World's 50 Best Restaurants -- how many have you been to?

zero.

None Cassandra. I love to eat but the prices of the "top" restaurants do not appeal to me.

Just at a quick glance... I wonder which is of these is the most affordable...maybe a "best value" category is needed.

I've been to Charlie Trotter's. I prefer places that aren't so stuffy, though.

None (but I see Chez Panisse is on the list so after 3/10 I may be able to say "1." )

I never heard of Alinea in Chicago but after reading about it, I think maybe my niece ate here and described it to me; lots of foams an dvery weird (but good) presentations.

Two, both in the US.

3 in France. Two were worth every penny.

0

Two..
French Laundry and Tetsuya's

None yet but Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in a couple of weeks.

Several.

French Laundry - disappointed. The kitchen and wait staff were so off that night.
Jean Georges - lunch during restaurant week. Very good.
Le Bernardin - many, many years ago on business. Loved it
Le Cinq - when the dollar was much stronger, on business. Very good
Charlie Trotter's - it was OK. on business
Daniel - Divine!!!!
Bocuse - very disappointed

I was surprised that my 2 favorites were not on the list....Boyer Les Crayeres in Reims France, and Le Grand Vefour in Paris.

I have been to Gordon Ramsay, Taillevent, Chez Panisse (my sister, Alisa, lives in Berkeley), and Le Bernadin.

Taillevent was my favourite.

However, I never put much stock in these "Best Of" lists. Food and hotels are subjective experiences.

I just ate in a Thai place in Berlin that was in a strip mall behind the Berliner Dom. My meal was FABULOUS and it only cost 19euros with two glasses of red wine.

I still remember my mother and I dining in a cheap place in Siem Riep, my mother turning to me and saying, "This is the best fish I have ever eaten."

Thingorjus

None. Waaaaaaay too expensive for my budget.

I did a quick glance and looks like I've been to 4 of them. Taillevent, which is number 48 on the list, would by far be my favorite dining experience. Food wise it isn't likely the world's best, but on service it would be tough to beat. The first time we went the sommelier recommended a wine that was about 100 Euro cheaper then what I picked just because he felt it would be better with our entrees.

Five. In three countries.

And I always thought I was a cheapskate when it came to picking restaurants.

I talked to someone recently who went to Alinea. Do check the website, it's extremely cool. Also, if you Google it, you'll find pictures of all the dishes online. I also read where the young chef is battling tongue cancer....very sad..

None, but how amazing is it that one chef can have 2 restaraunts in the top 10 of this list? Wow!

LLindaC, I believe he's cancer free nowadays. He was treated at U of Chicago. Sure is a cutie.

El Bulli and Alinea are of the same, experimental ilk -- with glurpy things from chemistry blobbed on odd little plates, with antennae stuck out of them. Probably there's another like that on this list.

I've been to zero, myself, although I came >this< close to Chez Panisse once, called on account of illness.

Still don't see Charlie Trotters as anything but a glorified steak house, but since I haven't been there, I should withhold judgment.

I think the list MUST be limited to those who serve San Pelligrino.....

The prices are unconscionable for most of these, especially with the dollar in dive status (and especially, you know....., with all the starving children...... poor people ... etc.).

But if given a reservation and dinner for two (or 4 or 6) for a gift, I'd try to be there.

We have a few reviews of Alinea here---you are welcome to add your own:
http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/illinois/chicago/entity_195144.html

I'll confess. I went to Charlie Trotter's compliments of a former boss. It's too uptight for me, but the food was good.

Cassandra, I like your description and might use it some day. "Honey, let's go to that restaurant that makes the glurpy things with antenna sticking out. It's that place that serves them on odd little plates." LOL.

My personal favorite in Chicago is :rumroll:: Cafe Iberico! Rockin' music, sangria, tapas, people watching.

Bamboleo, Bambalea

Dang those mischievous smilies...

hey Martha....rumroll seemed right for the thread, lol.

Yikes, I haven't been to any of them!! but we went twice to Commander's Pallace in New Orleans and were totally 'underwhelmed'..Now I don't know what those fact tell us...that we have no taste, or that things are not always what they seem. In the case of NO, tourists come and are told to go to Commanders..but therre are so many other wonderful restaurants in NO, maybe not so advertised, ...who knows.

I've been to the French Laundry and Chez Panisse.

Went once to one of those places in Belgium (expense account). Glad I had a supply of Tums. Over-rated, underwhelmed.

Tetsuya's and Rockpool, both in Sydney.

Tetsuya's food was stunning, a long parade of near-perfect culinary jewels. I'm glad I had the experience, but the atmosphere was a little reverential for my proletarian tastes.

