World's Best Restaurants

Nothing starts an argument quicker than subjective objectivity.

The 2006 list of “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” has been released.

50 Best Restaurants

Charlie Trotter’s at #26.

Ferran Adria’s gastronomic science institute, El Bulli, tops the list. El Bulli charged at, and knocked the quack out of last year’s winner, Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck

Surprising not to see Grant Achatz’s Alinea making a run at the top 50, but young upstarts don’t make any appearances on this list. It could also be the fact that the North American committee was headed by John Mariani, who previously wrote off Alinea in his best new restaurants article for Esquire. Then again, Charlie Trotter was on the North American committee too and he only garnered #26.

Well, 26 is up from a few years ago -- Trotter was 39 in 2003. Makes you wonder what changed -- was it the food, the competition, or simply the judges?

Though, as you say, any "best of" list is primarily designed to start arguments -- and, of course, increase business. That said, I'm gratified to see England with so many places in the top ranks. I've always enjoyed dining in England, and I've gotten tired over the years of the baseless stance that English food is universally dreadful.

It was also nice to see an Australian joint on the list. Of course, with endless coastline, there has always been good seafood, and the tropics make great fruit easy to come by, but Australia has often been the brunt of European derision (all those convicts -- never matter that it was 200 years ago). Good on you, Oz.

So the question now is, do I try to go to everywhere on the list, because they're supposed to be so good? Or do I go to the gazillion other unbelievably good restaurants out there, because I'll have a better chance of getting a table? Nice dilemma.

Interesting. I've been to 7 of these (mostly in France), and would put the Troisgros at #1 on my list: best meal I've ever had in my life. Last dinner at The French Laundry was dire--so bad that my companion and I wrote a letter to Keller complaining about the wine pairings, the food, and the service (never answered). My theory is that Keller is coasting on the tourist trade. I also can't join those who sing the praises of Charlie Trotter's. I just don't get it: small portions of pretty good food at incredible prices. I know that others feel differently.

Anyway, if you're in France and near Lyon, I'd highly recommend Troisgros.

That's why I wonder sometimes about how the voting is done and what constitutes "best." For example, Everest often gets tagged as the best restaurant in Chicago, and it is just so not the best. It's good, but not amazing. The food was disappointing, the sommelier was useless, some of the staff was pleasant, but others were self-important. In talking with a friend who dines at many good restaurants, it was suggested that we start a list of people who were disappointed by Everest, and yet it still gets top honors year after year. Maybe the chef cooks privately for the judges.

As for Trotter's, I do kind of get it, as he was tremendously innovative before innovation became ubiquitous. He is imaginative, fussy, and uses great ingredients. But even thinking the stuff is tasty, I see it as a "go once to say you've been" place more than an "oh my gosh can't wait to get back" place.

And of course the list begs the question "best at what?" It looks mostly like French/fusion/experimental stuff on the list. That's fun, but what about other cuisines?

That's one of the things I love about LTHForum -- the fact that there is a focus on the really great local, regional, ethnic, funky, specific, and traditional places, not just the wacky. Sure, I'll try Alinea sometime, but I go a lot more often to Ambria or Le Titi.

And I'll have to add it to my life plan to try to get to Troisgros. (I remember the days when Le Francais in Wheeling, still under the guidance of Jean Banchet, was listed as having peers only in Troisgros and Bocuse.)

So if nothing else, the list shows us that the world of the food-obsessed is growing.

MJN wrote:It could also be the fact that the North American committee was headed by John Mariani, who previously wrote off Alinea in his best new restaurants article for Esquire.

I really object to Mariani's opinions, and nearly always disagree. And I object to the fact that he repackages and resubmits the same articles to quite a few publications. Very annoying.

I have no first hand knowledge of what really goes on with Mariani, i.e. I won't make any accusations, because I have no proof. On the other hand I have been interviewing alot of different chefs and food personalities in the last few months, and there almost a universal loathing for him. This vitriol comes from chefs who have been treated well by his reviews too, so there is some balance.

Then again, as they say, if people hate you, you might be doing something right. Though if he really is taking the junkets that people say, there is no defense for him.

Well, if nothing else comes out of this discussion, at least i now know about Hungry Magazine. Looks smart, fun, and useful. Just subscribed. Thanks.

Fascinating. I was excited to see Rome's Enoteca on the list. My husband and I ate there in 2003 and it was pretty fabulous.

I didn't even know there was an Enoteca in Rome. I assumed they meant Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence (which I only know about because of the one Iron Chef who trained there). But then, enoteca just means "wine library," so maybe there are many. A search did turn up an Enoteca Ferrara listed as one of the best restaurants in Rome. Is that the one that was named to the list? The list should do something to clarify, such as listing the city as well as the country, including the whole name, or adding a link so you can find out more about the restaurant.

The list should do something to clarify, such as listing the city as well as the country, including the whole name, or adding a link so you can find out more about the restaurant.

You're right. Just saying "Enoteca, Italy" is pretty darn vague. It could just as easily been the one you are thinking about. That's annoying.

Cynthia wrote:I assumed they meant Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence (which I only know about because of the one Iron Chef who trained there). But then, enoteca just means "wine library," so maybe there are many.

Enoteca Pinchiorri was on the list for 2003 and 2005, so unless it has dropped off only to be supplanted by another restaurant called Enoteca, it would seem most likely that it's Enoteca Pinchiorri. But it definitely isn't clear.

This is not a list of best restaurants so much as it is a list of "culinary memes" - "units of cultural information which one mind transmits (verbally or by repeated action) to another mind". I have foodie friends in Berkeley who insist that Chez Panisse isn't one of the top 20 restaurants in the Bay Area, let alone the country or the world. I would express similar opinions about Jean Georges and Le Bernardin in NYC - nice places and important for what they did, perhaps, but not "the best".

Seems like the real purpose of the list is to confirm Mariani et al's authority to make definitive lists...

Fillay

I would no longer put Charlie Trotter in the top three in Chicago. Five years ago? He was number one. Now, he just does not compare to Alinea, Avenues, Tru, or Everest. I also would rather go to Moto than to Charlie Trotters because although there are more than a few misses in a Moto meal, the hits and the creativity surpass what Charlie Trotter is now doing.

Charlie Trotter was a genius. I rank a meal I had there a few years ago with a meal at Lucas Carton in Paris and Alinea last fall as some of the absolutely best food I've ever had. But he's just no longer on that top level.

I'm interested to see Everest listed among your top choices. I went with a group of friends, and we all had such a substandard time that we have no interest in returning. And I've talked to many others who have also responded that they were disappointed, as well.

Maybe it's because they're so famous, they just don't have to care any more. But we know people who have left after circling the block repeatedly and never finding the restaurant, because they don't even bother telling you, when you make your reservation, that there is a secret way to get into the parking lot and then you take three elevators to reach the restaurant, and there are no signs anywhere to help you or indicate you're at the right address. (And when, after phoning from the car and learning the secrets of how to get in, we mentioned when we finally reached the restaurant that they might have told us when we made our reservations, the response was hauty and along the lines of, "We're worth the trouble.")

If your table isn't ready, there is nowhere to wait. The amuse was sensational and I loved my soup, but everything else was sort of ho, hum. The sommelier talked someone at our table into a wine she didn't really want (actually, refused to supply what she did want) and promised to return and replace it if it didn't turn out to be simply perfect, and it wasn't perfect, my friend hated it, and the sommelier never returned (this was a while back, and the sommelier was still the much vaunted Alpana Singh -- we were not impressed). The waiter who brought one of the wines we ordered dropped it, open, upside down into my friends purse (of course, they offered to clean all the stuff that got splashed on the way down, but it was just one more thing).

The view is nice, however. And there were those two good dishes. But my experience combined with the input of all the others I've met who were disappointed make it unlikely I'll go back to Everest. There are just too many good restaurants in this town.

Charlie Trotter was a genius.

was? but isn't now?

don't get me wrong, i'm no fan of trotter, but it strikes me as fairly nonsensical to assert that he was a genius.

A dinner at Charlie Trotter's used to far surpass anything that anyone else was doing. You had these incredible combinations of color, texture, and taste.

Maybe the competition just caught him. However, the last time that I was there, I did not see the quality that I see at Alinea or Avenues.

I still think Charlie Trotter's is outstanding. However, it no longer qualifies as genius.

ok, so now you're saying that the restaurant itself, or perhaps the food was "genius"? not trotter himself?

because, as i see it, if someone is a genius, then that just doesn't go away. perhaps they've cut corners, are using lower-grade ingredients, or have chosen to emphasize their publishing and tv arms over the restaurant, but that shouldn't devalue the person's intelligence.

again, as i see it.

personally, i don't at all understand calling someone a 'genius' because they run a restaurant that's superlative or trend-setting.

and i even less understand calling menus or the food itself 'genius'.

trotter's a smart guy. if anything, he's smarter now than he was 10 years ago. i mean, as humans we all continue to learn, right? short of some brain-debilitating accident or illness, it's not really possible to become less intelligent, is it?

or are you saying his food somehow became less intelligent?

or are you just using the word 'genius' where perhaps another word might be more appropriate to describe what you're trying to say?

"Exhibits genius"?

That might be better.

You raise an interesting question.

If I had to blind taste the meals I had a few years ago there, and the meals I had most recently, I would see different traits. When I was there most recently I had an outstanding meal. However, it did not have the traits that I associate with a genius cooking.

El Celler de Can Roca Takes First Place at World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards The world's best restaurant list was announced in London tonight

It is according to Restaurant magazine, a British food industry publication, which launched its annual World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in 2002. The winners were announced tonight in London, and though there weren't many surprises, there were a couple of newcomers to the top 50, including Ultra Violet in Shanghai and White Rabbit in Moscow. The highest-ranking restaurant in the U.S. this year was Eleven Madison Park, at No. 5.

26 Alinea, Chicago