Eater’s Bill Addison out with his list of 38 Best Restaurants in the US — includes Tei-An


Bill Addison, the national restaurant critic for Eater.com, is out with his list of the 38 “essential restaurants in America,” which is basically a list of the 38 best restaurants in the US. What makes a restaurant the “best” is a loaded gun, but having worked with (and for) Bill when he was the lead restaurant critic at the Dallas Morning News, I trust him. When he tells me to eat at Chi Spacca in LA, Benu in San Francisco and Husk in Nashville, I go there.

Where’s he telling us to eat right now? Tei-An, the Japanese temple in Dallas’ One Arts Plaza, of whose soba he writes, “There is nothing banal, though, about Sakurai’s taupe strands. They have life force. Savor them cold on a wicker basket with dipping sauces or hot in an elegant soup with soy-dashi broth.”

Then off to Houston for Underbelly and Oxheart, looping into Austin for brisket at Franklin BBQ.

Trust him. With 263 meals in 29 cities notched in his belt, the guy knows his stuff. By my back-of-the-envelope calculation, compiling this list cost Eater about $650,000, all in. I don’t think any other publication, digital or print, spends that kind of cash for this kind of survey.

Here’s Bill’s list.