What constitutes a dream dining experience? For many wine lovers, it’s an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind meal shared with close friends and family. These 11 Wine Spectator Restaurant Award–winning establishments in the United States deliver ambitious, unforgettable adventures in gastronomy, interweaving rare and extensive wine offerings, artful courses and impeccable service in locales ranging from a Smoky Mountains resort to a historic Manhattan Art Deco building to the heart of Napa wine country.
This is just a small sampling of standout wine spots. For more exciting dining destinations around the world, view all of Wine Spectator’s more than 3,700 Restaurant Award winners, including the 95 Grand Award recipients that hold our highest honor (63 of which are in the U.S.).
Do you have a favorite you’d like to see on this list? Send your recommendations to restaurantawards@mshanken.com. We want to hear from you!
The Barn at Blackberry Farm
Blackberry Farm, 1471 W. Millers Cove Road, Walland, TN
Telephone (865) 984-8166
Website blackberryfarm.com
Grand Award
The Barn at Blackberry Farm is a culinary oasis among Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains. At the 4,200-acre Blackberry Farm luxury resort—where guests enjoy hiking, fly fishing, clay pigeon shooting and other memorable experiences—the restaurant caters to culinary enthusiasts in search of highly acclaimed “foothills cuisine.”
What’s on the Menu
The Barn’s culinary team is led by longtime head chef Cassidee Dabney, who combines classic Southern flavors with farm-to-table Appalachian ingredients and French cooking techniques. The Barn’s menus are seasonal and driven by ingredients available from the on-site farm. Some of Dabney’s recent dishes include North Carolina mountain trout with hearth-roasted cauliflower, pecan-and-mushroom fritters with crème fraîche and braised beef short ribs with a potato puree. The menus for each season are divided into two prix fixe options (one for omnivores and one for vegetarians), with optional wine pairings available for $195 per person.
Wine List Highlights
The diverse 8,500-label wine program, from food and beverage director Andy Chabot and wine director Kelly Schmidt, offers options from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland. But the list draws primarily from France, Italy and the United States This includes standout bottles from California Pinot Noir specialists Brewer-Clifton, Occidental and Williams Selyem; Cabernet legends Beringer, Spottswoode and Staglin; and Burgundy leader Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Also on offer are picks from Bordeaux’s Haut-Brion, Montrose and Pétrus, as well as the Rhône Valley’s Chapoutier and Beaucastel. That’s not to mention the Italian icons across the list, including Piedmont’s Gaja, Massolino and Pio Cesare and Tuscany’s Argiano and Tenuta San Guido.
Bern’s Steak House
1208 S. Howard Ave., Tampa, FL
Telephone (813) 251-2421
Website bernssteakhouse.com
Grand Award
Late restaurateur Bern Laxer founded Bern’s Steak House in 1956 in a former bar space in Tampa, Fla., and over its nearly 70 years of operation, this temple of beef has expanded to eight dining rooms, including a main room with plush round booths and gilded mirrors. All the while, the menu has showcased large cuts of prime steaks (and a smattering of savory sides) that have solidified the restaurant into a must-visit dining destination. Meanwhile, upstairs, the Harry Waugh Dessert Room offers its own unique dining experience, with booths constructed from wine barrels and special wine and whiskey flights on offer.
