The New York Times has published its annual America’s Best Restaurants List. Sadly, no Wisconsin restaurants made the cut.
The list consists the 50 best restaurants in America, according to New York Times reporters and editors who traveled to nearly every state on the hunt for restaurants with amazing food and spaces.
“As always, there were no-brainers and tough choices — the United States has a vast, diverse spread of great restaurants these days — but these are our 50 favorites for 2024,” the Times said.
But this is our list of Milwaukee restaurants we wish would have made the Times list:
Birch
Milwaukee has not always been left out of the NYT best restaurant list. Birch, a contemporary bistro serving Midwestern cuisine at 459 E. Pleasant St., made the cut in 2023.
At the time, restaurant critic Brett Anderson said Birch was a “worldly Midwestern cuisine free of clichés.”
Birch first opened as Birch and Butch and closed during the pandemic. In June 2021, chef Kyle Knall reopened the restaurant as Birch.
More: Milwaukee’s Birch makes 2023 New York Times best restaurants list
Dan Dan
Dan Dan, at 360 E. Erie St., was nowhere to be seen on the list, even after co-owner Dan Jacobs made it to the finale in Bravo’s “Top Chef” this year.
Jacobs and co-owner Dan Van Rite opened Dan Dan in 2016. The modern Chinese-American restaurant offers dim sum, noodles and rice dishes and house specials.
Shortly after opening Dan Dan, the two opened EsterEv inside of Dan Dan — it moved to a new location in Bay View this year.
Jacobs and Van Rite were also named James Beard Award finalists earlier this year under the category Best Chef: Midwest.
The Diplomat
The Diplomat, 815 E. Brady St., opened in 2017. In 2022, chef-owner Dane Baldwin won the James Beard Award for best chef in the Midwest.
The restaurant serves “approachable American fare in a sharable plate format.”
The Diplomat was named one of the Journal Sentinel’s best new restaurants in 2017.
Lupi & Iris
In 2023, Lupi & Iris, 777 N. Van Buren St., was a James Beard Award finalist for best new restaurant.
Michael DeMichele and chef Adam Siegel created Lupi & Iris in May 2022. Siegel also won a James Beard award in 2008 for best chef in the Midwest while working at Lake Park Bistro.
The restaurant also made an appearance on last season’s “Top Chef” as the site for an Episode 1 challenge.
Odd Duck
Odd Duck, 939 S. 2nd St., opened more than 10 years ago, moving from Walker’s Point to Bay View in 2022. The restaurant serves a dynamic new-American menu with shareable plates and creative cocktails.
Odd Duck was named one of USA TODAY’s restaurants of the year in February.
Journal Sentinel dining critic Rachel Bernhard said Odd Duck “serves elevated, gorgeously presented dishes that pass for fine dining, but never takes itself too seriously.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee restaurants deserve spot on New York Times restaurants list
