"World's 50 best restaurants" by Restaurant Magazine

[grocerytrekker]

...plus 50 more.

http://www.theworlds50best.com/2007_l...

I disagree with so many choices (and countries), I don't know where to begin.
Well, it's just another list - look at it once, and move on.

BTW, Chicago's Alinea debuted at #36.

[Pete Oldtown]

I don't know enough about enough of the restaurants to criticize the list, but Alinea was a pleasant surprise and deserves it, and I was impressed that Peter Lugar was there, given how many great steak houses there are in this country.

But trying to narrow the millions of restaurants in the world down to 100 is pretty silly. Still, it's fun to look at and I'll try to find a copy of the magazine to try to follow their logic. Someday, probably shortly after I die, I will have the money to go visit some of these.

One thing that jumped out at me was how well Spain did. That seems to reflect reality. Spain is now the wealthiest country no one knows is rich, and that makes it prime territory for upscale restaurants.

[Paul Maipork]

At least they dint give it to the $1,000 pizza

[redchile]

Well, the list is certainly Euro-centric. There's only one Chicago restaurant. Hmmmmmm.

[LabRat]

Two Chicago restaurants, but they are within a few blocks of eachother.

[redchile]

You're correct. I missed Trotter's. Two out of fifty is okay.

[wak]

Although if you ask around, locals in Chicago have not been overly impressed with Trotters for a while. Alinea and Avenues tend to be rated our top two restaurants, with a few others pushing into that category. Trotters is very good, but it seems to be getting by on reputation as much as food recently.

[david t.]

Granted, Los Angeles isn't a fine dining mecca, but how does Nobu NY and especially London rank higher than the original Matsuhisa, which isn't even listed?

Where are the japanese restaurants in Japan? Surely, we don't do japanese better than they do.

[monkeyrotica]

No, but obviously the English and the Australians do Japanese better than the Japanese themselves. Quick learners, those limeys and aussies.

[Cancuk]

Because the purveyors of those resturanteurs aren't Japanese?????

Just being a nit.

[Seth Chadwick]

What struck me about this list is that there is nothing listed about the criteria for selecting these restaurants. Other than making the list on a whim because some "expert" likes Restaurant A, there is nothing that tells me why El Bulli is better than the French Laundry. Were the tablecloths more white at El Bulli? Was the bread too chewy at the French Laundry? Who knows?

Sadly, without that criteria, the list is a platitude. Any place that doesn't offer white glove service or cost half the rent money is never in consideration.

Pity.

[grocerytrekker]

"I think the list gets better every year." - Brian S.

True, here you can see the whole distribution. I've been having too much fun with the Google mashup. I've mapped the first 50, and the next 50 are coming.
http://grocerytrekker.blogspot.com/

p.s. Sam is so right - this map kinda emphasizes the Euro-centric attitude of our list-makers. Perhaps we could do something about that.

[Leper]

We were fortunate enough to dine at Les Ambassadors in Paris and both the meal and the evening were enchanting. Service was incredible as were the flavors. Given that, our experience at Bucca Di San Antonio in Lucca, Italy blew away Les Ambassadors for far, far less money. Another evening in Paris at "Paprika" (a very inexpensive Hungarian restaurant) verifies why these lists never make any sense--Paprika was magic. El Bulli deserves their world ranking; everything else is second place or less so enjoy what pleases you most.

[Brian S]

I think the list gets better every year. Here's the thread on last years' list.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/307601
The reason I say the list gets better is that it's put together by a British mag and as I recall two years ago about half the restaurants were in England. This has changed. But as I said last year they should call it "Europe and US 50 best, including one or two from Asia thrown in at random"

[Silverjay]

I find it humorous that they are so enthralled with Nobu London, that they consider it better than...errr, all the other restaurants in Asia!

[ccbweb]

I don't know about humorous, but we weren't impressed with Nobu London when we ate there. It was good but quite pricey even by London standards (which is saying a lot). Nobu in New York was a far more intresting (and delicious) experience than Nobu London.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Two years ago half the restaraunts were in England?

That should tell us how useless, ethnocentric, out of touch, self-serving, know-nothing, self-aggrandizing, and just plain asinine the list is.

The list does tell me where I won't be spending my money in the near future.

[ccbweb]

I agree with the useless and out of touch comments about the list. I was thinking earlier today that no such list has ever actually affected where I choose to eat. I'm not sure what purpose they do serve outside of the fact of the list itself. It doesn't seem to tell us how to find good chow.

[condiment]

Judging from the list, they have much love for chemistry-set cuisine. Although there is a token Chez Panisse in there.

[Ruth Lafler]

I wouldn't call French Laundry or Per Se chemistry-set cuisine restaurants.

[daily_unadventures]

Canada didn't get any love either. :(

Katerina
http://dailyunadventures.com

[Silverjay]

The name of this list should be "White People's 50 Favorite Restaurants".

[Ora]

So true Silverjay--clear bias...Many great cuisines not covered at all. Toss this list.

[Brian S]

Don't toss it, just take it as a list of fifty of the best restaurants in Europe and the US. And it's probably better that way. They don't seem to know much about restaurants in Asia. Had they decided to include a lot of restaurants from, say, China, they probably would have picked the wrong ones.

[monkeyrotica]

I wonder if there are any Asian-based cuilinary magazines that run a similar list? Be interested to see if they picked any of the same restaurants.

[Brian S]

The only thing I know is the Best of the Best Culinary Awards for restaurants in Hong Kong. I love looking at the food photos on their website, they make me drool.

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/b...

[ChefJune]

Like all lists, it basically the views of the creator(s).

and there are a few on there that maybe shouldn't be there, and certainly there are many deserving restaurants that are missing.

I hope the guys who compiled the list had a good time. That's all the use it has, imho.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Another thread is again discussing best food cities. Seems that the same people that put together "World's 50 best restaraunts" put Lima on the best food cities list. Forget about both lists!

[monkeyrotica]

I know there's a lot of angry folks in Osaka. Why no love for Japan? I guess maybe if they had more FRENCH restaurants....

Slightly less useless than the World's 50 Best Colors list.

[grocerytrekker]

This list is done by the Brits, so what do you expect...

Fwiw, the following are "Japanese Cuisine" restaurants, though.

#5 Tetsuya's
#17 Nobu (UK)
#56 Masa
#74 Wasabi
#89 Nobu (NY)

Here's the URL of the map mashup I mentioned in my blog.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF...