The Top Dining Destination in Every State

When dining out, picking a restaurant can be the most difficult decision. According to the National Restaurant Association, there are over 749,000 restaurants in the United States. Thankfully, from good old-fashioned mom and pop diners or high-end fancy establishments, to any number of exotic restaurants featuring dishes from other cultures, you can usually find a dining experience to satisfy just about any taste.

Across the USA, each state has hidden gems and legendary restaurants that should not be missed. Even though some of these dining options can be tucked away in out of the way locations, but thankfully, we have a list for you, with locations and descriptions. Many of these establishments have perfected a local dish or have signature local specialties that are not to be missed. (Here are signature dishes from 50 American cities.)

To assemble this list of restaurants you should visit in each state, 24/7 Tempo consulted reviews on Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Zagat, as well as numerous roundups of iconic and/or important restaurants from a wide range of online publications, including Food & Wine, the Travel Channel, and The Daily Meal, as well as numerous city- and state-specific sites. We also studied menus and historical information on restaurant websites, making the final choice editorially based on all these sources.

Here are America's must-visit restaurants in every state:

Alabama

Restaurant: Highlands Bar & Grill
Location: Birmingham

Since 1982, Highlands chef-owner Frank Stitt has been a champion of contemporary Southern cooking and has been serving excellent food based on regional ingredients and traditions. The menu showcases dishes like stone-ground baked grits with Benton's country ham and pompano with jumbo lump crabmeat.

Alaska

Restaurant: Tracy's King Crab Shack
Location: Juneau

Tracy's specializes in crab. The star attraction is Alaska's king crab, but they also feature local Dungeness. Crab bisque, crab cakes, and just plain giant crab legs and claws are also on the menu as well as a few side dishes, assorted wines, and some Alaskan craft beers.

Arizona

Restaurant: El Charro Café
Location: Tucson

El Charro is America's oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant run by the same family. Established in 1922, it claims to have been the birthplace of the iconic chimichanga, the deep-fried burrito that is a staple in the Southwest. The restaurant is so emblematic of Tucson that the galley on the U.S.S. Tucson submarine has been named "El Charro Down Under." While there are three locations in the Tucson area, including one at the airport, the iconic original is best.

Arkansas

Restaurant: Rhoda's Famous Hot Tamales and Pies
Location: Lake Village

For over a century, tamales, made with cornmeal instead of masa, have been a Mississippi Delta tradition introduced to the region by Mexican farmworkers. Rhoda's, just across the Mississippi River from Mississippi itself, is famous for its version, which is filled with beef and chicken fat. Their sweet potato and pecan pies are equally legendary, and together these dishes offer a quintessential taste of Arkansas food culture.

California

Restaurant: Musso & Frank Grill
Location: Los Angeles

The Golden State is full of can't-miss restaurants — Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the French Laundry in Napa Valley, Spago in Beverly Hills, and more — but a visit to this 101-year-old Hollywood institution, which everyone calls Musso's, is essential for anyone who loves history and tradition. The all-American menu with its French and Italian accents offers an immense choice of dishes, all of them cooked correctly, and it has played host to every Hollywood celebrity from Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart to George Clooney and Brad Pitt — the latter of whom also supped here, in character, in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

Colorado

Restaurant: The Fort
Location: Morrison

Opened in 1963, The Fort features what it calls "new foods of the Old West." That means buffalo steaks and ribs, elk medallions, and flame-grilled quail. But for the extremely adventurous diners, the restaurant offers the notorious Rocky Mountain oysters – deep-fried buffalo testicle – which the restaurant claims are one of its most popular appetizers.

Connecticut

Restaurant: Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
Location: New Haven

Though Google identified Detroit as America's pizza capital earlier this year, some say that New Haven's version (often called "apizza," a Neapolitan dialect term) is the country's best. Frank Pepe defines the style, which features a thin, charred crust, more oblong than round, from a coal-fired oven. Though it has numerous competitors today and has expanded to 10 other locations in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, the original Frank Pepe is the place.

