Judging or critiquing restaurants at such a tumultuous time didn’t just feel wrong, it was impossible: I wasn’t dining out regularly until a few months ago, when - fully vaccinated and amid dwindling COVID-19 cases in the state - I finally felt comfortable sitting in a packed dining room.

But the past 18 months haven’t been easy, either.Īll of this contributed to our decision not to publish a traditional top restaurants list in 2021.

Many Florida restaurants fared considerably better than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. And of course, the many restaurant employees that would inevitably contract COVID-19, sometimes prompting a days-long shutdown of the business. The labor shortages, the supply chain lags, the exponential food price hikes. The capacity restrictions and the ensuing social media backlash whenever a restaurant looked too busy. There were the mask mandates, and the staff tasked with enforcing them when unruly customers refused to comply. Many of those surprises came from the restaurant world, where I watched as chefs, owners and restaurant staff worked harder than ever to save their institutions and preserve their livelihoods, constantly pivoting and rolling with the many, many punches that the coronavirus pandemic lobbed their way.

Lingr restaurant