What is the Resy 100?

It's a list published by the reservation platform Resy of 100 restaurants its editors and city contributors say 'define dining today' across the United States. Resy deliberately avoids calling them the 'best,' describing the list instead as a curation of places that set a standard for exceptional, cherished dining — and notably, they can be anywhere in the country, not just major cities.

Which South Carolina restaurants made the 2026 list?

Three Charleston restaurants: No. 22 Kultura (Filipino, Cannonborough Elliotborough), No. 77 Bintü Atelier (Senegalese, East Side), and No. 90 FIG (Ansonborough). Resy also included No. 13 Charleston, a Baltimore restaurant inspired by the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Are these restaurants for sale on ListingLedge?

No. The restaurants named in the Resy 100 are celebrated, operating businesses and are not for sale here. We reference the list because it illustrates a point we see across the marketplace: great restaurants can succeed in any market, and most great independents began when an operator took over a space or an existing business. If you want to own a restaurant, you can browse what's actually available on ListingLedge.

Do you need to be in a big city to open a successful restaurant?

No. The Resy 100 itself makes the case — the list includes acclaimed restaurants in places like Bismarck, North Dakota and Birmingham, Alabama, not only in San Francisco or New York. Demand for a strong independent concept exists in growing suburbs, historic downtowns, and secondary markets, which is where a large share of restaurant-for-sale opportunities are.

3 South Carolina Restaurants Made Resy's 2026 Top 100 — but the Real Headline Is "A Great Restaurant Can Be Anywhere"

Resy just published its Resy 100 — a national list of the restaurants its editors say "define dining today." They pointedly won't call them the "best" (that's subjective), but the roster is a snapshot of where great American cooking is happening right now. Three South Carolina restaurants made it, all in Charleston. And while that's the local headline, the more useful story for anyone in the restaurant business is buried in the list itself: a great restaurant can be absolutely anywhere.

What the Resy 100 is

According to reporting by The State, Resy's managing editor Jon Bonné — a two-time James Beard Award winner — said the reservation platform asked its restaurant partners and about two dozen city contributors across the country "what they love, what excites them, what sets a standard for exceptional dining." The result isn't a big-city trophy case. Yes, San Francisco's Liholiho Yacht Club tops the list, and New Orleans (Pêche) and Washington, D.C. (Lutèce) round out the top three. But the list also celebrates places like No. 73 Helen in Birmingham, Alabama and No. 54 Huckleberry House in Bismarck, North Dakota. As Bonné put it, great restaurants "could be absolutely anywhere."

South Carolina's three

All three SC entries are in Charleston, and none of the stories look alike:

No. 22 — Kultura, a Filipino restaurant in the Cannonborough Elliotborough neighborhood. Chef Nikko Cagalanan started it as a pop-up called Mansueta's — named for his grandmother — while working as a nurse, then opened Kultura in a permanent space in 2023 with his wife, Paula Kramer. He won Food Network's Chopped in 2022 and was a James Beard Award finalist for Emerging Chef in 2024.
No. 77 — Bintü Atelier, a Senegalese "tiny jewel" on the East Side, opened in 2023 by classically trained chef Bintou N'Daw and her husband Tracey Young after two decades in New York.
No. 90 — FIG, in Ansonborough, where chef Mike Lata has held a standard since 2003 — more than twenty years, which Resy rightly calls "nothing short of remarkable."

Resy even gave a nod to the state's influence beyond its borders with No. 13, Charleston, a Baltimore restaurant whose chef draws on the South Carolina Lowcountry.

The real headline for the industry

Look at the pattern. A restaurant that began as a one-person pop-up. A husband-and-wife team that moved from New York to a mid-size Southern city. A veteran who has simply been excellent, in the same place, for twenty years. Not one of them needed a coastal megacity or a celebrity backer to land on a national list. That's the same reality we see across the marketplace every day: the restaurants that define a community aren't concentrated in three zip codes — they're in growing suburbs, historic downtowns, and neighborhoods most national rankings ignore. It's the same reason there's a lot of genuinely good news in the restaurant world right now.

Great restaurants start as opportunities

Here's where it gets practical. Every restaurant on that list occupies a space — a room someone had to find, build, or take over before any of the acclaim was possible. Kultura went from pop-up to permanent the moment the right space came together. For the next generation of operators, the path usually runs the same way: the great independent restaurant of tomorrow often begins with someone acquiring a second-generation space or an existing business today — skipping the cost and the year-plus lead time of building from zero. A ranking celebrates the finished product; the opportunity is in the space before it becomes one.

If the list makes you want to own one

You don't have to be in San Francisco — or even a big city — to build something that matters. If a list like this makes you want to run your own room, start by seeing what's actually available: browse restaurants for sale, read up on who's buying restaurants in 2026, or, if you're on the other side, our guide to selling a restaurant in South Carolina. Wherever you are, a great restaurant can start there.

Source: "SC has 3 of best 100 restaurants that define dining today, new ranking shows," by Lyn Riddle, The State, September 17, 2026. ListingLedge is not affiliated with Resy or the restaurants named above.