Delaware

Restaurant: Charcoal Pit
Location: Wilmington

Charcoal Pit, a Wilimington institution for over 64 years, offers a variety of sandwiches, full entrées, and burgers, but it's the ice cream sundaes that are something truly special at this restaurant. Nine of the sundaes are named for local high school teams, like the "McKean Highlanders," which is a decadent concoction with four scoops of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, bananas, walnuts, whipped cream, and a cherry.

Florida

Restaurant: Joe's Stone Crab
Location: Miami Beach

Sweet, meaty stone crab claws are Florida's most famous seafood offering, and Joe's founder Joseph Weiss was the first restaurateur to serve them, starting in 1921. There's a full menu of other fish and shellfish now, as well as a selection of meats and poultry, but in stone crab season — mid-October to mid-May — those claws are what people come here for.

Georgia

Restaurant: Mary Mac's Tea Room
Location: Atlanta

Nicknamed "Atlanta's Dining Room" by the Georgia House of Representatives in 2011, Mary Mac's Tea Room is a local legend. This lively and unpretentious spot serves up classic Southern comfort food like fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, chicken and dumplings, shrimp and cheese grits, and more.

Hawaii

Restaurant: Helena's Hawaiian Food
Location: Honolulu

Opened by Helena Chock in 1946 and now run by her grandson, Craig Katsuyoshi, this no-frills classic is one of the surprisingly few places in Honolulu that serves real old-style Hawaiian specialties, including poi, poke-like lomi salmon, and haupia — the traditional Polynesian coconut pudding. The essential order here, though, is the kalua pig, cooked in an imu, or earthenware oven.

Idaho

Restaurant: The Snake Pit
Location: Kingston

This landmark establishment near Coeur d'Alene dates its origins to 1879. Along the way, it has operated under numerous different names but has been known as the Snake Pit at least since the 1950s. Chicken-fried steak and eggs for breakfast and sandwiches and burgers for lunch and dinner are typical fare, but there are also barbeque specialties smoked in-house. The Snake Pit has been closed since February 2024 but the new owners say the closure is temporary. A reopening date hasn't been announced.

Illinois

Restaurant: Twin Anchors Restaurant & Tavern
Location: Chicago

Frank Sinatra was a regular at this 1932 vintage tavern and barbecued rib joint, with its linoleum floor, red tables, and nautical theme. Sinatra, hosting a party there in the 1970s, famously demanded "Ribs, and keep 'em coming!" The list of other celebrities who have enjoyed the food at this Chicago standby includes Jack Black, Conan O'Brien, Mike Ditka, Helen Mirren, and Goldie Hawn.

Indiana

Restaurant: St. Elmo Steak House
Location: Indianapolis

This classic steakhouse has been serving Indianapolis since 1902. There's nothing contemporary here — just a signature shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, lobster tails, an array of steaks, and other standards of the genre. No trendy wagyu, either — just Midwest Black Angus beef.

Iowa

Restaurant: Breitbach's Country Dining
Location: Sherrill

Not many restaurants have company history that reads like this: "Opened in 1852 by federal permit issued from President Millard Fillmore, Breitbach's is Iowa's oldest food and drinking establishment." Incredibly, the place has been in the Breitbach family since 1862. The menu features steaks, seafood, sandwiches and frogs' legs. Be sure to save room for their homemade pies.

Kansas

Restaurant: Stroud's
Location: Overland Park

The original Stroud's opened in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1933 as a barbecue restaurant. When meat was rationed during World War II, owner Helen Stroud started serving pan-fried chicken instead — and that became Stroud's signature. Several outposts of the place have opened and closed over the years, with three remaining — one in Kansas City and two in the state of Kansas, this one and another in Wichita. More than half the menu is devoted to chicken in various forms.