What’s on the Menu
As one would expect, premium beef is the backbone of executive chef Chad Johnson’s menu. In addition to filet mignon, porterhouse and T-bone cuts, you’ll find chateaubriand steak tips, selections of A5 Japanese Wagyu beef and a 14-ounce Delmonico steak that’s been dry-aged for 100 days. All of the steak entrées come with soup, salad, onion rings, a baked potato and a daily vegetable selection. Bern’s isn’t just for steak lovers, though. The historic restaurant also offers a robust selection of caviar, including less-common varieties such as sevruga and Siberian sturgeon, along with several seafood entrées. Those who save room for dessert can look forward to sweet treats such as signature ice cream sundaes, seasonal cheesecakes and a pair of flambéed creations—plus much more.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Chris Belk and the sommelier team oversee a 6,500-selection list that shows strength in Australia, California, France (particularly Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône Valley), Germany, Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont regions and Spain. The restaurant’s inventory comprises a staggering 500,000 bottles, with approximately 100,000 bottles kept on-site and the remainder of the collection kept in two off-site storage facilities. Older and rarer selections are scattered throughout the list, including Penfolds Shiraz South Australia Grange 1999 and a 1982 bottle of Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon Napa. The diverse by-the-glass menu features well-known names such as Albert Bichot, Groth and Prisoner Wine Company.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills, NY
Telephone (914) 366-9600
Website bluehillfarm.com
Grand Award
Blue Hill at Stone Barns is only 30-some miles outside Manhattan but it feels like a world away. A culinary retreat that’s consistently been on the vanguard of farm-to-table innovation, Blue Hill is renowned for its emphasis on local and sustainable cuisine, with an ever-changing prix fixe menu crafted by chef and food author Dan Barber. Nestled in a courtyard surrounded by old stone barns, the restaurant offers an idyllic setting for enjoying once-in-a-lifetime meals and exceptional wines.
What’s on the Menu
The dining at Blue Hill is stripped back, resulting in simple preparations of high-quality, hyperseasonal produce, without sacrificing refinement and pleasure. There is no menu, and a meal at Blue Hill can last up to six-and-a-half hours. During that time, guests enjoy a procession of thought-provoking dishes, which have included tiny mushrooms made of “birch bark and mint” (and plated to look like they’re sprouting from the side of a log) and white asparagus lacquered in ashwagandha honey and suspended precariously over a nest of roots.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Oriana Cartaya oversees the Grand Award–winning wine program, which comprises approximately 3,000 selections and highlights a significant number of large-format bottles. Expect to find prime Bordeaux labels, including verticals of first-growths, as well as locally sourced options from New York’s Finger Lakes and Long Island regions. Also on offer are impressive picks from leading wineries such as Napa’s Philip Togni, Piedmont’s Giacomo Conterno and Ribera del Duero’s Dominio de Pingus.
Canlis
2576 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle
Telephone (206) 283-3313
Website canlis.com
Grand Award
Fine dining and the Pacific Northwest go hand in hand. The region is rich with exceptional restaurants, with Seattle’s Canlis firmly situated among the finest. A Grand Award winner since 1997, the restaurant has long captivated diners with its haute American cuisine and world-class wine list. These are offered in a striking, midcentury modern building in the Queen Anne neighborhood, where floor-to-ceiling windows reveal picturesque views of nearby Lake Union and the Cascade mountains.
What’s on the Menu
Canlis offers a seasonal, three-course menu ($180 per person), for which previous dishes have included teriyaki mushrooms with ramps and mochi, halibut with smoked tomatoes and sablefish with yuzu and caviar. As with courses one and two, there are three options to choose from come dessert, with a figgy toffee pudding and an orange cake appearing on a recent menu.
Wine List Highlights
Sommelier Linda Milagros Violago oversees a 2,600-label wine program that shines a spotlight on the United States (particularly California, Oregon and Washington). The list shows notable strength in France (especially Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône Valley), Germany and Italy, with standout bottles from Alsace’s Weinbach, the Loire Valley’s Didier Dagueneau, the Mosel’s Selbach-Oster and, back in the States, Anderson Valley’s Roederer Estate. Also on offer are robust selections of Bourbon, single malt Scotch and other spirits.
Daniel
60 E. 65th St., New York City
Telephone (212) 288-0033
Website danielnyc.com
Grand Award
Daniel, chef Daniel Boulud’s namesake flagship restaurant, has earned its place as one of New York City’s most renowned fine-dining restaurants. Moreover, it is one of the world’s leading bastions for French haute cuisine, with a 2,400-selection wine program that champions leading French wine regions. Born in France, Boulud has built an international restaurant empire that includes Best of Award of Excellence winners Le Pavillon and Bar Boulud, both in New York, among many other exceptional establishments. (Learn more about the chef-restaurateur in Episode 24 of the Straight Talk podcast.)
