It's no secret that Newport's The Baker's Table has been stealing hungry hearts from across the city since opening this winter. And according to national food and dining website Eater, the love doesn't stop here.
Eater has recognized the best new restaurants in America (from May 2018 to May 2019), highlighting just 16 top-notch eateries — and one of those is Northern Kentucky's own Baker's Table.
The reasoning behind their choices is simple: "What moved us wasn’t merely virtuoso cooking or totally of-the-moment interior design. It was the feeling that a restaurant, whether a noodle shop slinging Laotian specialties in East Dallas or a tasting menu championing the overlooked delights of the Oregon coast in Portland, was the right place at the right time — right now," explains Eater restaurant editor Hillary Dixler Canavan.
Canavan herself went on to descibe what makes Baker's Table so special:
What makes a restaurant a tourist magnet and what makes it a standby? Many travelers long to find a gem tucked away on a small-town main street — the kind of place you want to linger in and then brag about to your Instagram followers. Locals, however, may find that what they actually need is a restaurant with a well-priced menu that outshines a home kitchen and rewards return visits. When a new restaurant like the Baker’s Table hits both marks, it has the makings of an essential.
Visitors to (and from) Cincinnati should head over the Taylor Southgate Bridge to dunk fluffy ricotta doughnuts — made by chef, baker, and co-owner David Willocks — in bright strawberry-lemon curd, to carve into a fried chicken sandwich served on a textbook buttermilk biscuit, and to nurse an Amaro spritz from the bar. The cozily eclectic room, designed by co-owner Wendy Braun, invites the midday lazing that defines a vacation’s lunch. But if I lived nearby, I’d wander in for the easy comforts of a full-bodied tomato soup served alongside a grilled cheese on Willocks’s glorious sourdough, a kale Caesar studded with brioche croutons, and a chewy, salted chocolate chip cookie. Even a regular might feel like they’re on holiday — as long as there are still a few bites left on the table.
Other restaurants mentioned in the round-up included Atomix of New York City, Fox and the Knife in Boston, The Jerk Shack in San Antonio, Marrow in Detroit and more.
