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Yelp's first top 100 restaurants list upends conventional wisdom

Yelp's first top 100 restaurants list upends conventional wisdom

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Yelp Logo (STOCK)
Yelp Logo (STOCK)

Yelp has revealed its first ever list of the top 100 places to eat in America and a small seafood restaurant in Hawaii has taken top spot. According to users of the crowdsourced recommendations site, Da Poke Shack in Kailua-Kona is the most impressive US restaurant, with an average five-star rating from 631 reviews. The top 10 list also features unassuming eateries like New York's Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck and Joe's Falafel in Los Angeles.

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Dishes from entries on Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat. Clockwise from top left: Le Bernardin, Da Poke Shack, Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs, and Alinea

Although Yelp's list does include world-famous dining establishments like Chicago's Alinea, it shows how the democratic nature of crowdsourcing can offer a different kind of critical acclaim. This is perhaps illustrated no better than by the inclusion of "Sweet Potato Stall" at number 54, a tiny shack in Santa Clara that sells nothing but Korean sweet potatoes in a paper bag for $2.