The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards, 2021

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Double L

It must cost a fortune to eat at these places.

Did you know there's a good side to covid (but I think it's over now)?

3-Michelin-star Atelier Crenn [#48] in San Francisco offering $38 prix-fixe take-home meals
By Alix Martichoux
Thursday, April 2, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- For most people, a meal at three-Michelin-star restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco is a luxury that's out of the question. At renowned chef Dominique Crenn's flagship restaurant, a 14-course prix-fixe usually starts at $345 per person.

A small silver lining amid the novel coronavirus pandemic: Bay Area foodies have a chance to try some of Crenn's cooking at a much lower price tag.
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Starting Thursday, Atelier Crenn is offering two take-home "Crenn Kits" available for pickup at the Cow Hollow restaurant.

For $38/person, you'll get a vegetable soup made with Sonoma-grown veggies, vegetable parmentier gratin, sliced brioche bread, and a dessert made by pastry chef Juan Contreras.

At the $55/person price, the menu includes a mushroom broth with seaweed and noodles, vegetable couscous, brioche bread, a cheese course with sliced baguette, and a dessert from the pastry chef.

https://abc7news.com/coronavirus-tak...crenn/6071569/

[Pedestrian]

^^

Originally Posted by Crawford

The top American selections aren't particularly expensive. They're also pretty casual.

The #2 American selection, I'd go with my 4 yo.

A possible explanation for the omission of the big name, formal restaurants - most were closed during the pandemic. In NYC, basically all the really high end restaurants were closed since last March and only recently reopened. This was probably true elsewhere in the U.S.

Does your 4 year old clean his $345 plate?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ocman

NYT also had the balls to rightfully tear apart Peter Luger and Per Se for riding on their past laurels. But the point of these small plates is that you’re going through 12 or something courses. If you leave hungry, that’s not a sign of a great restaurant at the $200 tasting menu level.

Per Se is a fantastic restaurant. NYT review was absurd.

Peter Luger, yeah, it's a steakhouse. Not sure why any reviewer would even bother reviewing a standard steakhouse. There's nothing coming out of the kitchen that couldn't be cooked by any sentient human. Steak, fried potatoes and creamed spinach aren't worth reviewing.

For NYC steakhouses, I like Strip House, STK or Quality Meats, but they're all more alike than different, and I don't see the point of going if it isn't for business or some required social event.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^
Does your 4 year old clean his $345 plate?

I've taken my son to Atoboy, which is the sister restaurant to Atomix. He liked it. The cuisine is very accessible and kid-friendly, like Korean beef , fried chicken, and mochi ice cream. It's just all Korean banchan shareable plates, so he paid nothing.

Of course he would never touch the more creative presentations, or foods like sea urchin.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I've taken my son to Atoboy, which is the sister restaurant to Atomix. He liked it. The cuisine is very accessible and kid-friendly, like Korean beef , fried chicken, and mochi ice cream. It's just all Korean banchan shareable plates, so he paid nothing.

Of course he would never touch the more creative presentations, or foods like sea urchin.

My parents got my kids hooked on sea urchin, not the fancy restaurant kind tho, they would go to Half Moon Bay and buy a small crate of them and then go home and eat them there.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Per Se is a fantastic restaurant. NYT review was absurd.

Peter Luger, yeah, it's a steakhouse. Not sure why any reviewer would even bother reviewing a standard steakhouse. There's nothing coming out of the kitchen that couldn't be cooked by any sentient human. Steak, fried potatoes and creamed spinach aren't worth reviewing.

For NYC steakhouses, I like Strip House, STK or Quality Meats, but they're all more alike than different, and I don't see the point of going if it isn't for business or some required social event.

Steakhouses are (or were) for business meetings and closing dinners. And even that’s a bit of a stretch now that one has to accommodate other “dietary preferences”.

I fucking love meat, but I can also cook, I’ve got a Green Egg that will do it as well as any kitchen gear in a steakhouse, and these days any city has butchers that can provide consumers with the same quality of premium dry-aged beef that one gets at a top steakhouse.

[10023]

Originally Posted by ocman

NYT also had the balls to rightfully tear apart Peter Luger and Per Se for riding on their past laurels. But the point of these small plates is that you’re going through 12 or something courses. If you leave hungry, that’s not a sign of a great restaurant at the $200 tasting menu level.

I’ve never left hungry after a 12-course tasting menu. You don’t get a massive plate of carbs but those little dishes (in size) are often incredibly calorific.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 10023

Steakhouses are (or were) for business meetings and closing dinners. And even that’s a bit of a stretch now that one has to accommodate other “dietary preferences”.

In NYC, they were mafia hangouts.

[10023]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

In NYC, they were mafia hangouts.

A lot of places were mafia hangouts. It didn’t have to be a steakhouse.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Peter Luger, yeah, it's a steakhouse. Not sure why any reviewer would even bother reviewing a standard steakhouse. There's nothing coming out of the kitchen that couldn't be cooked by any sentient human. Steak, fried potatoes and creamed spinach aren't worth reviewing.

For NYC steakhouses, I like Strip House, STK or Quality Meats, but they're all more alike than different, and I don't see the point of going if it isn't for business or some required social event.

I've been able to cook awesome steaks that are usually better than ones from great steakhouses. It comes down to good meat and patience.