Kentucky

Restaurant: Jack Fry's
Location: Louisville

Founded in 1933 by Jack Fry and his wife, Flossie, this place quickly became a beloved local institution. After a brief hiatus in the 70s, the space was reopened by new owners as Jack Fry's. Since then it has earned numerous awards and has been identified as Kentucky's most iconic restaurant. Pan-seared ruby red trout, duck croquettes, Stilton salad, and center-cut loin pork chops are featured menu items here.

Louisiana

Restaurant: Galatoire's
Location: New Orleans

One of the legendary grande dames of upscale New Orleans dining, Galatoire's, founded in 1905, manages to be both elegant and casual at the same time, and always lots of fun. The extensive Creole-flavored menu ranges from oysters en brochette and seafood okra gumbo to crab-and-shrimp-stuffed eggplant and chicken Clemenceau — and it's all superb.

Maine

Restaurant: Fore Street
Location: Portland

Since 1996, near the Portland waterfront, Fore Street has been a trailblazer in using locally sourced, sustainable produce, meats, and seafood. Much of the food is roasted in a wood-burning oven or cooked on a wood-fired grill. Signature dishes include house-made charcuterie and organic Maine chicken roasted on a turnspit.

Maryland

Restaurant: Schultz's Crab House
Location: Essex

This longtime Baltimore area standard promises "Hot steamed crabs & ice cold beer!" In addition to appearing on the butcher-paper-covered tables whole (with a mallet to crack their shells), the restaurant's eponymous crustacean shows up in crab dip, crab cakes, crab soup, and other forms. A selection of steaks and other dishes are also served, but it's the Chesapeake Bay-style seafood that makes this a must.

Massachusetts

Restaurant: Union Oyster House
Location: Boston

Opened in 1826 and designated a National Historic Landmark, this seafood-centric establishment is one of the oldest restaurants in America and the oldest in Boston. In the tavern-style dining room, you can feast on oysters, clams, scallops, Boston scrod, and lobster, either broiled or boiled.

Michigan

Restaurant: London Chop House
Location: Detroit

Established after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the Chop House was Motor City's most famous restaurant for decades — the Detroit equivalent of New York City's "21" Club. Founder Lester Gruber sold the place in 1982, and it closed in 1991. After more than two decades, it reopened and was completely refurbished in 2012. The fare is traditional — steak tartare, French onion soup, sautéed lake perch with shrimp, assorted steaks, etc. — and the place retains its old-time power-dining vibe.

Minnesota

Restaurant: Spoon and Stable
Location: Minneapolis

James Beard Award-winning chef Gavin Kaysen, previously the executive chef and director of culinary operations for renowned New York chef-restaurateur Daniel Boulud, returned to his hometown of Minneapolis to open this French-inspired dining destination. His accessible yet sophisticated cuisine raises the bar in the city's culinary scene with dishes like celery root soup with black truffles, seared scallops with hedgehog mushrooms and crab apples, and venison with red cabbage and salted elderflowers.

Mississippi

Restaurant: Doe's Eat Place
Location: Greenville

There are now some 13 other Doe's locations in seven states (most of them franchised), but this, the original, in an old house in the Delta town of Greenville — opened as a combination grocery store and honky tonk in 1941 — is a Mississippi original. The menu is small, but the Mississippi-style tamales and the steaks are hearty.

Missouri

Restaurant: Crown Candy Kitchen
Location: St. Louis

Despite its name, this St. Louis institution, which opened in 1913, is more than just a candy shop (though it does produce and sell its own chocolates). It also features a soda fountain serving homemade ice cream, available plain or in elaborate sundaes, along with malts and shakes. Additionally, there's a lunch and dinner menu offering sandwiches, chili, and tamales.

Montana

Restaurant: Pekin Noodle Parlor
Location: Butte

Don't expect cutting-edge Chinese fusion cuisine here, or regional specialties from the kitchen of Hunan or Beijing. The menu is strictly old-school, with an ample selection of chop suey and chow mein variations, noodle dishes, stir-fries, and sweet-and-sour preparations. What makes this place a must is its history. As far as anyone knows, it's the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in America. Founded in 1909 and established at its current location in 1911, it's a remnant of a once-thriving Chinatown in Butte and a genuine taste of local history.

