36 Best Restaurants in USA

Top-notch craft beer and plenty of food options makes 49th State Brewing Company a must when passing through Healy. Committed to using local ingredients whenever possible, they offer plenty of Alaska-grown dishes, the keystone being the Alaskan-raised, all-you-can-eat pig roast on Friday nights. More than ten in-house beers are on tap to go along with the outdoor beer garden. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are also available.

Chef James Boyce started his career at New York's famed Le Cirque, where he worked under Daniel Boulud, one of the world's best-known chefs. Boyce has been featured on the Today show and other national programs. Upscale comfort food describes the menu—catfish arrives grilled rather than the usual fried and the buttermilk-fried chicken comes with Dijon-seasoned collards. Southern Street Tacos feature fried okra, green tomato chimichurri, and pickled jalapenos. Sunny windows brighten the minimalist but cozy setting.

Owner-chef Frank Stitt is a James Beard Award winner and an American culinary icon. Using farm-fresh ingredients and applying French technique to his native Southern cuisine, Stitt became a sensation when he opened his restaurant in 1982. Straightforward but sophisticated dishes such as pan-seared scallops with butter-braised fennel or the kitchen’s famous stone-ground baked grits with Parmesan, mushrooms, country ham, and fresh thyme are served in a romantic, candlelit atmosphere. Seats are so coveted that reservations are accepted a month in advance.

Gaze at Yosemite Falls through this dining room's wall of windows—almost every table has a view—as you nosh on steaks, seafood, and classic California salads and desserts. The Mountain Room Lounge, a few steps away in the Yosemite Valley Lodge complex, has about 10 beers on tap.

Fireplaces, beamed ceilings, and spectacular views provide a visual feast to match this fine-dining restaurant's ambitious menu. Dinner entrées include salmon, free-range chicken, filet mignon, and seasonal vegetarian dishes; breakfast is also served here. Try the signature prickly-pear margarita, or head to the pool bar for casual fare. 

The name, decor, and menu at this lively brewpub pay homage to California's Gold Rush era and the year the state and county were officially established. Many of the craft beers on tap come from the owners' 1850 Brewing Company, and dishes include everything from traditional Bavarian pretzels and hearty baked mac and cheese to ahi nachos and salmon cakes.

Next to the clubhouse of the world's lowest golf course, this open-air spot serves hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, and sausages. The bar has a rotating selection of draft beers.

The design of this modern food court, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, honors the history of rock climbing in Yosemite. Choose from a wide range of menu options, from hamburgers, salads, and pizzas, to rice and noodle bowls.

One of the newest players at the table of Little Rock's fine dining landscape, chef-owner Payne Harding, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, puts a contemporary spin on old-fashioned flavors, as, for instance, in his prosciutto-wrapped rabbit with gnocchi and braised apples. A good-value lunch menu includes interesting salads, small plates, sandwiches, and pizzas. From the bar, try a Kicking Mule, a craft cocktail concoction of whiskey and cayenne pepper.

Don't judge this restaurant by its no-frills exterior—though it may appear closed (especially with its boarded-up windows), this little hole-in-the-wall serves some of the best soul food in town. Follow locals inside for the popular fried chicken, collards, and corn bread served in a surprisingly bright and homey dining room. Portions are generous, so arrive hungry.

If it's martinis and jazz you're after, come to this casually elegant space (larger and snazzier after a move to the historic Baur's Building), which features comfort foods with a twist and small plates. Live music most nights makes this a laid-back spot. The cocktail roster, printed inside old jazz albums, is one of the most intricate around, and the Sunday jazz brunch swings.

Turns out you can go home again, and, sometimes, when you do, you also quit your day job and open up the kind of restaurant you'd like to hang out in—at least, that's the case with the ex-teacher behind this downtown den that promises (and delivers) "good eats, rad beer." In addition to having the best beer list for 100 miles (with 13 on tap and roughly 70 more in cans and bottles, plus a few ciders, hard kombuchas, seltzers, and wine) it also has delicious food created by a Swedish chef (for real) who worked in big-name kitchens in Copenhagen, New York, and L.A. and who makes falafel so moist and zesty that it will leave carnivores rethinking their stance on veganism.

Southern food prepared fresh daily is the standard at this little, homey restaurant that dates to 1928 and was the inspiration for Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. Owners have changed over the years, but the famous fried green tomatoes and Southern cooking endure. Daily specials might bring green tomato Parmesan or okra and green tomato fritters. Plain fried green tomatoes, fried chicken (livers too), fried catfish, country-fried steak, sweet-potato soufflé, and various pies and cobblers are always on the menu.

