Pictures: 1) Ptarmigan, reindeer bacon, and black currant, at Koks Greenland. 2) Unexpected multi sensory dessert in a music box with perfume, at Quique Dacosta. 3) Chef Yoshida putting on his nightly show, at Yoshino. 4) The employee lounge at Noma. I ate Mexican food for lunch here the same day I had dinner in the dining room. 5) Tasting a 200 year old sherry with Josep Roca, at El Celler de Can Roca. 6) Some of the many foods I got to try in the test kitchen at Noma. Look at the big pine cones and the small pine cones! 7) Classic Amazonian piranha course at Central. 8) Abalone at Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, the air smelled of the smoke of a bonfire on the beach and there were sounds of crackling wood.
One of a kind: These restaurants are unique because of their location, ingredients, style of cooking, and/or overall experience. Unforgettable and delicious.
– Koks, Greenland
– Central, Peru
– Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai
– BORAGO, Chile
Exceptional: Perfect experiences even though they are not unique in locations and/or cooking style.
– Noma, Denmark
– Geranium, Denmark
– El Celler de Can Roca, Spain
– Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, New York
– Yoshino, New York
– Atomix, New York
– Le Bernardin, New York
– Azurmendi, Spain
– Quique Dacosta, Spain
– Disfrutar, Spain
– Restaurante Martin Berasategui, Spain
– Benu, San Francisco
– Smyth, Chicago
– Oriole, Chicago
– Fu He Hui, Shanghai
– Pujol, Mexico
Solid: Glad I went, would gladly go again.
– Arzak, Spain
– Cenador de Amos, Spain
– Nerua, Spain
– DiverXO, Spain
– The Modern, New York
– Marea, New York
– Jungsik, New York
– Sushi Noz, New York
– Estela, New York
– Per Se, New York
– Kasama, Chicago
– Ever, Chicago
– Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
– Quintonil, Mexico
– Imperial Treasure, Shanghai
– minibar by Jose Andres, Washington DC
– ElCielo, Washington DC
– Jont, Washington DC
Used to be great but now is ok:
– Alinea, Chicago
– Astrid y Gaston, Peru
– Eleven Madison Park, New York
Probably pretty good but definitely forgettable:
– Akelarre, Spain
– Caelis, Spain
– Cocina Hermanos Torres, Spain
– Sud777, Mexico
– Tang Court, Shanghai
– Yi Long Court, Shanghai
– Sushi Amane, New York
– Sushi Yume, Chicago
– Saison, San Francisco
– Roister, Chicago
– Blue Duck Tavern, Washington DC
– Maido, Peru
I wish I got Chinese takeout instead:
– Mugaritz, Spain
– Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York
– Cosme, New York
RIP, you’ll be missed:
– Spiaggia, Chicago
RIP, you won’t be missed
– 108, Copenhagen
– Momofuku Ko, New York
by Current-Ant145
25 Comments
What is the white bird feather thing? Assume you used a fork to take items off of skewer?
I have been craving Spiaggia for about 6 months now. 🙁
Whoa awesome post. Do you mind sharing a little more about Blue Hill at Stone Barns?
I’m surprised TFL and Single Thread aren’t on this impressive list. Ko was very forgettable
I was not too impressed with Kristian Baumann’s cooking in 108 either, but his new place, Koan, is great.
I love the shade in this post.
Julian Slowik would have def added you to the s’mores course
Can you compare Benu and Saison? When did you visit both?
This is some sort of ChatGPT generated parody, right? Kind of funny, but not very appetizing.
Mugaritz is one of my favorite weird travel stories right now. Not only did I drink a lukewarm milky fluid that didn’t taste like much out of a bandaid colored silicone breast mold, I paid a lot of money to do it!
Congrats and fuck you.
In all seriousness that’s one hell of a resume.
The crockery at Central/MAZ is something else
You have a lot of Spain locations on here. If you’re able, you should check out Aponiente in Andalusia. One of my favorite dining experiences of all time.
Alinea? Last time I was there was a bit over 10yrs ago, and I had planned to take my son there for hs graduation in a few years. What happened? I followed the chef from his first few places in Evanston in the early 00s, when molecular gastronomy was just starting to percolate in the US.
