Top 50 Restaurants in US

cwdjrxyz · 2006-09-23T04:37:47+00:00

The October 2006 issue of Gourmet has a list and short description ofwhat they consider to be the top 50 restaurants in the US. They alsorepeat the top 50 restaurant list for 2001. There have been manychanges in 5 years.#1. Alinea in Chicago. Grant Achatz is supposed to be redefining theAmerican restaurant for an entirely new generation. You get many tinysamples of wildly original creations. When he perfects a dish he dropsit and replaces it with something entirely new. Thus your meal on areturn visit may be wildly different. Matching wine must be anightmare, considering the extreme difference in the many bite sizedcourses. One course is a single perfect bite of lamb served insmoldering eucalyptus leaves. A tiny ravioli is filled with veryintense liquid truffle. But these dishes likely have been replaced bysomething new by now.#2 Chez Panisse in Berkeley. One hardly needs to discuss this long timetop restaurant of Alice Waters.#3 The French Laundry/Per Se. These two Thomas Keller restaurantshardly need any discussion. It is interesting that in the kitchen ofeach you will find a TV monitor tuned to the kitchen of the otherrestaurant. I guess this helps Keller keep control of both restaurantsdespite one being on the West coast and the other on the East coast.#4 Spago in Beverly Hills. Despite being a restaurant for the stars,this restaurant still manages to put out top food.#5 Joel Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas. Apparently this newrestaurant is turning out top food despite the location. It also isvery expensive.There now are many restaurants on the top 50 list scattered nearly allover the US. Most of these restaurants likely have a decent tooutstanding wine list, but I doubt if you find any bargins in most ofthem.

Sep 23, 2006 20 Replies

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miles 19 years ago

The Borgata is a very high priced shopping mall where one can find $2000+ womens shoes and bikinis. I've never been to Mancuso's. That type of place doesn't appeal to me very much but it is very well rated. I love fine dining with a casual attitude. Most of the places I prefer are located in small remote mountain towns.

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