What’s on the Menu
With executive chef Eddy Leroux in the kitchen, Daniel features a five-course prix fixe menu ($234 per person, with wine pairings available for $195) and a nine-course tasting menu ($334, with wine pairings for $295). Past seasonal menus have included dishes such as squash velouté with a pheasant breast mousseline, red wine–marinated duck with grilled trumpet mushrooms and yellowfin tuna with panisse (chickpea flour fries). At the end of the meal, guests can opt for a cheese course or sweet options such as gianduja (hazelnut mousse) with huckleberry jam and a quince concoction that incorporates caramelized puff pastry, ginger confit and Sauternes ice cream.
Wine List Highlights
The Grand Award–winning wine program is overseen by Erin Healy, Daniel’s chief sommelier, and Daniel Johnnes, corporate wine director for Boulud’s Dinex restaurant group. Tapping a 14,000-bottle cellar, the program shows strength in France (particularly Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône Valley) and Germany, with plenty of price diversity throughout the list. Expect bottlings from well-known estates and domaines, including Jean-Louis Chave, Joseph Drouhin, Moët & Chandon and Suduiraut. There’s even a wine made specifically for the restaurant, Au Bon Climat’s Daniel Chardonnay.
Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Ave., New York City
Telephone (212) 889-0905
Website elevenmadisonpark.com
Grand Award
The historic Art Deco Metropolitan Life Building in Manhattan’s Flatiron District is home to chef Daniel Humm’s Eleven Madison Park, a Grand Award–winning restaurant that pairs sophisticated American and European cuisine with an exceptional 4,700-label wine list. Meals are served in a modern, warm dining room of calming neutral furnishings and decor, with floor-to-ceiling French windows overlooking nearby Madison Square Park. Humm has served exclusively plant-based cuisine since 2021, and he has long been an advocate for sustainable fine dining.
What’s on the Menu
Humm’s menus are seasonally driven and change often, with some recent dishes including roasted honeynut squash stuffed with a hazelnut-herb mixture and a root vegetable gratin comprising layers of potatoes, parsnips, cauliflower, butternut squash and truffle cream. The main dining room tasting menu ($365 per person) features up to 10 courses, with both individual and communal dishes. Also available are an abbreviated five-course tasting menu ($285) and, served in the lounge, a bar tasting menu ($225). Wine pairings (starting at $125) can be added on to any meal.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Gabriel Di Bella leads a team of several sommeliers and oversees a cellar of 21,000 bottles. The program spotlights selections from leading French wine regions as well as Austria, California, Germany, Italy and beyond. The by-the-glass menu exceeds 70 selections and more than 90 wines are offered in half-bottles, including labels from Blain-Gagnard, Gaja, Léoville Las Cases, Lynch-Bages and Ornellaia. There’s notable vertical depth throughout the program, with seven vintages of E. Guigal La Landonne going back to 1978, nine vintages of Marquis d’Angerville Volnay Clos des Ducs (five available in magnum) and 19 vintages of Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Il Greppo Riserva going back to 1945. Also on offer are older vintages from Napa Valley’s Dunn, Mayacamas and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Those with a penchant for sweet wines will appreciate the more than 15 vintages of Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes.
The French Laundry
6640 Washington St., Yountville, CA
Website thomaskeller.com/tfl
Grand Award
For 30 years, globally renowned chef Thomas Keller has been at the helm of the French Laundry, which attracts wine country tourists and culinary enthusiasts from around the world with its inventive takes (and presentations) of French and American cuisine. Situated in the heart of Napa Valley, the restaurant underwent a major renovation in 2018 but retained its iconic blue door—a welcoming entryway to one-of-a-kind dining experiences.
