Two Bay Area restaurants, and four in Southern California, are among the best in the country, according to the New York Times’ The Restaurant List 2026. San Francisco’s Restaurant Naides, which recently earned its first Michelin star, and Berkeley’s cozy Chez Panisse spinoff Bar Panisse made the list released earlier this week.
This is the second year in a row that the outlet has declared a Bay Area wine bar among the best places to eat in America. Last year, it was Verjus, Michael and Lindsay Tusk’s popular Jackson Square spot. This year, the New York Times shined a spotlight on culinary doyenne Alice Waters’ young wine bar. In a statement shared with SFGATE, general manager Maud Moulle said that the team is thrilled to be included on the list.
“Bar Panisse grew out of the same values that have guided Chez Panisse for so many years: a love of beautiful ingredients, simple and generous cooking, and the pleasure of gathering around a table,” Moulle wrote. “To have this little Bar, still in its first year, recognized in this way is incredibly meaningful to all of us.”
Bar Panisse opened quietly in December 2025, and three months later, it was still opening its doors nightly to lines down Shattuck Avenue, according to an SFGATE report at the time, which noted the deftness and precision of executive chef Amelia Telc’s cuisine. The New York Times called out her “simple, unfussy and sharply executed menu of dishes,” like the popular creamy butter beans and stuffed zucchini blossoms with sweet peperonata.
Patrick Gabon and Celine Wuu opened the upscale Restaurant Naides in late 2025 in Nob Hill. Named after Gabon’s mother, the fine dining restaurant offers a tasting menu inspired by Filipino flavors and California ingredients, including a sinigang soup course the New York Times dubbed “transcendent.”
Other than those two local spots, the majority of this year’s Golden State callouts went to Southern California eateries, including Mesa Agricola, a counter-service Escondido spot serving tacos and burritos that New York Times editor Eleanore Park deemed “surprisingly tectonic.”
Three other SoCal restaurants rounded out this year’s list: Komal, a small molino in South Los Angeles known for “generous, elegant” dishes, including quesadillas and molotes; Jacaranda, former San Francisco Coi chef Daniel Patterson’s return to fine dining, this time with a tasting menu on Melrose Avenue; and Yerord Mas, a bakery and deli in Glendale specializing in Armenian kebabs and kyuftas. The no-frills spot opened in a former doughnut shop this past January.
Dining and Cooking