Michael Bauer’s Top 100 restaurants list got its annual update in yesterday’s Chron, and in total 21 restaurants had to be removed, either because they closed or because he found they were no longer up to snuff on a recent visit. (See the list of new restaurants added here.) Among those dropped were some longtime stalwarts like Corso and Rivoli in Berkeley, longtime Mission favorite Range, and Top Chef Masters winner Chris Cosentino’s flagship Incanto. None of these removals are huge surprises given some of Bauer’s recent reviews of these places — Incanto, for instance, got a somewhat negative two and a half star review back in February. And the recent closings of big names like Cyrus and Masa’s made room for some newcomers like Rich Table and Central Kitchen.
Some restaurants are dropped without any elaboration, like Dosa, Absinthe, Baker and Banker, and Baumé in Palo Alto (despite its two Michelin stars). And, as predicted, Betelnut loses its spot because of the whole Hutong situation, and Va de Vi drops off leaving Walnut Creek without a representative on the list.
Also, while the newly opened Claudine briefly replaced sister restaurant Gitane on the list last year, he swaps them once again for 2013, with Gitane returning to the list and Claudine getting dropped.
Ever since the Chron paywall went up a month ago, Bauer’s been consistent in providing free links to his reviews via the Inside Scoop blog, but that’s not the case today, and the whole Top 100 goes behind a paywall for the first time. But below are the 21 restaurants removed from the new list. (Here’s the 2012 list for reference.) Update: Here’s the full Top 100 for 2013, via SFGate.
Absinthe
Adesso, Oakland
Ame
Baker and Banker
Bar Agricole
Baume, Palo Alto
Bistro Aix
Betelnut
Chapeau
Claudine
Corso, Berkeley
Cyrus, Healdsburg (Closed)
Dosa
Incanto
Masa’s (Closed)
Morimoto, Napa
Range
Rivoli, Berkeley
Sante, Sonoma
Va de Vi, Walnut Creek
Willi’s Wine Bar, Santa Rosa
The 21 restaurants removed from the Top 100 Bay Area restaurants [Between Meals/Scoop]
The Bay Area’s Top 100 Restaurants [Chron]
The Top 100 by Cuisine [SFGate - free link]
Earlier: Rich Table, Trick Dog, and Central Kitchen Added to the Chron Top 100