What’s on the Menu
In 2024, longtime team member Ara Jo was named chef de cuisine, and today she oversees the execution of daily menus that employ traditional French techniques and emphasize quality ingredients from near and far. For example, the French Laundry has used antibiotic- and hormone-free Pekin ducks from Sonoma County’s Liberty Farms for an apple wood–smoked dish, and it’s also opted for shaved Périgord black truffles from the south of France for a sophisticated yet comforting take on macaroni and cheese. The culinary team also uses ingredients from the restaurant’s on-site garden. The French Laundry offers two daily menus, the Chef’s Tasting Menu and the Tasting of Vegetables, with caviar supplements available as an add-on.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Michel Couvreux and the sommelier team oversee a diverse, Grand Award–winning list of 3,000 wines. Pulling from an inventory of 22,000 bottles, the list champions Golden State wines as well as leading producers from France (particularly Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône Valley), Italy (Piedmont and Tuscany) and Germany, with an extensive selection of half-bottles and large-format options. Instead of having a traditional list of wine pairings, a sommelier will come around to the table to curate wine pairings to each guest’s tastes and budget, while also considering what’s most compatible with the night’s dishes. For an extra-special bottle, peruse the wine list’s 30th Anniversary Vintage section, which features Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan, Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage and Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley.
The Inn at Little Washington
Middle and Main Streets, Washington, VA
Telephone (540) 675-3800
Website theinnatlittlewashington.com
Grand Award
The East Coast is dotted with some of the finest restaurants in the U.S., and that includes the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, approximately 70 miles west of Washington, D.C. Chef Patrick O’Connell opened the restaurant in 1978 in an old garage out in the country, and he has since helped the establishment evolve into a fine-dining mecca that attracts lawmakers, tourists and celebrities alike. Now made up of multiple country buildings dating from the mid-1700s to the 1900s, the Inn at Little Washington is known for championing local produce and ingredients across its menus, resulting in impressive plates complemented by an equally impressive, Grand Award–winning wine list.
What’s on the Menu
For his American cuisine, O’Connell taps classic French techniques to produce creative, healthful food. This is represented across two tasting menus: the Gastronaut’s Menu and the vegetarian Good Earth Menu (each $388 per person, with optional wine pairings for an additional $250). Past dishes on the menu have included A Tin of Sin (Petrossian tsar imperial osetra caviar with crab and cucumber rillettes) and Duck Three Ways (pan-roasted Pekin duck breast with braised red cabbage and an apple-rutabaga puree), as well as a bigeye tuna–swordfish carpaccio with wasabi sorbet and a chilled foie gras mousse with kumquat preserves.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Lindsey Fern oversees a list of 2,200 selections supported by a 16,500-bottle cellar. California, France (particularly the Rhône Valley) and Italy are the prime focuses, and guests can expect standout bottlings such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Beaucastel, Condrieu from Georges Vernay, Hermitage from Chapoutier and much more. The list also showcases producers from across Bordeaux (including first-growths), Piedmont, Portugal, Spain, Tuscany and Veneto, with noticeable breadth across wineries and cuvées and impressive vertical depth. Additionally, the restaurant has a wide selection of large-format bottles for those celebrating major moments.
Le Bernardin
155 W. 51st St., New York City
Telephone (212) 554-1515
Website le-bernardin.com
Grand Award
Grand Award winner Le Bernardin has been a leader in fine French dining since 1986, growing to be one of the most celebrated restaurants in New York City. Led today by acclaimed chef Eric Ripert, it’s a culinary centerpiece of New York City, serving ultrafresh seafood in dishes that combine French and Asian influences. Le Bernardin’s luxurious dining room, world-class ingredients and impeccable service have made the restaurant a highly coveted reservation.
What’s on the Menu
Ripert’s tasting menus present a multitude of raw and cooked preparations of seafood, including a scallop carpaccio with pickled vegetables in a yuzu-ginger broth; a shellfish medley of razor clams, lobster and geoduck in a smoked pork broth; and squid ink tagliatelle with baby sepia (cuttlefish) and sea urchin in a smoked paprika–shrimp sauce. While the menu offerings constantly evolve, the tuna carpaccio stands out as an ever-present signature dish, comprising thinly pounded yellowfin tuna draped over foie gras on toasted baguette slices. Le Bernardin also offers a vegetarian tasting menu and some meat dishes, such as a pan-roasted filet mignon and a sautéed rack of lamb.
