Originally Posted by
jbeans
Awesome list @
bhrubin! It's been too long since I've eaten on the west coast, planning a visit to SF/Napa Valley next spring, both Saison and Benu are definitely on my list! And likely also Auberge and Meadowood?
I was remiss to not include Meadowood. We had a fab dinner there 5 years ago that really impressed—and made me enjoy uni for the first time.
On a side note -- Seems like Tokyo's dining scene has gotten crazy hot since my last visit. Tried to book Yoshitake, Sawada, and Arai for either lunch or dinner over a couple of days, and were told they have all been booked up the day the seats were released. Slow dialers at the Pen concierge haha! Although even the non-starred sushiyas are superb, so I'm not terribly sad, but wow it was never this tough before.
We just returned from Japan in May, coincidentally. Had dinner at Yoshitake and lunch at Sawada. Yoshitake probably is one of our best dinners, too. Remiss yet again.
The concierge team at the Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho arranged Yoshitake, Sawada, and Narisawa for us without any problem—though we did arrive the day after Golden Week ended.
The concierge team at the Suiran Kyoto arranged Kitcho as well as Wa Yamamura, both 3* (the former the most pricey in Japan, the latter the cheapest at $56). The concierge team at RC Kyoto took a little hand holding at first but arranged Gion Sasaki and Nakamura for us. The concierge team at StR Osaka arranged 3* Hajime (incredible food but terrible service) and 2* Aragawa in Kobe for us. Just plan in advance as much as possible.