Related Articles Favorite cheap eats in Orange County for 2017

Orange County chefs to watch in 2017

Best of the best places to eat in Orange County

The 10 most interesting restaurants in Los Angeles for 2017 The freshest sushi? The best tacos? Ramen, pizza, steaks and more. It’s all in here.

Although the order has shuffled slightly, the top 10 restaurants in this year’s list look much the same as they did last year, and the year before that, with one glaring exception: Marché Moderne is missing. Florent and Amelia Marneau’s exquisite French bistro at South Coast Plaza closed in January and won’t reopen in Crystal Cove until later this spring. It’s impossible to include the restaurant if doesn’t exist when this publication is going to press.

There are other glaring omissions this year. I dined again at every restaurant from the previous year’s list. Frankly, I found shockingly bad food at a few restaurants that I had formerly recommended. I scratched those from the list. Others got bumped simply because 75 isn’t a very big number, and a barrage of new restaurants continues to raise the bar. You might also notice a few restaurants that have more than one location, yet in every case only one unit made this list. I assess every restaurant individually.

Lots more than 75 restaurants in Orange County deserve praise, the dining never stops, and the search continues for an even better burger, a bigger steak and spicier salsas. But I have to draw the line somewhere, and that line is the number 75. So here they are.