Classic Restaurants of the World

Food aficionados have long believed that great cities are measured by the quality and variety of their classic restaurants, those venerable warhorses of the culinary trade that everyone dreams about dining in, if only once. Think Le Bernardin in New York, Taillevent in Paris, or Rules in London (photo, right).

But for every celebrated restaurant that lives up to its reputation, there are dozens that coast along on name alone. Sometimes forever.

Still, success has not turned all the old favorites into tourist traps. We asked reviewers in five great restaurant cities to list "classic" establishments that have withstood the test of time. Here's what they had to say: