OpenTable Reveals Top 100 Brunch Spots In The U.S.

In honor of Mother's Day, OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation powerhouse, has released the 2013 Diner's Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in the U.S. The list, a product of sifting through a year's worth of 5 million registered users' restaurant reviews of more than 15,000 restaurants, features 100 restaurants from 26 states along with Washington D.C.

In order for a restaurant to qualify for the list, they had to have a minimum "overall" score and number of qualifying reviews where the special feature, "great brunch" was selected. They were then scored and sorted according to the percentage of qualifying reviews (from April 1, 2012 until March 31, 2013) and ordered alphabetically.

The top 100 restaurants were not ranked in any order, but some states were much more prominent than others. There was a predictably high presence of 17 California restaurants, including the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, 13 from New York including Pastis, Norma's and Sarabeth's; and the South also had a strong presence with 8 Florida restaurants, 7 from Georgia, 5 from Texas, and 4 from North Carolina and Virginia. When it came to other states, Washington D.C. claimed five spots; Colorado and Washington claimed four; Illinois claimed three with one being Chicago's Big Jones, and Pennsylvania claimed three with one spot taken by the well-known Valley Green Inn. For cuisine, American food was the most prominent while Belgian, Creole, French, Mediterranean, and Mexican were also featured.

Even though almost half of the U.S. doesn't have restaurants featured on the list, OpenTable's Chief Dining Officer, Caroline Potter, believes that the 2013 selection is right on point. "Americans didn't invent brunch, but these winning restaurants have come to define it," she said in a release. "Whether it's folks seeking to kick-start Saturday dining adventures or gather with loved ones over a sumptuous meal on a Sunday afternoon, brunch is a national pastime for foodies, friends, and families."

Skyler Bouchard is a junior writer at the Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter at @skylerbouchard.