Nebraska

Restaurant: Harold's Koffee House
Location: Omaha

Harold's traces its origins to post-World War II era, and has been at its current location since 1968. In the morning, you can enjoy plate-sized buttermilk pancakes or a rancher plate featuring a 5-ounce sirloin steak or pork chop, hash browns, two eggs any style, and your choice of toast, biscuit, or a plate-sized pancake. For lunch, there are sandwiches and burgers, along with "family favorites" like country-fried steak and sliced tenderloin.

Nevada

Restaurant: Bazaar Meat
Location: Las Vegas

Las Vegas has no shortage of spectacular restaurants run by culinary celebrities but this extravagant, sometimes almost surrealistic ultra-steakhouse from famed Spanish chef and international humanitarian José Andrés is perhaps the most spectacular of all. Philippe Starck's interior alternates earth tones, cool white, and hot red, and a glass and tile centerpiece displays huge slabs of beef and pork. There are contemporary tapas here (cotton candy foie gras, gazpacho shots) and some seafood (including three Vegasy caviar flights), but meat is the point — from bison carpaccio and great Spanish ham to a host of steaks. You'll know you're in Vegas.

New Hampshire

Restaurant: Polly's Pancake Parlor
Location: Sugar Hill

Wilfred and Polly Taylor began making maple syrup and opened a tearoom in 1938 to showcase their syrup and their other maple products. Today, Polly's a variety of made-from-scratch pancakes and waffles, including plain, buckwheat, cornmeal, gingerbread, whole wheat, and oatmeal buttermilk. Breakfast meats are sourced from a New Hampshire smokehouse. The breads for sandwiches, as well as the English muffins, are homemade, as are the pies.

New Jersey

Restaurant: The Lido
Location: Hackensack

This 63-year-old, family-owned, Italian-American restaurant has a retro feel (complete with a jukebox playing classic rock from the '60s and '70s) and the menu plays along. Thin-crust pizza, veal parmigiana, spaghetti with meatballs, and a "world famous" sliced steak sandwich evoke the Garden State back in the day.

New Mexico

Restaurant: Santa Fe Bite
Location: Santa Fe

The Bite, famous for its green chile cheeseburgers, has an interesting history. Originally established as the Bobcat Bite in 1953 on the Old Las Vegas Highway outside Santa Fe, it relocated to Santa Fe in 2013 and renamed the Santa Fe Bite. In October 2022, the owners retired and sold the restaurant to longtime employees.

New York

Restaurant: Katz's Delicatessen
Location: New York City

New York City is the nation's Jewish deli capital and no establishment more vividly represents the genre than Katz's, serving its famed fare since 1888. Walls crowded with photos of celebrity customers, matzoh ball soup "second-best to your Bubba's," quintessential bagels with lox and cream cheese, towering pastrami sandwiches on rye — it's all here.

North Carolina

Restaurant: The Fearrington House Restaurant
Location: Pittsboro

Part of the Fearrington Village hotel, retail, and residential development outside Chapel Hill, this rural-elegant establishment has been a go-to for upscale dining for over 40 years. Its tasting menus offer sophisticated twists on Southern-inspired dishes, such as marinated shrimp with crab mousse, sweet potato, and couscous, and seared striped bass with pecans, sunchokes, and pearl barley.

North Dakota

Restaurant: Peacock Alley
Location: Bismarck

Opened in 1933 in what was then the Patterson Hotel, Bismarck's showplace, Peacock Alley today is primarily a steakhouse, serving aged Angus beef in various cuts as well as Dakota cheese curds, "messy and super delicious" half-pound burgers, a few pasta dishes, and more. Located in the heart of downtown Bismarck, Peacock Alley is a popular local meeting place and a must for visitors.

