Another article for the Marie Antoinette class. Enjoy while there's still time.
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The "50 Best Restaurants" list is, as Eater put it: painfully regressive.
https://www.eater.com/worlds-50-best-restaurants-awards/2018/6/20/17485146/worlds-50-best-restaurants-2018-recap-analysis
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If I know I am going to a place, I sometimes do book restaurant reservations before air travel. That's just thinking ahead, especially if there is a particular place we want to try. However, I can't imagine planning a trip around a restaurant. Still, quality of food culture in a place does add interest in deciding where to go on leisure trips.
The irony of this article being just below one on what to cook in order to lower your carbon footprint is not lost on me - it beautifully illustrates why we are in our climate quagmire.
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I’ve noticed this trend amongst my friends.
The meal usually isn’t the sole reason for traveling, but when picking a destination, it’s one of the main considerations around which an itinerary is built.
I do the same thing, but often times it’s the unexpected meal that you have when you dip in to a storefront that catches your eye that turns out to be most memorable. Can’t hurt to have a good rez or two planned out in advance though!
Interesting article. I work with inbound tourists to Tokyo and about 20% of them book their airline tickets based on getting a reservation at a restaurant that has been on their dream list, like Sukiyabashi Jiro or Den. These savvy diners are knowledgeable about wine, food, ingredients, and are genuinely curious about learning more about Japanese food while in Japan. It's always interesting to spend a few hours with them showing the markets in Tokyo and listening to their impressions of meals in Japan.
In the 2014 documentary Foodies Aiste Miseviciute put it in perspective. She talked about how football fans pay a lot of money to attend games around the world. (I don't remember her words exactly, but something very similar.) So, some people travel the world to follow their favorite football (soccer) teams while others travel to experience cuisine.
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When chef Rene Redzepi did his Tokyo pop-up who had never been to Japan finally came. It was incredible. Food magazine editors and award-winning food writers all came upon the city to dine at Noma Tokyo.
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I was obsessed with “the list” 10 years ago. As I get older I can’t eat multi courses with all of God’s creatures in one meal. The next day it’s indigestion. I have eaten my way through the SP list but I never found any meal to be my favorite. Gaggan in Bangkok was mediocre, as was Eleven Madison Park. I went to Central in 2015, met Mr Martinez (who is quite charming) but the food is just ok - give me a local place in Lima that serves a fiery ceviche.
The list is a creation of pr reps serving “global” food to well heeled. It is not a list of my favorite meals.
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It's entertaining to see the same spiel about the "1%" or "the Haves" in almost every comment thread connected to any article that doesn't have to do with suffering. Even though, almost every article on most of the pages, from national to international sections, cover in detail the suffering that takes place everywhere. Which is not unimportant at all. We need to be aware of what is going on in our country and in other parts of the world so we can be more empathetic, elect better leaders, and be better members of the global community.
[Following your aspirations or hobby though is not counter to being a good citizen. Btw, it's clear that half of the commenters didn't actually read the whole article because Ms. Suen and Ms. Tobia are clearly in the middle-class.]
Lord forbid NYT covers something slightly positive, aspirational, or, gasp, luxurious. Like clockwork, at least 10 different individuals will log on and take time out of their lives to type out a message disparaging the Times and its writer(s) for not having the "decency" to cover more pain and suffering, while shaming the interviewees for daring to have a life beyond pain and suffering. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Virtue signaling at its finest, all from the comfort of your own laptop or desktop.
Seriously, you don't have to read the article. Skip them. This is the best way to prevent your nausea, sick-and-tiredness, and general grumpiness. Otherwise, your jealousy and envy are all too transparent.
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We all love to eat out, but to simply select a place to visit because a destination restaurant is located there is a bit sad. What about selecting your place to visit based on the culture, the people, the history, the sense of adventure finding your own "place" to dine. Best meals I have ever had have been a the homes of friends made or at a road side stall in some remote location. Get with NYT and do a story on this!