And frankly I'm just not comfortable spending so much on something that will shortly be sewage. For the same money 8 blind people could be given the use of their eyes. (Plug: see Fred Hollows Foundation - www.hollows.org.)

Luckily Rockpool was an expense account job many years ago. I must have struck them on an off-day.

Two: Chez Panisse and River Cafe

1 - Charlie Trotters years ago. It didn't seem stuffy then and I don't remember having steak.

Mention of 'The Fat Duck' reminds me - did any other Brits see the Heston Blumenthal Christmas programme - jawdropping!

RM67

We ate reindeer in Tromso, although my two year old was told that he was eating lamb!

It may be possible that we have started a new Norwegian dish - reindeer milk icecream made using liquid nitrogen.

Sorry Heston don't you know 99% of recipes are stolen from someone else!

BTW reindeer tastes great as long as your sons tears don't make it too soggy (post finding out the truth from a loud mouth German!)

Wasn't the executive chef of Alinea just diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer?

Chez Panisse
to Alice Waters !

R5

I bet Cal Pep is the least expensive meal...

Looking at the next page: 51 to 100, I need to travel more

Wynn just opened, and Alex is on the list already? Or is it not the Vegas place?

Just saw on news show that Alinea chef Grant Atchez is in full remission after chemo and radiation. Excellent.

Even if I felt like I could spend the money on places like this, I wouldn't. It seems like it would take hours to eat at a restaurant such as one of these and the truth is, I just don't have the patience to sit around eating and drinking for hours on end. I like to be doing something.

I love good, fresh, organic food but I love it best in my own home.

My husband took me to Daniel for a special anniversary a couple of years ago. I still compare every fine dining experience to that night. So far, none have come close. It was pure poetry. Yes, it was expensive, and I wouldn't spend that money often, but it was really worth it for us.

When we lived in NYC, we went to Le Bernardin a few times a year. This was a while back, but I always loved the food there. I still remember a banana and chocolate dessert I used to have.

Went to Charlie Trotter's maybe 14 years ago. I remember being a bit let down as I had just moved to Chicago and was told this was the "best" restaurant there. They did serve a nice Martini...

Many, many years ago my husband and I stayed at a resort in Anguilla called "Malliouhana". At the time, the restaurant was operated by a french family famous for various renowned restaurants including one in Paris and one in NYC - Plaza Athenee? Ice cream at the restaurant was 10 dollars a scoop (and this was at least 18 years ago). It was amazing, and I kept telling my husband it was freshly made and he said it was Haagen Dazs flown in, and was a bit ticked at me for ordering it everyday for lunch. Well, I befriended the chef, who was highly insulted by my husband's assumption. He gave us a grand tour of the amazing kitchen there, including the room where they made the ice cream. They also had the best pumpkin ravioli in mushroom sauce I've ever eaten... My husband and I still talk about the food there. When I do my own top 50 list they'd be right up there with Daniel.

None. I had to click on the link for the next fifty before I found one, at number ninety, Gramercy Tavern. And that is not priced in the stratosphere, at least in the front tavern room, where you can go without reservations.

RM67 - yes, I saw Heston's Xmas programme. Stunning but I was hoping for a couple of ideas I could use to jazz up my own Xmas dinner. I just couldn't find that gold, frankincense or myrrh anywhere round here....

I've been to three - Gordon ramsay's (very good - crawling with tourists). The Fat Duck - truly truly moon-howlingly mental and the River Cafe - which i thought was stupidly overpriced (but very good).

7/50 are English - so much for that old canard about British food eh?

As The Travelling Gourmet, a Travel, Food & Wine Writer/Editor, I have been to many and plan to go to more in the future. There is Le Cinq, Taillevent, Restaurant Paul Bocuse in Lyon, Maxims in Paris, Antoine's in New Orleans, Li Bai in Singapore, Lord Jim's in Bangkok, St. Peter's Stiftskeller in Salzburg (the world's oldest restaurant), La Tour d'Argent, Le Mandarine in Saigon, Marrakech in Dubai, The Grange in Adelaide, Tetsuya's in Sydney, Foliage in London, Ai Presidente in Roma, Restaurant Anna Sacher in Vienna and many, many more.....In the world of food and wine, there is always something new to discover and taste... Enjoy! {

Someone mentioned Gordon Ramsay. I would not go to his restauarnt if I were you. He is a foul mouthed abusive cretin who was a Scottish footballer....

I was pleased but surprised to see Oud Sluis on the list...it's a great restaurant but not very well known.

We live a short hop from The Fat Duck and most of our neighbors have been there. Once. When I asked them about it, they just shrug. They went because it is a local restaurant and they thought they should try it out, but not one of them had any desire to go back again. They'd rather go to places like the Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers in Marlow, which serves great food but doesn't take itself SO seriously.

