What’s better than writing about food? Writing about food that’s been expertly prepared for you, that’s what. Michael Bauer says that “2010 should go down as the most exciting year of Bay Area d2010 San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 Restaurantsining in more than a quarter century”, and he should know. Michael is the San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic and has been plying his trade in the culinarytastic Bay Area for more than a few seasonal menus.

The quote concerns the annual Top 100 list released by the Chronicle. This years lot includes a great number of newcomers… 26 out of 100 actually. Not hard to see why 2010 is stepping up to be a banner year on the charts. Bonnie reminded me that we had dined with Michael, many moons ago, during one of his reviews of Rubicon. We were in San Francisco on our way to a wine seminar in Sonoma when we had the chance to meet  for dinner, getting the unique opportunity to accompany him for his critique.

Another year, another shift in ‘the Best’… 2010 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants….

Want some more breakdown? Try one of these:

– 26 new restaurants on this year’s Top 100 Restaurants
– The 26 restaurants that missed the Top 100 cut
– Spot 100 dishes on Foodspotting.com and win a dinner with Michael Bauer
– Photo gallery: 2011 Top 100 Restaurants

-bryan

The Top 100 is posted on sfgate.com and is updated periodically to indicate restaurants that might be coming off and new places that will likely find a spot soon. And if you want to see Michael Bauer’s reaction to the reaction to his Top 100, click here.