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April 15, 2008
LA Misses Mark on Top 100 Restaurant List, But Does it Matter?
Restaurants and Institutions' released their list of the top 100 highest-grossing independent (non-chain) restaurants in the United States. Totaling $1.53 billion, all restaurants on the list at least grossed $11.3 million. The Los Angeles region really didn't make an impact, but San Francisco made away with four and Chicago with seven. The top two cities are New York and its 32 restaurants and Las Vegas, which came out with 24, one of them grossing the highest -- Tao.
EaterLA broke down the list for SoCal and as you can see, there's not much:
- #37 Gladstone's in Malibu ($14.5 mil)
- #67 Lawry's the Prime Rib ($12.3 mil)
- #89 George's at the Cove in La Jolla
And does it really matter that Los Angeles doesn't make much of a mess on the list? LA claims home to the only Pulitzer Prize winning food critic, LA has killer food festivals and farmers markets and LA has the "porno" burrito. There's so many little indie restaurants around, you could spend a lifetime eating your way through this city. God bless Food Angeles.
Photo from the Zilin Noodle House of Black Mushroom and Bamboo Noodle Soup by Tales of an LA Addict via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr
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McDonalds grosses a lot per store, so this list is meaningless.
This is a list of the highest-grossing independent (non-chain) restaurants. That probably includes franchises as well.
I'm not surprised that Lawry's and Gladstone's are the only two LA places on the list, because they seem indicative of what the list represents: Where tourists go to eat and end up spending more money than they should on food that isn't all that remarkable to begin with, but they went because the place is well known outside of LA.
LA is an awesome food city... I like that we have local gems that are loved by locals.
I agree with Jamesey. Popularity does not equal quality.
I agree with Elise agreeing with Jamesey. My politics, music, dress, and food have rarely been the most popular. Even among my peers.
The list of highest grossing restaurants simply tells me what's trendy. It doesn't matter if it's actually good or not. It's sorta the same reason I read Interview. It's to find out what other people are doing, not what's best.