McCrady's Top 100 Restaurants of North American & Europe

Opinionated About Dining — a blog, survey, forum and now a published dining guide — has come out with a list of “The 100 Best Restaurants of North America & Europe.” Billed as the “ultimate guide for destination diners,” the guide by Steve Plotnicki (a food blogger), aims to provide serious foodies with a roadmap for eating. The guide breaks restaurants down by continent — Europe and North America — and puts them in a category based on a numerical score — worth planning a trip around (105 and higher), worth going out of your way for (100-104) , and important local choices (95-99) .

Why should we care? Because Plotnicki is a fan of Sean Brock and his work at McCrady’s. He blogs about a visit there in Oct. 2007 and McCrady’s finds itself in the rarefied world of restaurants “worth planning a trip around.” In that category in North America, you’ll find only eight other restaurants, many of which you’ll probably recognize: Alinea in Chicago, French Laundry in California, Jean Goerges in NY, Manresa in California, Minibar in D.C., Per Se in NY, Splendido in Toronto, and Urasawa in Beverly Hills.

McCrady’s garnered a score of 106 and a glowing write-up: “Few people have heard of Sean Brock or have sampled the terrific biodynamic ingredients that he grows on a farm on nearby Wadmalaw Island. But those who have dined at this 200-year-old establishment know that Brock’s 25-course tasting menus can rival the output of the best molecular chefs in the country. Brock is a chef deserving of national recognition.”

Congrats to Brock, who seems to keep getting more and more attention these days. Hopefully we won’t lose him to the big city.