3 Eastern PA Restaurants Among North America’s 50 Best
There are a few Philadelphia restaurants that have been selected as the best restaurants on the entire continent.
The Academy recently released North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The list comes from the 50 Best brand, which publishes lists such as the World’s 50 Best Hotels and North America’s 50 Best Bars.
The Academy is comprised of 300 members, each selected for their expert opinion of the North American restaurant scene. To create the Academy, and provide a fair representation of the continent, they divide North America into eight separate voting regions.
Each region has a chairperson appointed for their knowledge of their part of the restaurant world. These Chairs each select a voting panel (including themselves), ensuring a balanced selection of chefs, restaurateurs, food/restaurant journalists and gourmets.
Restaurants included on the list are selected on by anonymous voters who get recruited by a group of industry-leading Academy Chairs in the Caribbean (excluding Cuba and Dominican Republic); USA Northeast; USA South; USA Midwest; USA West; Canada East; Canada Central and Canada West.
So which Philly restaurants made the list?
Kalaya, Friday Saturday Sunday, and Royal Sushi & Izakaya were all featured.
Kalaya was listed at No. 7, and Chef Chutatip ‘Nok’ Suntaranon also won North America’s Best Female Chef Award for 2025. Suntaranon earlier this year was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, and in 2023 Suntaranon won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Friday Saturday Sunday came in at No. 16 on the list, with the publication highlighting its eight-course tasting menu and cocktail program. The restaurant won the Outstanding Restaurant award at the 2023 James Beard Awards.
Royal Sushi & Izakaya was No. 32 on the list. Chef Jesse Ito’s omakase dinners were touted by the publication, as well as its expansive list of Japanese whisky and sake. Ito was one of the chefs nominated for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic at the 2023, 2024, 2025and James Beard Awards.
For the full list of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants [CLICK HERE].
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