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@Ken
It depends on the type of travel you. I live in NYC and go to cities, like Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Boston, DC, an Miami (also, Aspen and Park City). You seem to be thinking of travel to non-English speaking and/or non-western countries. Does Canada count as a travel destination, or must travel involve cultural exploration?
You can travel to NJ and have cultural exploration. And Da Bronx, too...
And how much fossil fuel is used to have such experiences? Not that just anyone can afford such frivolities, but when we are willing to use jet fuel for nothing more than a meal to please our palates and boast to our friends, our planet is doomed.
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How about a poor man's (and woman's) list of best restaurants for a yummy meal under $10 and beef entrees prepared with Hamburger Helper, the Cheese plate with Velveeta. One star,but you go for the ambiance. (Or aroma)
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My wife and I do this all the time. It is more difficult to get into the restaurants than it is to get a plane ticket and hotel. With the reservation systems in place, you have to lock in months in advance. It was wroth it for us when we ate at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, home to the first female Chef in the US to get a third Michelin star! - https://johnrieber.com/2019/01/13/americas-first-3-michelin-star-female-chef-chef-dominique-crenns-atelier-crenn-a-poem-to-gastronomy/
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How about compiling a list of the 50 charities in the world most in need and worthy of short term volunteers? We can then read about how committed, caring souls crossed the world to help. I would find that much more interesting.
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Wheew!
In the same week I can read about the serious effects of diets and climate change here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/dining/climate-change-food-eating-habits.html?module=inline
we also get this? If this is to illustrate how misguided ( or lost ) we be can be about travel and meals: ok? But I am not quite sure this was the intent of this piece? Food, as abundant as it may appear around here, is very much a limited treasure and maybe we should try to be more thoughtful about it - which is not to take away from enjoying a good meal... but please NewYorkTimes: inspire us to be better!
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Have you considered the burden of greenhouse gases on the biosphere resulting from flying great distances simply to have a meal? Not to do so is beyond self-absorption.
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@Donald Axelrad
I think it;s more about traveling to dine at a great restaurant instead of going to see museums or mountains. Travel is travel, regardless of your purpose for traveling. is it any more noble to burn fuel going to a museum or shrine?
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Baloney. My favorite restaurant is a hotbed of stunning cuisne offered up for locals and visitors who roll up their sleeves at communal tables and become friends over extraordinary ingredients prepared in an extraordinary fashion with extraordinary wines and staff at your command.
If the chef of this unassuming hole in the wall thinks a client is associated with Michelin he grabs you by the scruff and gives you the bum's rush. It happened to me when I ate here five nights in a row I was so enthralled with the cooking. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. God forbid I would print its name and have all these "star chasers" show up and ruin the experience. It's useless chasing stars. It's priceless chasing something that touches your soul.
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@Bill
Fair enough, but, presumably, this restaurant is in Manhattan. Manhattan is a notoriously competitive ecosystem for restaurants. A place has to be very good just to stay in business. I'm not sure whether places like Raoul's, Odeon, or Balthazar have stars, but they are very good restaurants with known chefs. In Manhattan up to about 85th st, we are very spoiled by the general quality of restaurants. I can go to any hotel in lower Manhattan and get a terrific meal. It might not be Wolfgang Puck's Cut at the Four Seasons, but dinner at the Roxy Hotel (for example) or Macao is better than food almost anywhere else. If you can spend 30-40 dollars on a meal, Manhattan has hundreds of great options.
@Bill You're talking about the hot dog stands, right? Best lunch in NYC.
It’s Grey’s Papaya, of course ! The Mecca of the UWS.
Every single thing about this hobby is an environmental disaster. No one living in New York can justify a flight to find an amazing restaurant!
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In this age of income inequality what better way to increase the resentment of the have-nots toward the haves.
This piece illustrates perfectly the selfish, self indulgent behavior of far too many who are living in their affluent bubble, spending like the hedonists they are, oblivious of their contribution to carbon in the atmosphere, life is indeed a cherry to be picked by the affluent few.
Good luck to you all in the new climate changed world which is happening right now!
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I booked a night in Mexico City specifically to go to Pujol. Made a reservation months in advance via OpenTable, guaranteed by credit card. They didn't honor the reservation...it was a terrible experience.