Markrosy - love your reindeer story. Hope your little guy's therapist bills don't bankrupt you in future. ;->

Neil - re: "And frankly I'm just not comfortable spending so much on something that will shortly be sewage." I know what you mean. I have eaten at a couple of places on the list, but I am so plebeian that I always feel Marie Antoinette's ghost hovering about when I encounter a temple devoted to the consumption of ever-more-rarefied foodstuffs. I once read a quote even from Alice Waters that said something about her realizing it was sort of ridiculous to be obsessing about baby lettuces when other people don't have enough to eat.

Not criticizing anyone else - just admitting to conflicted feelings myself.

<< We ate reindeer in Tromso, although my two year old was told that he was eating lamb! >>

That is one of my secret ways to get my kids to eat foods they don't like. At a restaurant in San Antonio, DS#2 got some steamed baby zucchini. He hates zucchini. So, I told him they were extra-large fava beans and that they're delicious. Wouldn't you know, he ate every one of them!

I once served Tofu Pups (tofu hot dogs) to my two older kids and told them that it was made with a finely chopped up beef.

heh heh heh.

Sorry, zero. I rather spend a week in the mts. w/my kids, than have one dinner. I'm afraid that the reasonable side of me will have difficulty in convincing the 'foodie' side of me that a meal can truly be worth the prices that would be required to eat at most of these establishments. + I hate lists. One of the reasons I don't subscribe to Conde Nast any longer.

I'm glad I can say I've been to one of these! I loved my meal at Chez Panisse.

"He is a foul mouthed abusive cretin"

If that is your criteria for avoiding a chef, I might suggest you'll find few places to eat gourmet food.

MarthaB

It's a family thing - my brother was 23 before my parents stopped telling him that everything was lamb! His wife kept it up for the first two years of marriage but the truth got out when he saw the pig on a pack of bacon - big shock to anyone.

None and probably never will eat at any. Just don't think I could choke down a meal costing so much. I just don't think I could enjoy it.

And, I/m sure I would get the guilts too -- I do even when eating at places several tiers below these.

"Sorry, zero. I rather spend a week in the mts. w/my kids, than have one dinner."

A three course lunch at Oud Sluis costs 65 euros. Lunch for two would be 130 euros, plus whatever you want to spend for wine, which could be just a single glass of the house wine. A treat, but not a ridiculous over the top extravagance.

TBilke, have you ever eaten at the Union Inn outside of Windsor?

Thingorjus

I've been to Daniel but a long time ago. It was in its former location.

I remember it well; it was great and not really stuffy. We went for a prix fixe lunch.

Now I'll check the second 50.

Several (7) but then I am more than a foodie. Loved Alinea (probably one of my most interesting experiences - went because I LOVE food science). Alain Ducasse would be my favourite overall. I would be willing to pay lots of money for a fantastic dinner (definitely worth it to me) but some of my most memorable have not been on this list - usually in my kitchen!

Ah, Le Grand Vefour is on the second list, albeit at the bottom. But I have now been at two of the world's best 100 restaurants. Both were at prix fixe lunches.

C'mon, where are the New Orleans restaurants? We feel so slighted!
Galatoire's and Commander's Palace??
In fact, there are no bad restaurants in N.O., as they would never stay open. Even the greasy spoon on the corner in your neighborhood would make you "wanna slap yo mamma!"

I wouldn't mind a truly exceptional experience and maybe I'll make it to one of these places some day. But I admit I have an upper limit as to how much I think that would be worth -- especially since I don't (can't) drink wine/alcohol. I'm guessing those $600 dinners do include some whopping expensive wines, but even so --

I have trouble believing that a $600 dinner is really six times more amazing and delicious and special than a $100 dinner; and frankly, I've had a $60 dinner on a good night in a special place that was quite a bit better than some of the more extravagent places. I'm willing to pay a little bonus for milieu -- a bistro over the Mediterranean anytime -- but when it's for the chef's name, maybe not so much. Guess that makes me hopelessly bourgeois and more of a tourist than a traveler. So be it.

And think of the value of the company you dine with...

Fancy business dinner vs. Small unassuming bistro with significant other...

tuscan... lunch is a great way to go isn't it--- I like long lunches when I travel (or significant seeming ones at the very least). When I'm taking two hours to eat lunch, I know I'm on vacation.

Katie -- maybe it's time for Fodors to come up with its own list, and we'd all be glad to help!

Well - I'm not at all I agree with the list.

Have eaten at 6 (US and France) and they were all really excellent. But I can think of others I preferred to 2 of them.

But - this is all so subjective.

Only one. And came to realize that the head chef is my boyfriend from 35 years ago.