9 CA Eateries Among Best New Restaurants In America, New List Says

CALIFORNIA — Nine California eateries are among the best new restaurants in America, Esquire said in a report Monday.

In its report, Esquire said the 33 restaurants on the list offer “spectacular food … coupled with a damn good time.”

“These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full,” the outlet said. “Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.”

Venice's RVR was named Restaurant of the Year by Esquire, which described the business as "a dynamic twenty-first-century izakaya." An Izakaya is a casual Japanese pub that serves small plates of food and alcoholic drinks.

Esquire ranks the top restaurants using a rubric it calls "the five C's." The rubric looks for comfort, creativity, coolness, community and cooking.

RVR "chimes each of the C's with the resonance of a gong," according to Esquire.

These are the other best CA eateries that made Esquire's list:

• Betsy (Altadena)

Esquire says Betsy is "a restaurant that pulses with open-hearth warmth, won’t-back-down spirit, and a menu that delivers exactly what you want."

• Jules (San Francisco)

Jules is a pizza place in San Francisco's Bay Area, where its pie exudes nostalgia.

"Jules was born out of those memories and love," the company says on its website. "Our love for pizza, and for eating good food with good people."

• June's Pizza (Oakland)

June's Pizza has a small menu but big dreams. The three pies offered at the shop are eighteen inches with sourdough crusts that are perfectly leoparded, according to Esquire. The restaurant is considered a hidden gem in the city by Visit Oakland.

• Ki (Los Angeles)

Ki is nestled into Little Tokyo, and getting there is all part of the fun, according to Esquire.

The restaurant is cocooned inside what feels like a labyrinth, and has a Korean tasting menu that "manages to spelunk to the depths of flavor that your palate has probably never imagined," according to Esquire.

• Komal (Los Angeles)

Komal is located inside Los Angeles' Mercado La Paloma, which also hosts the Michelin-starred seafood counter Holbox. Komal brings the bold, soulful flavors of the Mexico City street food scene to Los Angeles. Its tortillas are crafted with Mexican heirloom corn.

• Side A (San Francisco)

Side A is a modern bistro and vinyl listening bar where, according to Esquire, the chef wants the food to be messy. There's creamy artichoke dip, a burger with a side of bone marrow and "garbage salad," which has crispy cubes of fried pork belly, according to Esquire.

"Some places pretend to throw a party night after night; Side A really does it," according to Esquire.

• Sora Craft Kitchen (Los Angeles)

The chef at Sora Craft Kitchen truly believes in the phrase "a labor of love," according to Esquire. Okay Inak is the sole employee at the business, and customers can find him working hard in the kitchen making Turkish fermented cabbage soup or spiced beef dumplings, according to Esquire.

"He’ll bring you dishes you’ve probably never seen before, dishes that showcase centuries of maternal wisdom from Turkey," according to Esquire.

• Tomat (Los Angeles)

Just a couple of blocks away from LAX is Tomat, a farm-to-table restaurant.

"You don’t expect the curving smile of a Weiser melon wedge to burst into such flavor when topped with drizzles of sesame oil and nibbles of strawberry kimchi, just as you don’t expect the barbari bread—a nod to chef Harry Posner’s Persian heritage—to have such a deft balance of fluffiness and chew," according to Esquire.

Restaurants on the list are found in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.