The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Announces Its North American Picks

Eleven Canadian, 37 American and two Caribbean restaurants were named Thursday night to the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants List, the latest spinoff from the ever-expanding World’s 50 Best universe that annually ranks restaurants, bars and hotels around the world.

The original list, a global ranking first published in 2002, has since birthed lists for Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America (which includes Mexico). Restaurants can also win awards for hospitality, sustainability and more, and there are awards for individuals, like best pastry chef and best sommelier, sponsored by global brands like Lavazza, Resy, Lee Kum Kee and Valrhona.

Topping the North American list is Atomix, a refined Korean tasting counter in Manhattan, which is No. 12 on the current World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The top five is filled out by Mon Lapin in Montreal, Pearl Morissette, near Niagara Falls in Ontario; Smyth in Chicago, and Tanière3 in Quebec City.

Dakar NOLA in New Orleans, Kalaya in Philadelphia and SingleThread in St. Helena, Calif., along with Le Bernardin and the new Le Veau D’Or, both in New York City, complete the top 10.

Four restaurants on the North American list, SingleThread and Atelier Crenn in California, and Le Bernardin and César in New York, also appear on the 2025 World’s 50 Best list, which was announced in June. The two Caribbean restaurants — Stush in the Bush, a sustainable vegan destination in Jamaica and Buzo, an Italian restaurant with locations in Barbados and Trinidad — are new to the 50 Best lists.

“As a Canadian, it was an exhilarating and surprising night,” said Ivy Knight, a veteran food journalist and former chef in Toronto. “And as a human, to see such diverse cuisines, so many women honored, a restaurant like Atomix at No. 1, it felt like a real shake-up.”

Many of the picks on the North American list are notably more casual than those on the global list, including Penny and Via Carota in New York, Mon Lapin in Montreal, and Chubby Fish in Charleston, S.C. These are popular favorites where the tables are left unclothed and the food untweezed, not the tasting-menu temples that the World’s 50 Best voters have historically seemed to prefer.

Chutatip Suntaranon, the chef and owner of Kalaya in Philadelphia, won the “Best Female Chef” award for North America, and Normand Laprise of Montreal was named an “Icon” for his influence on Canadian fine dining. But two of Canada’s most celebrated restaurants of the last 20 years — Au Pied de Cochon and Joe Beef, both in Montreal — did not make the list.

The 300 voters for the North American list are a newly selected group, separate from the 120 people in the United and Canada who vote for the global list. The new voters were chosen by eight recently appointed regional chairmen, and consist of “a gender-balanced selection of chefs, restaurateurs, food/restaurant journalists and gourmets,” the organization said.

The identities of the chairs are made public; the voters are supposed to be anonymous, but many are well known in culinary circles.

Lists and awards play a growing part in the restaurant world. The James Beard Foundation hands out annual awards, and publications like Food & Wine magazine and The New York Times are increasingly dedicating restaurant coverage to best-of lists. The 50 Best lists and the Michelin Guide, which is also rapidly expanding, are in competition to influence the food and travel decisions of millions of consumers worldwide.

Michelin’s inspectors eat out anonymously, and their meals and travel are tracked and paid for by the company. Voters for 50 Best are allowed to accept free meals, travel and other perks as part of their research.