Ohio

Restaurant: Camp Washington Chili
Location: Cincinnati

Cincinnati chili is very different from the Texas version. It's a meat sauce with Greek-style spices typically served on top of spaghetti or hot dogs, and sometimes topped with onions, shredded cheese, and/or beans. Smithsonian magazine has named it one of the country's 20 most iconic foods. While the Skyline and Gold Star chains are the most famous purveyors, true aficionados swear by Camp Washington, which has been serving its famous chili since 1940. Although you can get breakfast sandwiches, burgers, or a tuna melt here, the chili is the real star here.

Oklahoma

Restaurant: Cattlemen's Steakhouse
Location: Oklahoma City

Not to be confused with the California chain of the same name, this Cattlemen's was born in 1910 in Oklahoma City's Stockyards City area, home to major meat-processing plants. Cowboys, ranchers, and cattle haulers were among its first customers. There are drawings of some celebrated later ones on the walls, including John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. It's not hard to guess what the focus of the menu is — prime or choice corn-fed midwestern beef.

Oregon

Restaurant: Jake's Famous Crawfish
Location: Portland

Though now part of the McCormick & Schmick's chain, Jake's has been a downtown Portland landmark for over 125 years and still embodies the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. The menu features a generous selection of seafood, including oysters on the half shell, Dungeness crab and shrimp cakes, pan-seared Washington razor clams, grilled steelhead with Oregon bay shrimp, and much more.

Pennsylvania

Restaurant: Reading Terminal Market
Location: Philadelphia

Although this historic 126-year-old covered market isn't a restaurant, you can find an array of appetite-stimulating produce, seafood, meats and poultry, baked goods, and more, it happens to be a great place to eat. There are almost 30 food stalls preparing everything from Philly's famous cheesesteaks (available from at least three purveyors), Italian hoagies, pizza, hot dogs, and burgers to Thai, Chinese, Caribbean, Cajun, Middle Eastern, and Pennsylvania Dutch fare.

Rhode Island

Restaurant: Matunuck Oyster Bar
Location: South Kingston

The Rhode Island coast produces some of the finest seafood in the Northeast, and this waterfront restaurant excels at sourcing and preparing it. With its own oyster beds and organic vegetable farm, the restaurant also brings in other top-quality oysters from the area. Highlights include fried calamari from nearby Point Judith, stuffies (stuffed clams) with Portuguese sausage, oysters Rockefeller, lobster rolls, and grilled Atlantic salmon, making it a seafood lover's paradise.

South Carolina

Restaurant: Peninsula Grill
Location: Charleston

The signature dish at this genteel 22-year-old Charleston restaurant is a 12-layer coconut cake. There's a lot more than that, though, served in the handsome dining room with its seagrass flooring and farmland murals and the courtyard lit with carriage lanterns. The crab soup, lobster prepared three ways (ravioli, tempura, and sautéed), and pistachio-crusted rack of lamb are examples of the upscale fare.

South Dakota

Restaurant: The Pheasant Restaurant & Lounge
Location: Brookings

This 70-year-old classic in Brookings, a small city north of Sioux Falls, began as a gas station café on the town's edge and has grown into a serious restaurant rich in local flavor. Must-try dishes include the South Dakota specialty chislic (deep-fried lamb cubes served with blue cheese dressing and crackers), pheasant salad with lettuce wraps, pan-fried wild-caught walleye, and local bison filet with a raspberry and herb sauce inspired by a Native American recipe.

Tennessee

Restaurant: Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
Location: Mason

"Hot" fried chicken has been one of the biggest food trends of the decade. While it may have been around as early as the 1930s and is usually said to have been popularized by Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville, Gus's and its almost 30 locations around the U.S. have done a lot to introduce it to a wider audience. This location, in a small town northeast of Memphis, is where it all started and still serves up some of the best spicy fried chicken around.

