The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (according to 910 people)
#1 in the world. Again.
LONDON – For the second year in a row, the top three restaurants in the world have pretty much stayed the same. At a gala reception last night here at The Guildhall in Central London, Copenhagen’s Noma returned to the top spot, knocking El Cellar De Can Roca from Girona, Spain down to #2. Modena, Italy’s Osteria Francescana again remained at #3. As for North America, New York City’s 11 Madison Park moved up one spot to #4, while Chicago’s Alinea jumped six spots to #9, a surprise even to chef/co-owner Grant Achatz. “To be perfectly honest, I did not think we were going to be going up at all, let alone that many spots” Achatz confessed after the awards ceremony. “I didn’t think we’d crack the top ten.”
Like any list, it’s a tad subjective, and certainly not without controversy. Of course, there’s no such thing as “The Best Restaurant in the World,” that kind of pronouncement is just ripe for mockery since every diner has a different experience. How is it that The Clove Club, a hipster restaurant in Shoreditch (London’s Brooklyn equivalent) comes in at 87, but NYC’s Jean Georges is relegated to #99? But the headline sure makes for attention-grabbing copy and brings a lot of eyeballs to the 50 Best website (where you can see not only the top 50, but 51 – 100 as well). I think what this list does do is provide a snapshot of where the food scene is right now around the globe, at least as determined by the industry folks and food-obsessed people who make dining a priority whenever they travel. Interestingly enough, old-guard establishments like Gordon Ramsay, Alain Ducasse and in his last few years, Charlie Trotter, tended to be left off of the list, in favor of more cutting-edge, avant garde chefs. Last year, when Ducasse received the Lifetime Achievement Award, his restaurant didn’t even make the top 50. Personally, I think part of the reason a particular restaurant might not get placed (or even drop a few notches, as Noma and Alinea did last year) is because they become victims of their own success; if you can’t get in, then you certainly can’t vote. But the the other issue is that as voters experience new places like Lima and Singapore and Bangkok, more of those 910 potential votes get siphoned off.
The “50 Best” awards started in 2002 as a feature in Restaurant, a U.K. trade magazine owned by William Reed Business Media. The marketing folks thought it was a good way to attract readers and gain some buzz. The list is compiled from the votes of 26 panels around the world. Each panel has a chairman who picks 35 voters, consisting of equal parts food writers, chefs, restaurateurs and what I like to call “gastronauts”- that is, people who have enough money to travel and eat. The magazine started an “Academy” of chairmen in 2006. Every year, we must rotate out 10 voters and bring in 10 new ones, to keep ideas and opinions fresh. On that note, five of my fellow Academy Chairs have also been rotated out this year, and will be replaced within the next few weeks; this also keeps things fresh. I have been a Chairman on the panel – unpaid – for seven years; the first few years, the U.S./Canada region had only 30 voters, which is one of the reasons why The List was often criticized for being too Euro-centric. Eventually, the U.S. was split into thirds – with 30 votes each – and I had Canada as well as the middle of the U.S., forming a kind of “T” region. This also proved to be difficult for Canadian restaurants to make the list, since few residents up north travel cross-country.
Last year, I convinced the organizers to split North America vertically, into thirds, while each region in the world was given five more votes, bringing the number of voters up to 35 in each region. Thus, S. Irene Virbila (L.A. Times) handles the Western section of North America; I oversee the middle and Mitchell Davis (James Beard Foundation) is in charge of the Eastern section of North America. My hope was that if each of us made sure 11 or 12 of our 35 panelists were from Canada, our northern neighbor would have a de facto region, consisting of equal parts British Columbia, Ontario and Quebéc. (For the record, 15 of my 35 judges this year are from Canada, but I’m not at liberty to reveal any of their identities, so as to prevent lobbying from restaurants).
Panelists must have dined at the restaurants they vote for at some point in the 18 months before voting, although we don’t require proof of receipt. Judges have to rank seven restaurants in order of preference, including at least three outside of their geographical region. The votes are due in October, and the chairmen never know the results before they are published; we don’t even know how our judges vote.
El Bulli won in the first year of the awards, back in 2002, and pulled a four-peat from 2006-2009. Other winners include the French Laundry (2003, 2004), the Fat Duck (2005), Noma (2010-12) and El Celler de Can Roca last year.
The awards are sponsored by San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, while Diners Club International sponsors the Academy Chairs.