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What a juxtaposition! In this same paper, the Times had an article in Metropolitan section about hunger on college campuses and how some students are having to choose between eating meals and paying tuition.
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@MishI Faruqee
Most college kids have no money for food, because they spend their food money on beer, weed, sneakers, and headphones.
@Anti-Marx
Seriously? If you're going to state this as a fact, at least tell us where your "research" comes from.
That's good these people are going and enjoying life. I just went to send the link to restaurant to friend only to find that the place had closed. :(
shouldn't there be a footnote explaining the carbon footprint of each one of these petty escapades?
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I am currently listening to BBC Radio 4 talking about flying and our carbon footprint...
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Gosh - I understand that everybody has their "thing", including "bagging" restaurants with high ratings (and, usually, high prices) around the world. As a person of limited means, I'm a. thrilled to be able to travel now and then in the first place and b. delighted to find a restaurant with fresh ingredients that the locals recommend. Each to his/her own.
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Bless all their hearts!
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I’ve always found the company, not the food or the venue, makes the dining experience special.
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My story for a best restaurant coup. My husband and I were driving to various small towns in Italy, something we have done many times. We headed for Modena from Florence and checked into a pretty so-so hotel. We asked the desk clerk for a restaurant recommendation and she guided us toward a classic Modenese place but then it turns out my husband didn't have a jacket and tie with him. She then recommended a brand new place in town, Osteria Francescana. We headed over to the place and got a table with no reservation. We went for the tasting menu which of course was superb. Sr. Bottura came out from the kitchen and spoke to each table of diners. It was without doubt one of the finest, most memorable dining experiences of our lives.
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@Nancy osteria francescana has been on the 50 best restaurants lists for many years now lol
People's fascination with ranked list never ceases to amaze me.
At least Michelin stars are awards based on specific criteria so you know what to expect from a 3 stars restaurant. It's not necessarily better than an unstared one, just different (the service, the setting, the type of ingredient used, the creativity ect...).
A ranked list on the other hand assumes that there is some kind of absolute in food taste and I absolutely reject this idea.
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Easy to get into these restaurants. Try to get a reservation at The Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine. Last year they received 20,000 postcards for reservations in a 40 seat restaurant open from May through December. A reservation (not including dinner) recently was won at a charity auction for more than $5,000.
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Love the Times’ tilt toward the Haves in all things lifestyle. Perhaps you could run a piece on just getting enough to eat or maybe a photo-essay on chic food-stamp entrees to balance things out. And be sure to slot it in between all the 1% jewelry ads to make it, you know, really ironic. Get the table before the plane tickets. Goodness. When the reckoning comes I hope those dilettante diners have a prime table.
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Look at the travel section. I seldom do anymore. It’s all boutique hotels and foodie destinations. I think it has to do with travel/food writers wanting to enjoy the perks of their relatively low paying jobs. The rest of us travelers (as opposed to vacationers) look for cheap yet adequate accommodations and local food spots.
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@POV
Most of the Op-Ed pieces are bout these topics. It's not like the NYT doesn't address those issues. The NYT is both the liberal paper of note in the USA and also the local paper of New York City. It does double duty, in that regard. If you want a paper strictly about political issues and income inequality, read The Nation.
I live in Manhattan. I wonder why non-New Yorkers even read the NYT. It's a New York/East Coast paper.
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I like what this paper covers, but as a working person who stretches paychecks, the catering to the well heeled always leaves me nauseated
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@Michael Kingsbury
Covering the Rich and Famous makes the travel writers feel like they’re someone. They should just get a tattoo.
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NYT has millions of readers from all walks of life. If you want a custom news feed get on Twitter. This article is exactly what I like about the Times. I’m learning about the world around me — and the people in it — even if I’ll never be able to leave my small town.
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I propose that all commenting about their love of gourmet food should also inform the rest of us about their BMI.
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@PaulN
They are all probably very thin, and normally live off of greens and fruit juices.
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19.6. It isn't quantity I am after, it is quality.
