Compere Lapin and La Petite Grocery Are Two of the Best Restaurants in America

After 32 weeks of travel, 500 meals, and 36 cities, Eater’s roving critic Bill Addison has released his list of the 38 restaurants that defined America in 2017: Both Compere Lapin and La Petite Grocery made the list.

“In polarizing times, these places don’t just exemplify culinary excellence — they foster hospitality and pleasure and purpose in their communities. They show us who we are and who we can be,” Addison writes of this year’s list.

While Nina Compton’s stone cold Caribbean stunner Compere Lapin joins the ranks of best restaurants in America just this year, Justin Devillier’s finely tuned La Petite Grocery makes the list for the second year in a row (meaning it’s only one step away from Eater Hall of Fame status). Both restaurants also appear on Eater New Orleans’ list of 38 essential restaurants in New Orleans.

Of Compere Lapin, known for goat curry, conch croquettes, jerk-seasoned fish, Addison notes: “This is all an obvious departure from meunière-bathed Creole cuisine, but this is the NOLA restaurant I find myself most endorsing to friends.”

Addison calls La Petite Grocery “the apotheosis of the contemporary New Orleans restaurant, illustrated by a pitch-perfect Sazerac, a scorching stack of crab beignets, and a bowl of turtle Bolognese.”

Numerous outstanding establishments joined this year’s list, with the best restaurant in America going to The Grey in Savannah, Georgia. Eater Hall of Famers are restaurants that maintain a place on the National 38 for three years in a row.

MORE READING

• America’s 38 Essential Restaurants [E]
• The 38 Essential New Orleans Restaurants [ENOLA]