Flour + Water and Commis Make GQ 10 Best New Restaurants List, Even Though Both Opened in 2009

Alan Richman, humbly dubbed "the most decorated food writer in history" by his employer GQ magazine, has chosen his 10 Best New Restaurants in America. Kudos to San Francisco's beloved Flour + Water and Commis who made the list. Not to rain on anyone's parade here or anything, but curiously, both restaurants opened in 2009. And we're not talking cusp 2009/2010 here either. Flour + Water hit the scene in May of last year and Commis came soon after in June.

We agree with Richman that "Flour + Water might be as good as...[informal Italian dining] gets." And we'll take his NY-centric view of Commis: "a restaurant with SoHo savoir faire." But what gives with the bendy "New Restaurant" qualification policy? Queries are out to the powers that be to get to the bottom of this. Meantime, what does the Eater population think of these choices?

· GQ's Alan Richman Names Ten Best New Restaurants of 2010 [-EN-]
· The Ten Best New Restaurants In America [GQ]