Esquire magazine has just released their annual list of the best new restaurants in the United States. This year's iteration acts as a tribute of sorts to Josh Ozersky, a beloved food writer and the magazine's restaurant editor, who passed away earlier this year from a seizure.

The list is prefaced with a short passage dedicated to the man, explaining how the magazine continued the list he started.

'Josh chose most of the restaurants herein and devoured as many of their delights as he could, just in time to exhaust the Best New Restaurants travel budget, but not in time, sadly, to write the stories.' It reads. A team of Esquire writers and fellow James Beard award winners continued the list in his place.

The top pick was Shaya, a New Orleans based modern Israeli restaurant.

"And if you doubt that pita and tabbouleh could merit such an accolade," reviewer Tom Junod writes, "consider that their elevation comes at the hand of a chef, Alon Shaya, who has cooked for NoLa revolutionary John Besh since his first of (now) twelve restaurants began transforming that former time-capsule culture of Commander's Palace and Brennan's."

Another noteworthy inclusion was Morristown, New Jersey's Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen. Owner Chris Cannon talked to the magazine about the stigma that comes with opening a restaurant in New Jersey:

"Jersey is so misunderstood, so maligned. Three quarters of the stuff from the Union Square greenmarket is coming from New Jersey. My staff, all the key guys, moved from the city out here."

Across the Hudson, four New York City restaurants made the cut. These are Little Park, Shuko, Santina, and Mountain Park.

To see the full list, head over to esquire.com or pick up the magazine's November 2015 issue.