And I’m curious about Pujol! Had a laughably bad experience there, but ended up bonding with the other tables who had also been banished to the garden mid-meal 😉
Incredible! Are you a chef? What encouraged or inspired you to get into the fine dining scene?
The only one of these restaurants I’ve been to is Alinea. It was a bit disappointing, probably because of my high expectations. There were some great dishes, and some not so great dishes. Overall, it was an interesting experience, but it’s not the best food I’ve ever eaten.
This is an amazing list, I’m pretty jealous!
I went to Arzak and Mugaritz in the same weekend. Arzak was by far the better food, but it’s Mugaritz that I always tell stories about. I kind of believe in paying for the experience as much as the food, but out of the two it’s only Arzak I would ever consider visiting again. Mugaritz had a vibe of, “if you don’t like our food then it’s a problem with you not us”, like they’re deliberately pushing to see how much shit they can get away with. I still don’t know what animal cake is but it wasn’t for me 🤣
Love this–this is some great inspiration for places to try. +1 for Borago. It does not get discussed nearly enough; it is probably my favorite dining experience. When I was there, the whole meal was structured to highlight a giant Chilean tomato, which was an awesome concept, the food and pairings were fantastic, and the service was warm and not at all pretentious (our first course was a salad we ate with our hands, which was a lot of fun despite being gimmicky). Two comments: I absolutely think Noma deserves to be in the top category–the only reason it is no longer unique is because it has inspired so many other fine dining establishments. Going there felt like trying a piece of history. Also, the “probably pretty good but definitely forgettable” is tough because of the wide disparity in pricing. Omakase Yume is actually a fantastic, fantastic deal given its price point. It might be a little worse than Saison, but at 1/3 of the cost is a much, much better deal and therefore (in my opinion) actually quite memorable and a place I would go back to in a heartbeat. Also, Cosme absolutely sucks haha. Thanks for sharing!
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Smyth was spectacular when I went. One of the most perfectly executed and just plain delicious meals I’ve ever had. How on earth did you manage that level of access at Noma?
I’m very curious about your Ko experience. I went like 15ish years ago when it was just the tiny counter and you had to do a human sacrifice to get a seat there. It was my first fine dining experience really, and my girlfriend at the time brought my for my birthday. I remember it being really cool and delicious but not worth the price or the headache to get in.
>Unexpected multi sensory dessert in a music box with perfume, at Quique Dacosta.
This sounds like a Futurist movement dinner. Do you know if this was intentional? Did the Futurist philosophy appear elsewhere during the meal or did the waiter mention it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurist_cooking
>The meal begins. The first course is a ‘polyrhythmic salad,’ which consists of a box containing a bowl of undressed lettuce leaves, dates and grapes. The box has a crank on the left side. Without using cutlery, the guests eat with their right hand while turning the crank with their left. This produces music to which the waiters dance until the course is finished.
>The second course is ‘magic food’, which is served in small bowls covered with tactile materials. The bowl is held in the left hand while the right picks out balls made of caramel and filled with different ingredients such as dried fruits, raw meat, garlic, mashed banana, chocolate, or pepper. The guests cannot guess what flavor they will encounter next.
>The third course is ‘tactile vegetable garden,’ which is a plate of cooked and raw green vegetables without dressing. The guest eats the vegetables without the use of their hands, instead burying their face in the plate of vegetables, feeling the sensation of the greens on their face and lips. Each time a guest raises their head to chew, the waiters spray their face with perfume.
Agree with most of these except Azurmendi. Probably one of the most beautiful meals but with some of the worst tasting dishes I’ve ever had. I also love the categories.
this is the kind of lifestyle that will fix my 12 year long ED
Nothing from Tokyo? I expect you will have that on your culinary destination wish list at some point. I have been to some of those places myself you listed above (NY, Copenhagen) and align with your thoughts on the places I went to but no love for Cosme? I would hardly consider it to be fine-dining, more of a refined restaurant/cocktail bar, but my food was really good there and would definitely go back.
Wow great list! If you go to Lisbon I had an incredible meal and experience at Alma definitely recommend it.