No, I don't use dry-aged steak. But I do use USDA Prime loin steaks that I buy in bulk at Costco during their Black Friday sale (roughly $10-15 per lb after sale, depending on the size of package). You can overcook these steaks and they will still come out great.

Second is patience. I pat the steak dry using paper towels. Then I salt the steak and put it on a rack over a plate to dry out further in the fridge. After a day in the fridge, the salted steak gets put in a ~200F oven to slow bake at low temps via the "reverse sear" method. This takes about 30 minutes to 1+ hr, depending on the size & thickness of the steak. NOTE: the "reverse sear" method only works on thicker steaks 1.5" or thicker.

Then I heat a cast iron pan for several minutes until it is smoking. I guess you can get a infrared thermometer to get the surface temp of the cooking surface, but it's not necessary. Rub your choice of oil over the entire steak, then cook each side about 45 seconds to 1 minute to get a nice sear all over. Add some butter after the initial sear if you want.

This steak actually doesn't even need ground pepper or sauce, but you can add if you want. I used to add pepper with salt prior to refrigeration, but it's not necessary, and it can even add unpleasant burnt notes after searing.

I left my last steak in the oven too long, and it ended up medium. It was still exceptionally delicious. Salting the steak 1 day in advance really helped.

Speaking of Quality Meats, I recently had the "porterhouse for 2" special at the more casual Quality Eats in UES. They ruined the steak by charring it way too much. It was like eating a steak coated with charcoal. I always hated steakhouses who did that. No one wants a burnt steak.

[10023]

^ I think the reverse sear is pretty much the go-to method for cooking steak these days. I do that on the GE too.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by 10023

^ I think the reverse sear is pretty much the go-to method for cooking steak these days. I do that on the GE too.

Yup, it's basically made cooking steaks almost fool-proof. When you source good quality steaks, you basically don't need to go to a steakhouse anymore.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

My parents got my kids hooked on sea urchin, not the fancy restaurant kind tho, they would go to Half Moon Bay and buy a small crate of them and then go home and eat them there.

If you lived in Japan, it would frankly be weird not to grow up liking urchin. Uni is a creamy, salty, buttery delight. Cheap supermarket stuff or expensive restaurant grade, it's great, and it's ubiquitous. Kids love it like kids in America love salted butter.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Plus the top Asian restaurants are french

Lol , who would go all the way to Singapore, one of the top food destinations in the world , to eat at a french restaurant !!

Also I’m sure that the Slovenia restaurant is great , but better than anything outside of nyc and sf , no. That’s like picking some random farm to table Hudson valley restaurant and calling it top 50

I think having a Slovenian restaurant on the list gives it more credibility. The list shouldn't just be places in NYC, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, and London. These writers shouldn't dismiss restaurants in cities like Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New Orleans, or Minneapolis, for example; or in countries like Finland, New Zealand, Morocco, Iceland, Panama, or Vietnam, for example as well.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by Shawn

If you lived in Japan, it would frankly be weird not to grow up liking urchin. Uni is a creamy, salty, buttery delight. Cheap supermarket stuff or expensive restaurant grade, it's great, and it's ubiquitous. Kids love it like kids in America love salted butter.

Neat. Being polynesian, I grew up loving sea urchin myself, recently I had the most amazing sea urchin from Fiji, it had a slightly sweet, almondy after taste, just heaven. Getting hungry.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Shawn

If you lived in Japan, it would frankly be weird not to grow up liking urchin. Uni is a creamy, salty, buttery delight. Cheap supermarket stuff or expensive restaurant grade, it's great, and it's ubiquitous. Kids love it like kids in America love salted butter.

Right, but the way it's served, as a composed dish, doesn't look enticing to the chicken nuggets crowd. Yeah, the supermarket stuff would probably work.

And, yeah, it isn't monkfish liver, but nor is it a common child staple in the U.S.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

I think having a Slovenian restaurant on the list gives it more credibility. The list shouldn't just be places in NYC, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, and London. These writers shouldn't dismiss restaurants in cities like Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New Orleans, or Minneapolis, for example; or in countries like Finland, New Zealand, Morocco, Iceland, Panama, or Vietnam, for example as well.

If there's a list with restaurants in Panama, Iceland and Panama at/near the top, it probably isn't a legit list. Sorry. There's no market for haute cuisine so there's some form of virtue signalizing or general narrative-building. That doesn't mean these locales can't have fantastic restaurants, but that's not what's being measured.

Haute cuisine requires a deep reservoir of free spending cosmopolitans, which is why most of the world's most renowned restaurants are in the biggest meccas of said demographic. The ingredients and staff for such a business can only exist in a few geographies. I'm not buying that Vietnam and Morocco have sommeliers, pastry chefs, management teams and back of house operations superior to those in Paris.

[bigstick]

Ridiculous...I have been to a couple of the top 25 and believe me, they are no better than a Chili's..And absurdly expensive.

[10023]

Originally Posted by bigstick

Ridiculous...I have been to a couple of the top 25 and believe me, they are no better than a Chili's..And absurdly expensive.

No one believes you.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by bigstick

Ridiculous...I have been to a couple of the top 25 and believe me, they are no better than a Chili's..And absurdly expensive.

10023 / Nobody believes you.

If you put up pictures of yourself with significant other eating at Chili’s; I’ll believe you…