{"id":148817,"date":"2026-03-01T04:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/148817\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T04:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:17:11","slug":"6-of-the-best-restaurants-in-the-u-s-according-to-anthony-bourdain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/148817\/","title":{"rendered":"6 of the Best Restaurants in the U.S., According to Anthony Bourdain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Bourdain<\/a> was a legendary chef, television personality, and advocate for food, adventure, and enjoying life in all its forms. Bourdain started his career as a chef and spent 28 years in the restaurant industry before becoming a famous writer and chronicler of various culinary experiences across the world. <\/p>\n

He later launched the show A Cook’s Tour and shot to fame with the travel-based food series No Reservations and Parts Unknown. Along the way, Bourdain developed a reputation for connecting with people across cultures and differences through empathy, curiosity, bravery, and great food.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bourdain tried countless restaurants, roadside food stands, and delicacies across the U.S. in his day, but there were a few spots that he particularly adored and frequently evangelized. These are six places Bourdain was exceptionally fond of across the United States.<\/p>\n

Per Se – New York, New York<\/a>Katz\u2019s Delicatessen – New York, New York<\/a>Joe\u2019s Kansas City Bar-B-Que (Formerly Oklahoma Joe\u2019s) – Kansas City, Kansas<\/a>The French Laundry – Yountville, California<\/a>Swan Oyster Depot – San Francisco, California<\/a>In-N-Out Burger – Los Angeles, California<\/a>Per Se – New York, New York\"Sign<\/p>\n

Sign for New York’s Per Se | Jamie McCarthy\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Bourdain wasn\u2019t shy about expressing love for this Thomas Keller-helmed NYC spot, calling it the \u201cbest restaurant in the world, period\u201d in an episode of his first TV show, A Cook’s Tour. He particularly loved the daily nine-course tasting menu, which includes an assortment of seasonal vegetables that change with the weather and are never repeated across any of the dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no better way to go than the full-on tasting menu, a once-in-a-lifetime marriage of the best ingredients, creative thinking, and high standards, along with the personal imprint of the most respected chef in the world,\u201d he wrote of Per Se<\/a> in Men’s Health.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Katz\u2019s Delicatessen – New York, New York\"Katz's<\/p>\n

Katz’s Delicatessen on Ludlow Street at night, East Village, Manhattan, New York City | UCG\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Another New York City spot Bourdain frequented was Katz\u2019s Delicatessen<\/a>, a Lower East Side staple that slings gigantic pastrami sandwiches among other delicacies like brisket, latkes, and pickles. Bourdain loved this spot and often sung its praises. \u201cWhen you’re the best and everybody agrees that you’re the best, and has always felt you’re the best, you tend to stay open,\u201d he said in an interview. <\/a>\u201cI mean, this is an institution in the best sense of the word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s Kansas City Bar-B-Que (Formerly Oklahoma Joe\u2019s) – Kansas City, Kansas<\/p>\n

Bourdain also praised this spot in Men\u2019s Health. \u201cPeople may disagree on who has the best BBQ. Here, the brisket (particularly the burnt ends), pulled pork, and ribs are all of a quality that meet the high standards even of Kansas City natives,\u201d he wrote, adding, \u201cIt’s the best barbecue in Kansas City, which makes it the best barbecue in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

He visited Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que<\/a>\u2014then Oklahoma Joe’s\u2014twice on No Reservations and devoured a Carolina pork sandwich and some burnt ends on his first visit, only to order them again his second time there. Located in a former gas station, this spot is beloved for its barbecue and for its place in Bourdain\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

The French Laundry – Yountville, California\"TheThe French Laundry in Napa Valley, California | Peter Merholz \/ Flickr \/ CC BY-SA 2.0 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to Per Se, Keller also runs The French Laundry<\/a>, a spot Bourdain once said served him \u201cthe best sit-down, multicourse, white-tablecloth meal of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also appreciated the journey required to reach this spot. \u201cI like the idea of having to travel to experience a French Laundry meal. The journey is part of the experience \u2014or was for me\u2014an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent, of the otherness of everything Keller,\u201d he wrote in A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines. \u201cI liked looking out the window and seeing hills and countryside. I don’t know if I want to be able to just to pick up the phone, make a reservation, and, sooner or later, simply hop in a cab and zip down to Columbus Circle. One doesn’t take the A train to Mecca. That experience, like the French Laundry, should be a pilgrimage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Located in California\u2019s Napa Valley, The French Laundry’s waiting list typically fills up rapidly, so if you\u2019re hoping to eat there anytime soon, you might want to plan that out in advance.<\/p>\n

Swan Oyster Depot – San Francisco, California<\/p>\n

Whenever he visited San Francisco for one of his shows, Bourdain would stop at the Swan Oyster Depot for some quality seafood. \u201cTrue love cannot be denied,\u201d he said of this habit on an episode of his show Parts Unknown, and also described the restaurant as a \u201ctouchstone in my world-wide wanderings.\u201d This spot opened in 1912 and specializes in seafood, and Bourdain relished the crab back\u2014a crab shell filled with butter and crab fat\u2014along with the oysters, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In-N-Out Burger – Los Angeles, California<\/p>\n

Bourdain often favored unpretentious spots over gourmet dining. He once called In-N-Out<\/a> his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles, and explained why its burgers hold up so well in a 2015 interview with Eater.<\/a> \u201cThere are many forces at play with a properly made burger,\u201d he said. \u201cYou gotta have a decent bun…to start with. Bun selection\u2014very important. Good quality meat, also.\u201d <\/p>\n

In 2015, he told Eater that the restaurant serves \u201cthe only fast food that I actually like and think is reasonably good for the world.\u201d As for his specific order, he preferred Animal Style\u2014adding pickles, grilled onions, and plenty of sauce.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Bourdain was a legendary chef, television personality, and advocate for food, adventure, and enjoying life in all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-148817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}