Texas

Restaurant: Kreuz Market
Location: Lockhart

The Texas Hill Country, between Austin and San Antonio, is a barbecue paradise, and Kreuz, now a bustling restaurant rather than a market, proudly calls itself "the birthplace of Texas BBQ." While pork options are available, Kreuz predominantly serves beef, the cornerstone of Lone Star State barbecue — offering brisket, ribs, clod (chuck roast), prime rib, and sausages.

Utah

Restaurant: Hell's Backbone Grill & Farm
Location: Boulder

Located in the remote hamlet of Boulder (population 225) in southern Utah, Hell's Backbone combines an organic farm with an environmentally responsible restaurant, serving what it terms "fanciful Four Corners cuisine" (a reference to the area where the corners of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet). Pumpkin and apple soup, Hopi-style lamb-stuffed peppers, and chocolate chile cream pot are typical dishes. The restaurant closes annually from late fall until spring.

Vermont

Restaurant: Wayside Restaurant, Bakery & Creamery
Location: Montpelier

"Yankee cooking at its best since 1918," boasts this traditional American restaurant, bakeshop, and ice cream parlor. Entrées include fried clam strips, ham steak, and, for the adventurous, pickled honeycomb beef tripe. Desserts feature homemade pies, Grapenut custard pudding, and, of course, Wayside ice cream.

Virginia

Restaurant: The Inn at Little Washington
Location: Washington

The innovative restaurant at this opulent country inn about 60 miles southwest of the nation's capital has earned three stars in the Guide Michelin — the highest honor in the international gastronomic world, meaning that Michelin's reviewers consider it worthy of a special trip. Chef-owner Patrick O'Connell's ever-changing fixed-price menus might offer such unusual dishes as carpaccio of baby lamb loin with Caesar salad ice cream, cavatelli pasta with chanterelles and brandy-soaked apricots, and "a Lilliputian mandarin and vanilla Dreamsicle."

Washington

Restaurant: Canlis
Location: Seattle

This quintessential Pacific Northwestern culinary gem, praised by Food & Wine as "one of the 40 most important restaurants in the past 40 years," has been celebrating regional ingredients since its founding in 1950. Over the years, the cuisine has grown more sophisticated, and today the restaurant exclusively offers a four-course tasting menu. Dishes might include smoked celeriac soup with seaweed and plankton, poached Baywater Sweet oysters with charred kohlrabi, black cod with stewed onions and wasabi, and Japanese sweet potato with bee pollen and yuzu sherbet.

West Virginia

Restaurant: Jim's Steak and Spaghetti House
Location: Huntington

The website for this family-owned local institution in operation since 1938 exclaims "If you want to be a part of Huntington, you need to eat at Jim's!" Even if you're just passing through, Jim's is, as one Yelp reviewer put it, "Such an amazing establishment…" As might be expected, the specialties are spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and ribeye steak. The menu also promises "The best ever homemade chocolate and coconut pie with real whipped cream."

Wisconsin

Restaurant: Ishnala Supper Club
Location: Lake Delton

Supper clubs, once glamorous establishments found in cities or along on country roads, offered live music, dancing, and a full night of entertainment as well as classic American food and flowing cocktails. While they faded in popularity across much of America in the latter 20th century, Wisconsin has preserved several, especially in rural areas. Ishnala is a prime example: a rustic lakeside venue serving nostalgic dishes like shrimp cocktail, French onion soup, and roast Wisconsin duck with sage dressing.

50. Wyoming

Restaurant: Luxury Diner
Location: Cheyenne

This Cheyenne institution, built around a repurposed old trolley car, calls itself one of the "most unchanged restaurants in America." It hasn't been remodeled or refurbished since it opened in 1926 (though it became the Luxury Diner only in 1964). Serving breakfast and lunch only, it's famous for its oversized cinnamon rolls, its Santa Fe burrito (filled with scrambled eggs, spicy sausage, and refried beans), and its smothered pork chops. (If you love Mexican food, here's the one Mexican restaurant you should try in every state.)