This year’s update of the Chronicle’s Top 100 restaurants, as selected by Michael Bauer, will be revealed to paid subscribers in Sunday’s paper. But this morning Bauer releases his list of 22 new additions to the list on the blog, which includes some obvious add-ons like Rich Table (which he called “the next Frances” in his review), Central Kitchen, and Spoonbar in Healdsburg. Less obvious choices, though predictable if you’ve been keeping up with his reviews, include Trick Dog, Mill Valley Beerworks, and Hopscotch in Oakland, which should all benefit from this Bay Area-wide recognition.
And, after falling off the list in previous years, Spruce, Gitane, Angèle, and Étoile at Domaine Chandon in Yountville get reinstated. This means that despite a recent chef change, RN74 will remain off the list. And judging from some recent negative update reviews, we’re going to wager that Bistro Aix, Incanto, Adesso in Oakland and Va de Vi in Walnut Creek are among the unlucky ones who will be dropped.
Because it’s gone through the recent Hutong “experiment” (which Bauer didn’t love), only to switch back to its former self, Betelnut has likely lost its perennial spot for the first time in, we think, a decade.
As for notable snubs, this means that big late-2012 openers Hakkasan and M.Y. China both failed to make the cut. The same goes for Lolinda or The Thomas in Napa.
All in all, though, this would make 2012-13 a better year, overall, than 2011-2012, since only fifteen restaurants made the cut to be new additions and re-additions last year. Or maybe it just means that more older restaurants disappointed him.
Bauer’s been compiling and editing this Top 100 compendium since 1995, and it now inarguably has significant make-or-break impact on restaurants’ bottom lines. And don’t forget, it’s now an iPhone app, as of last year.
Below, the complete list of newbies, and you should note that he only had to drop 21 restaurants, because Campo Fina in Healdsburg got combined into one entry with its sister restaurant Scopa. We’ll update you when we figure out who else has been dropped.
Angèle, Napa
Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford
Bravas Bar de Tapas, Healdsburg
Bull Valley Roadhouse, Port Costa
Campo Fina, Healdsburg
Central Kitchen
Comal, Berkeley
Etoile, Yountville
Gitane
Hopscotch, Oakland
Mill Valley Beerworks, Mill Valley
Ramen Shop, Oakland
Redd Wood, Yountville
Rich Table
Spoonbar, Healdsburg
Spruce
Trick Dog
Wakuriya, San Mateo
The restaurants added to the Top 100 in 2013 [Between Meals/Scoop]
Earlier: Plum, Jardinière, RN74 All Drop Off Bauer’s Top 100
AQ, Nojo, and Bar Tartine Among Bauer’s New Additions to the Top 100
Top 100 Restaurants 2012 [Chron]