Wine List Highlights
Wine director Aldo Sohm manages Le Bernardin’s cellar of 15,000 bottles. France is the main focus of the list, with appearances from many of the country’s most-renowned estates and domaines. Both grower and grande marque Champagnes are represented by the likes of Jacques Selosse and Krug, among others. Burgundies are plentiful, with grand cru options from Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Olivier Leflaive and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Notably, a magnum of 2003 Romanée-Conti is available for $50,000. Guests can also expect wines from Bordeaux’s Haut-Brion and the Rhône’s Jean-Louis Chave. Beyond France, there are standout wines from Golden State producers Dominus, Peter Michael, Screaming Eagle and Williams Selyem. That’s not to mention the program’s impressive large-format and dessert wine lists.
Saison
178 Townsend St., San Francisco
Telephone (415) 828-7990
Website saisonsf.com
Grand Award
With its high ceilings, large windows and exposed brick walls, Grand Award winner Saison offers an airy yet rustic ambience for enjoying fine dining. The dining room itself is intimate, with seating for approximately 20 guests at a time, and any guest lucky enough to score a reservation will be treated to an innovative meal that celebrates fresh, local ingredients. Beyond shelves of colorful spice jars, dried flower bouquets and firewood stacks lies the heart of Saison—the open kitchen, where the team can be seen preparing each night’s selection of wood-grilled dishes.
What’s on the Menu
Executive chef Richard Lee’s prix fixe menu changes seasonally, with some recent offerings including dry-aged Sonoma County duck with pickled pears and Japanese turnips and grilled lamb loin rubbed with sake lees. For a rabbit dish, the restaurant uses a new vegetable known as Sweet Garleek, a garlic-leek hybrid supplied by Blue Hill at Stone Barns chef Dan Barber’s seed and vegetable business, Row 7 Seed Company. Seating is available at the bar Tuesday through Thursday for cocktails, wine and abbreviated food options.
Wine List Highlights
In 2022, Molly Greene took on the mantle of restaurant wine director from Mark Bright, who co-founded Saison Hospitality Group and established Saison’s Grand Award–winning wine program. (Bright is also the founder and winemaker of Saison Winery in California.) While the 2,505-selection list covers most major wine regions, Burgundy has been a primary focus from the beginning. According to Greene, Burgundies are “the most appropriate wines for the cuisine and ethos of chef Lee,” and leading domaines on the list include Lambrays, Leflaive and Marquis d’Angerville. Also on offer is a vertical of Bordeaux’s Pétrus that goes back to 1975, a wide range of Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs and multiple bottles of d'Oliveira Madeira (offered in 1-ounce pours) nearing or exceeding 100 years in age.
minibar by José Andrés
855 E St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
Telephone (202) 393-0812
Website minibarbyjoseandres.com
Award of Excellence
Only a dozen guests at a time can enjoy the lauded dining experience at minibar by José Andrés, one of several Restaurant Award winners in the ever-growing food empire of celebrated chef and humanitarian José Andrés and his José Andrés Group. A few blocks from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this dining destination is known for boundary-pushing dishes that explore the intersection of art and science in cuisine.
What’s on the Menu
The multicourse menu at minibar is an ode to Andrés’ longtime fascination with avant-garde cuisine, cultivated during his time working with famed chef Ferran Adrià, who pioneered deconstructed cuisine at El Bulli in Spain. Dishes that have appeared on the menu include a refreshing frozen salad surrounded by frothing “fog” (it’s just that cold) and dotted with edible flowers, as well as a plate of flame-seared A5 Wagyu beef—the restaurant’s take on Japanese shabu-shabu—served with a sphere of beef consommé (diners drag the beef through the sphere to concentrate the dish’s flavor).
Wine List Highlights
At 125 selections, the wine list—from head sommelier Luis Rojas and José Andrés Group national wine director Jordi Paronella—is compact but commanding. Andrés’ native Spain is a key focus of the list, which features bottles from leading wineries such as Rioja’s Marqués de Murrieta and Priorat’s Clos Mogador and Álvaro Palacios. Other notable selections include Burgundy’s Domaine De La Romanée-Conti, Champagne’s Billecart-Salmon and Napa Valley’s Heitz. Optional wine pairings are available for each course, but guests can also choose bespoke pairings catered to their taste preferences.
Edited by Collin Dreizen, Chris Cardoso, Julia Larson, Olivia Nolan, Greg Warner and Megan Tkacy.
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