Homemade biscuits, sausage gravy, grilled pork chops, and eggs are just a few ways to start the day at this wee cafe tucked into a shopping center. Fans love breakfast, but lunch and dinner are equally appealing, with Southern and American specialties like liver and onions, chicken and dumplings, speckled butter beans, and creamy squash casserole. Sit on the patio or inside overlooking a mural depicting a pastoral scene with pink flying pigs.

Swing through wooden doors and into a spacious dining room that re-creates an authentic Old West saloon, decked out with a wooden bar and furniture, mounted animal heads, fugitive wanted fliers, film posters, and other memorabilia. The traditional steak-house menu includes ribs, filet mignon, flat iron steak, along with crab cakes, salmon, pizzas, and pasta.

Catering to a broad range of tastes, Local Flavor is a real crowd-pleaser—light eaters will appreciate a selection of healthy salads and small plates; vegetarians get a generous nod; and burger buffs can wrap two hands around hearty half-pounders. Kids get their own menu at lunch and dinner, and it's more sophisticated than most. Doing Sunday brunch? Try the gingerbread waffle topped with seasonal fruit, toasted pecans, and real maple syrup. Reservations are taken by phone only, by a live person, during regular business hours—no voice-mail or email reservations.

Established in 1928 and owned by four generations of the same family until 2020, the legacy lives on at this award-winning barbecue joint. McClard's is still the place to use up a wad of napkins while eating a plate of ribs dripping in the family's famous barbecue sauce. The restaurant is on the west side of town, in a squat, white-washed, stucco building with neon signs outside and interior walls plastered with accolades.

This allegedly haunted landmark (there are no overnight accommodations anymore) is on Oatman's historic main drag. Claims that Carole Lombard and Clark Gable honeymooned here have been definitively debunked, but this quirky establishment contains a fun little restaurant that's renowned for its juicy buffalo burgers and addictively filling "burro ears"—house-made potato chips served with tangy salsa.

Serving standard (but pretty decent) cafeteria fare, this is the only place in the park where you can get a full meal.

This is a great place for a beer and a steak, though the menu also has burgers, chicken tenders, fish and chips, pasta dishes, and salads. In summer, dinners (reservations suggested) are served out on the porch, which has spectacular views of Panamint Valley. A limited breakfast and lunch are also served.

Quick snacks are available at the museum during the busy season.

Authentic soul food joins creative Southern home cooking at this cozy little Avondale-district hole-in-the-wall with worn floors and tables so close together you’ll get to know your neighbors. Don’t miss the slow-cooked pulled “pork and greens” served over grits or the “SAW’s bowl,” piled with corn bread, braised pork cheeks, green beans, caramelized onions, and slaw. Chicken marinates in sweet tea before being fried for one sandwich. Even sweeter is the old-fashioned banana pudding.

Formerly Curry Village Pavilion, this casual eatery serves everything from roasted meats and salads to pastas, burritos, rice bowls, and beyond. Alternatively, order a pizza from the stand on the deck, and take in the views of the valley's granite walls.

This lakefront restaurant serves up beautiful views of London Bridge and the English Village, along with fresh seafood, steak, and chef's selections that have included rack of lamb and Tournedos Oscar.

Cool as the other side of the pillow, South on Main serves sophisticated Southern cuisine at an accessible price, wrapped in a comfortable architectural design of French bistro with a drawl. What's more, it's kissing cousins with Oxford American magazine, a literary buffet of Southern culture. When the two families get together, which is often, they dish up an eclectic entertainment menu of musical performances, literary readings, and anything else that brings the magazine "from page to stage."

A short way down the waterfront boardwalk from the cruise port is the Cookhouse, a casual restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. Heat lamps on the deck make the outdoor seating attractive even on cooler days, and with views like this, it makes sense to head outside. Menu items include burgers, reindeer slider sloppy joes, and (highly recommended) halibut-and-chips.

There are wheels in the yard and Old West artifacts on the interior walls at this restaurant in the Stovepipe Wells Village hotel. A full dinner menu with steaks and pasta is served year-round, as are box lunches and a breakfast buffet. Quench your thirst and fuel up on lunch and snacks in the full-service saloon specializing in burgers and sandwiches. 

In a central dining tent beside the Tuolumne River, this restaurant serves a menu of hearty American fare at breakfast and dinner. The red-and-white-checkered tablecloths and a handful of communal tables give it the feeling of an old-fashioned summer camp.