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@WT Congratulations! If you are a man with average height 5'9" then you weigh 133 pounds (unlikely). If you are a woman with average height 5'4" then you weigh 114 pounds (quite realistic). Metric versions available on request.
I appreciate those who say "ask your waiter what's her favorite local restaurant," but when you do so in San Francisco, because waiters can't afford to live in The City, just be prepared to be directed to an Inn 'n Out close to Sacramento.
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@John
A server at an upscale restaurant in NY, SF, or DC can easily earn over $100K.
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@Reader In Wash, DC maybe in DC on lobbyist tabs, and SF on recent IPO millionaires - but not many ‘easily’ make over $100k
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@Reader In Wash, DC, please. There's a dearth of waiters in San Francisco. The SF restaurant association acknowledges as much in this linked NYT article. "The city offers a case study of how high housing costs alter the economics of everything else, including restaurant service."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/dining/san-francisco-restaurants-service.html
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Veblen would love this story. It'd be a great example in his famous paper on luxury pricing.
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@Peter AKA "Conspicous Consumption" which was the title of his paper.
Another article for the 1%.
If you're going to the effort of traveling abroad and forcing your body to adapt to changing time zones, stay around long enough at each place to fully experience it, and eat at the non-touristy places frequented by the locals, especially street food, which is great in places like Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Long and most of Europe - even in regions of India (and Texas, USA) that have Sikh-run Dhabas where the food is cooked in front of you and served hot. You pay (far more reasonably) for the food rather than the frills and ambience.
As a rule of thumb, avoid any place of business recommended in the NY Times Travel section.
The great Jacques Pepin, who's openly contemptuous of much "Modernist Cuisine" - microscopic portions in large plates at high prices- points out that if a chef has to explain a dish to you before you eat it, there's probably something terribly wrong with it. It's perfectly OK for a dish to taste much like it looks, rather than having the chef constantly seeking to "surprise" you.
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Sorry, but people who choose restaurants by their magazine ratings aren't gourmands. They're simply consumers.
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We lived in Europe and regularly traveled to Michelin restaurants. Infact, not only were vacations planned around a particular restaurant but hotels, especially in cities, were chosen as to the proximity of good restaurants. We often slept cheap but dined fine.
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@Ellen My kind of traveling companion. Along with a fine dog.
@Ellen
Yes. That's part of being European. Which makes this article all the more unbalanced and stupid in the way it looks for American "extremes" to make it "newsworthy" (it still isn't)
Wow, I feel like this article describes my journey from normal food enjoyer to fine dining obsessive exactly. Chefs Table and Jiro Dreams of Sushi are definitely what got me interested. On a recent trip to Barcelona my wife and I ate at our first Michelin-started restaurant. To be precise, it was a three-starred restaurant called ABaC. We also ate at Disfrutar (two stars) and Tickets (one star). Surprisingly there was a noticeable difference between the three levels. Now I feel hooked and want to plan any trip around a special restaurant experience.
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Living in Italy there are really no places in the world I would travel to for a Michelin rated meal...I have the best food here at my fingertips..
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Agreed, I live in Japan about an hour train ride west of Tokyo. I have better ramen, udon, sushi and so many other delicious options than the most expensive "Japanese" restaurant in the US. It's always disappointing to read restaurant reviews of $20 ramen in some upscale restaurant, when ramen is the equalizer, everyone in Japan no matter their income eats ramen or rather slurps it. Have a delicious gelato for me :)
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@Jeremy
Is this attitude really something to proud of?
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@Jeremy
where are you?????????????
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When travelling around Patagonia, my husband and I were dying to eat at a restaurant that every travel guide and blog said was the best. No online reservations were available. When we walked up to the restaurant, a server said that the restaurant was fully booked for the rest of the week. So we asked the server for their favorite restaurant. He sent us to an unassuming place down the street that ended up being our favorite meal of the entire trip. Sometimes the best places don't make the fancy lists...
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My daughter and I had the trip of a lifetime to NYC in 2014. Not only did we get reservations at Sushi Nakazawa and Le Bernardin, we got second row seats to see Bryan Cranston in All the Way, and, my daughter got to high-five him after the show.
