"Opinionated About Dining" Survey Disses South Florida

Opinionated About Dining (OAD) released results of its second annual survey of dining establishments in the United States and Canada. The ratings cover over 900 restaurants ranging from fine dining to inexpensive. The only South Florida restaurants to make the grade were, perhaps to no surprise, the M & M...

By Lee Klein

April 2, 2009

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Opinionated About Dining (OAD) released results of its second annual survey of dining establishments in the United States and Canada. The ratings cover over 900 restaurants ranging from fine dining to inexpensive. The only South Florida restaurants to make the grade were, perhaps to no surprise, the M & M duo: Michy's and Michael's Genuine Food & Drink.

OAD compiled the results over 12 months with close to 1,600 participants contributing to 22,000 ratings. These restaurants have been selected by "destination diners who plan their travel around dining out and business travelers who combine meetings with meals at interesting restaurants."

Links to the full results, just published today, are listed below, but here are the highlights.

"Worth Planning a Trip Around" (98-100 points):Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Yountville, California is the only restaurant to receive a perfect score of 100 pts. Seven other restaurants made the list:Manresa, Los Gatos, CA (99); Urasawa, Beverly Hills, CA (99); Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, NY (99); Jean Georges, NY (99); per se, NY (99); Alinea, Chicago (98); and Eigensinn Farm, Singhampton, Ontario (98).
South Florida:Zero, which is no embarrassment. Only three states rated.

"Worthy of Special Attention" (95-97 points): 15 restaurants qualified, including Masa and Sushi Yasuda (both 97), Bouley and Le Bernadin (both 96), all in New York; Schwa in Chicago (96); and, my hometown favorite, Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn (95 points)
South Florida:Zilch, which again is not a knock against us -- New York notched seven of the 15.

"Highly Recommended" (92-94 points):78 entries, and Michy's (92) is one of them. It is in good company, along with Chez Panisse, Gordon Ramsay, Charlie Trotter's, Craft, Daniel, and wd-50 (all 94). Bern's Steak House in Tampa (94) is the only other Florida restaurant, besides M & M, to appear on this list. Heck, Massachusetts had seven restaurants in this category.

"Top Casual and Moderate" (90-93) includes 50 restaurants, including some repeats from the previous category. Michael's Genuine (91) does us proud in this grouping that covers restaurants with entrees $30 and under.

"Cheap Eats" (80-89):13 eateries, South Florida nada. That's sad, although these are mostly delis and pizza places, not ethnic joints. We'd do much better if it was the latter.

The full list
By Rating
By State/Province
Top Moderate & Casual Restaurants

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