Here's someone's list of the 101 best restaurants in America. I've been to three and a half of them…
- Peter Luger's Steak House in Brooklyn, which I agree was wonderful. Easily the best steak I've ever had anywhere.
- Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan, which I agree was terrific…but frankly not all that much better than about six other delicatessens I could name.
- Arthur Bryant's Barbeque in Kansas City, which I thought was okay but I wouldn't even put it on a Ten Best list of barbecue restaurants I've been to.
- And the half is Spago in Beverly Hills. Haven't been to the current one but I went to the original Spago in Hollywood twice and boy, was I unimpressed.
The thing that strikes me as I scroll through the other 97.5 is that I'm not likely to ever eat at most of them. Many are in locations I will never visit. Others wouldn't tempt me if they were across the street. I am not adventuresome in my dining. In fact, even when I go to a restaurant I've liked in the past, I do not think, "Hey, what else is there on the menu I can try?" I think, "Hey, what did I have last time I liked so much? I'll order that again."
My Aunt Dot used to treat it as a grotesque character flaw and lecture me on the value of trying new things. It had something to do with just becoming better as a human being…and how that followed, I still don't comprehend. She'd say, "Your world can't grow if you view it like that." And I'd think, "My world's not going to grow if I have the beef instead of the lamb?"
I also wonder how many restaurants are on this or any such list for reasons other than the taste of the food. Aunt Dot used to like one fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills because, I suspect, the ambiance was lush. The place was filled with celebrities. And the staff kissed every body part you allowed them to kiss…and then some.
The food? Not so hot. But the place had such a grand rep, you felt like a commoner to suggest it wasn't The Place To Be. (It's not, by the way, on this list of 101, probably because it went out of business in 1972. Some place else had become The Place To Be so the former The Place To Be became The Place To Avoid.)
I need to find a dining guide that bridges a gap, rating places better than Arby's but not as grand as The Four Seasons. Those are the kinds of places where I eat. Once at a convention outta town, I heard a friend ask the concierge at the hotel if she could recommend a restaurant that was, "like an Outback Steak House but not a chain."
Note that the assemblers of this list of 101 avoided such eateries except for barbecue places and delicatessens. There seems to be an unwritten law that applies to BBQ joints and delis: The crummier the decor, the more likely the food is to be great. And come to think of it, maybe that truism is the only dining guide you really need.