Lists

The Five Restaurants That Should Be in the Top 100, But Aren’t

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Atelier Crenn is better, we think, than Bauer thinks it is.

It’s now an annual tradition here at Grub Street to offer up our unsolicited list of the most glaring omissions from Michael Bauer’s Top 100 canon. Sure, it’s just a list, kept neatly at an even 100 (even though in the last couple of years Bauer’s been sneaking extras on there by creating double listings, like for Gialiana/Ragazza, and Boot & Shoe Service/Pizzaiolo), and thus there’s always going to be some debate, and some snubs that are due entirely to Bauer’s particular tastes. But it’s a trusted resource, and year after year there are some worthy restaurants ignored that in another critic’s eyes would probably trump a pizzeria. And so, without further ado, our top five notable places that Bauer finds, for whatever reason, less than notable.

By the way, we still stand behind this list from last year — at least the three restaurants that remain snubbed and in the original state they were in last year (Bauer heeded our call to add Sons & Daughters this time around, and Plate Shop isn’t quite what it was when Kim Alter was briefly there). Blue Plate, Barndiva, and Bar Bambino remain solid picks, but we’ll come up with five fresh ones.

Earlier: Plum, Jardinière, RN74 All Drop Off Bauer’s Top 100
The Five Restaurants That Should Be in the 2011 Top 100, But Aren’t [2011]

We thought that it might have been ignored last year for being too new, but a Michelin star later, Michael Bauer still can’t bring himself to like Atelier Crenn enough to include it here. Dominique Crenn is a talented and incredibly creative chef, and other critics including Alan Richman have taken notice. Her platings are intricate and artful in a way not often seen outside of Europe, and this is one of those examples of Bauer disliking something for being too austere or arty for his taste.
We had this restaurant on the list two years back, and it’s also maintained its Michelin star since opening in 2009, so we’ll say it again: James Syhabout is a great chef, and most critics acknowledge this besides Bauer — Josh Sens at San Francisco magazine, for example, upgraded Commis to four stars in November. Bauer returned last year prior to the Top 100 update, but didn’t pen a full update review — he just commented on some parmesan rocks he liked. The rule here, also true of Atelier Crenn: If your presentations are too ambitious, he’s more likely not to like you.
We gather that perhaps the food hasn’t been totally consistent, via the extremely mixed reactions of Jonathan Kauffman, Bauer, Jesse Hirsch, and Josh Sens. But we had a very solid, bold, and undeniably interesting meal at Daniel Patterson’s newest Oakland outpost, under the helm of chef Kim Alter, and hopefully once they iron out whatever issues he found, Bauer will revise his opinion of the place by next year. Plenty of Oaklanders have been loving it regardless.
Bauer had a notably bad time, it seems, at his review meals at the new, more casual restaurant at the Ritz. Mainly, he couldn’t stand the noise — a complaint we don’t get because the restaurant didn’t seem loud to us at all — and he didn’t care for the new decor either. But the food and cocktails are some of the best in town, and chef Ron Siegel’s talents haven’t faltered in the new format, so this seems like an unfair omission in our book.
For a man who loves pizza as much as Bauer does, we don’t know why he never filed a review of Una Pizza Napoletana, who we think makes the most perfect Neapolitan pies in town. Sure, the menu doesn’t give you any salad or appetizer options, and that’s how Bauer’s justified ignoring it. But pizzaiolo Anthony Mangieri was part of an elite club of New York pizza-makers before relocating here in 2010, and his skills with that wood fired oven are unimpeachable. Also, we’re kind of surprised that Zero Zero got dumped this year, because recent meals we’ve had there have all been as great as ever. But Bauer says his return visit in recent months wasn’t all that. Ah well.
The Five Restaurants That Should Be in the Top 100, But Aren’t