Philadelphia, PA)
French Technique Moves to the Burbs
9. Ruxbin (Chicago, IL)
Small, Scrappy, and Satisfying as Hell10. Barley Swine (Austin, TX)
The Restaurant That Grew Up in a TrailerAlso included in "The Ten Best New Restaurants in America" feature are chef recommendations and Alan Richman's selections for the "Best Restaurant in North of America" (Les 400 Coups, Montreal), "Reinvention of the Year" (St. Anselm, Brooklyn, NY), "Mini-Empire of the Year" (Ashley Christensen Restaurants, Raleigh, NC), "5 Best Dishes of the Year," and "Dessert of the Year."
About GQ
GQ is the leading men's general-interest magazine, with a monthly readership of 7 million readers. It is available in print, online at GQ.com, and as an app at iTunes.com. The magazine is published by Conde Nast, a division of Advance Publications. Conde Nast operates in twenty-five countries and is the world leader in exceptional content creation.
Readers also liked…
-
Urban Grub Opening Soon in 12South
- Jan 25, 2012
-
Chefs Willy Thomas, Joe Shaw Teaming To Open Pomodoro East
- Feb 13, 2012
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
Barley Swine is delightful though an entirely different type of dining experience. Congrats to the Catbird Seat!
like
dislike
Congratulations to the Catbird Seat! Well-deserved based on my wonderful experience there in October.
I do wish they would tweak their reservation system. Sorry to mix a semi-gripe with a congratulatory post, but I'm trying to get a reservation during my birthday week or near it. The system doesn't distinguish on the calendar between days that the restaurant is closed, days that are fully booked and days that have not opened up for reservations yet. It's a bit confusing and frustrating.
@Meg I there is some explanatory text on the Reservations home page that I believe they only put up recently. Would be nice if the calendar visually distinguished, but at least they have the text explanation now.
"To salute Nashville's famous hot chicken (a local specialty of fried bird doused in hot sauce), the boys came up with a chile-flake-coated chip of chicken skin that packs all the crunchy lusciousness of southern fried chicken in a single bite."
GQ obviously didn't do their research on Hot Chicken: "doused in hot sauce?"
