Sir & Star Makes GQ Best New Restaurants List

Alan Richman's annual GQ list of the best new American restaurants has dropped, and only one Bay Area spot is on it: Sir & Star at the Olema, which clocked in at #11. The restaurant from Daniel DeLong and Margaret Grade (formerly of Manka's Inverness Lodge) has been talked about all year, netting a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod, a rare three-star rating from Tasting Table, and another three stars from Bauer and Josh Sens. Richman describes Sir & Star's food as "the kind that's no longer commonplace—rich, generous, soothing, and in quantities large enough to fill your plate," citing its "remarkable" prices and a Dungeness crab with hollandaise "so concentrated and intense I knew that eating it was a sin." DeLong "cooks beautifully, in an old-time, happy-to-have-you-in-my-house sort of way."

Considering that New York, L.A., and even Atlanta boasted three notches on the list, with Portland and Austin (where Paul Qui's Qui took the #1 slot) each repping two, Richman's roundup was a rare shutout for the Bay Area, with no mention of high-profile 2013 openings like Coqueta, Maruya, The Cavalier, Tosca Cafe, and the otherwise mega-acclaimed big gun of them all, Saison. It's a repeat performance from last year, when only Central Kitchen made the list. Clearly, the local culinary offerings of the moment are not entirely to Richman's taste.

· GQ's 25 Best Restaurants in America, 2014 [GQ]
· Central Kitchen Named One of GQ's 12 Best of 2013 [~ ESF ~]
[Photo: Victoria M./Yelp]