One of America’s Very Best Restaurants is Surprisingly Located in Boise, Idaho

Earlier this year, Yelp released their Top 100 US Restaurants List for 2024. We can’t lie, it kind of stung that only ONE Idaho restaurant made the list. 

In order to put together their list, their data science team crunched numbers and selected their finalists based on ratings, the number of reviews and the volume of submissions from the Yelp community. Sure, good food and excellent service can drive someone to leave a review, but it doesn’t seem like the list wasn’t rooted in any sort of culinary achievement.  

While we’re excited that Izzy’s Comfort Kitchen in Coeur d’Alene was showcased on the list, we were pretty let down that none of the incredible restaurants in the Treasure Valley were selected by Yelp. That’s why it feels so good to see Boise in the spotlight on a more prestigious list! 

READ MORE: 30 of the Boise Area's Top Rated Restaurants for 2024

Food & Wine Magazine has been around for 46 years and is extremely well respected. Not only does their website draw more than nine million readers a month, they also have seven million people who are still flipping through their physical magazine. The picks for their new list of the “Top 20 Restaurants in the US, According to the Experts” were made by their panel of food and travel journalists. That means these folks didn’t just crunch numbers, they’ve actually been to or interacted with the chefs at the restaurants on the list. 

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Which is why we are so proud to tell you that the 16th best restaurant in the entire country can be found in Boise, Idaho! Food & Wine Magazine selected KIN in Downtown Boise for their list. 

KIN opened just over three years ago in the Angell’s location at the corner of 9th and Main. They’re a pre-fixe experience where guests enjoy a five course meal where each dish is matched with an optional beverage pairing. After five weeks, James Beard Award winning chef, Kris Komori, creates a brand new menu. Each seating can only accommodate 28 guests, so the earlier you make your reservation, the better. 

What really impressed Food & Wine? They say:

Many of these menus are themed around community initiatives, including fundraising for a range of causes.

If you haven’t been to KIN, but the concept sounds familiar, you likely tried Komori and his business partner, Remi McMcanus’s other legendary Boise restaurant, State & Lemp. They sold the restaurant and after all the standing reservations had been honored, it briefly rebranded as Epek before closing for good in 2019.

That spot is now home to Alyonka Russian Cuisine, which has some notoriety of its own. It was featured on a 2023 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.