Esquire's 20 Best New Restaurants of 2011

Today Esquire magazine releases its list of 2011 best new restaurants. Restaurant features writer John Mariani awarded restaurant of the year to the San Francisco restaurant Michael Mina. Chef of the year went to John Sedlar of Playa in Los Angeles. Design of the year went to Twenty Five Lusk in San Francisco.

The four "chefs to watch" were Tyler Brown (The Capitol Grille, Nashville), Sachin Chopra (All Spice, San Mateo, CA), Scott Anderson (Elements, Princeton, NJ), and Todd Richards (Café at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, Atlanta).

Most curiously, though, Mariani thought it fit to include Esquire's very own cookbook called Esquire: Eat Like a Man as one of the six books in his "Best New Cookbooks" listicle. He called it "the essential cookbook for men." Some might call this inclusion "shameless" or "horseshit," but we don't know anyone like that.

Here's the restaurant list:

Esquire's Best New Restaurants of 2011

Congress, Austin, TX
Legal Harborside, Boston, MA
Tico, Boston, MA
Towne Stove and Spirits, Boston, MA
Chicago Cut Steakhouse, Chicago, IL
The Pullman, Glenwood Springs, CO
Ray’s & Stark Bar, Los Angeles, CA
Sotto, Los Angeles, CA
1500°, Miami Beach, FL
Dominique’s on Magazine, New Orleans, LA
Ai Fiori, New York, NY
Boulud Sud, New York, NY
Lincoln Ristorante, New York, NY
Millesime, New York, NY
Salinas, New York, NY
Cotogna, San Francisco, CA
Fiola, Washington, D.C

· Best New Restaurants 2011 [Esquire]
· All Esquire Coverage on Eater [-E-]