Dining was the main pursuit, and with great food comes great happiness and adventure.
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@kaattie The real meaning of Trivial Pursuit.
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Traci de Jardins - iron chef winner - celebrated San Francisco chef and restaurant owner closed down her flagship restaurant Jardiniere after 22 years. Why? She said -" I am over the fine dining scene."
Me too.
Fresh ingredients, spices, meats, vegetables etc. from all over the world are available in many places now. Even where I live in Mexico.
Learn to cook. Buy local. Save the environment.
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Actually, I do cook almost all of my meals. That doesn't mean I don't like going to gourmet restaurants a few times a year for innovative dishes and superlative service. Some people spend money on concerts, some on sporting events. Yet so many people here comment negatively about foodies that it makes me wonder why we feel compelled to judge other people's priorities on how they spend their own money.
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Last year I was able to get a reservation at Noma.
My wife and I built a trip with the last night being dinner there.
We flew first from Los Angeles to Paris, then down to Corsica where we undertook a grueling, but very rewarding, village-to-village hike. Then on to Geneva from Ajaccio because there was no direct flight to Copenhagen.
We spent several days in Geneva and its environs, then on to Copenhagen.
Late in our planning process we decided to book a dinner at Geranium, the three-star restaurant in Copenhagen, for the night before our meal at Noma. This was a providential decision as Noma was a profound disappointment - it is more of a cult scene than a place to enjoy a good meal - and Geranium was superlative. In retrospect, we should have cancelled Noma and returned to Geranium.
I'm glad that we built the trip around Noma, otherwise we wouldn't have gone to Geranium.
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Geranium was recommended to us by Danish friends and we were able to secure a lunch reservation. The meal was spectacular...coursed over three hours, inventive, artful, delicious. My favorite part is the the restaurant is in a soccer stadium overlooking the soccer field. On of my better meals.
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I admire the drive of those people who spend five-figure dollar sums on travel for one meal in a restaurant in some remote corner of the world. To me, the benefit/cost ratio of such gastronomic adventures is not high enough.
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I am one of those admitted food geeks that plan my vacation trips around restaurants and street food spots, but not so much the Michelin starred places. Thanks to Anthony Bourdain's travel shows, I was enticed to eat my way around the otherworldly food scene that is Montreal, the local-focused family run eateries of the Greek isles and the acclaimed restaurants of Rome. Thanks to the web-series Chef's Night Out, I was drawn to the mind blowing Street Food Thursday at Markthalle Neun in Berlin, the best burger I've ever eaten at Gasoline Grill in Copenhagen and the most phenomenal tacos at Hijo de Sanchez also in Copenhagen (where I actually had the pleasure of chatting with Rosio Sanchez AND Rene Redzepi!). This summer, we've designed a trip to Madrid and Barcelona around reservations that we've scored at DiverXO and Tickets, thanks to the suggestions of Eater.
While the few Michelin starred spots that I've enjoyed were great, I've had some of the best meals of my life at places suggested by locals. That is always a good idea!
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This seems pretty normal to me. Most of my travel is based around major dining and cultural events that you have to plan and purchase tickets for for months and months in advance. I love trying different foods and dining experiences (from street food to 3 Michelin 8); 80% of my travel planning is what to eat and where to eat.
Getting a reservation at an incredible and hard to get into restaurant that offers an amazing food experience with prices to match is no different than people booking tickets to Wimbledon or Superbowl or SD Comic-Con or a Grateful Dead concert or a music festival months in advance and having to book airfare/hotel to get there and enjoy the event. Where's the article about how people from 2 US cities spends thousands of dollars to travel to a 3rd US city just to watch the Superbowl?
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Today (5/1) was the day to obtain reservations for The French Laundry for July and August. My family overbooked at the same time through TOCK. We have reservations for 4 guests available on Friday, August 9th at 8 pm and another reservation for 4 guests on Saturday, August 10th @ 5:15 PM that we would like to transfer via TOCK. If you are interested in either of these dates email me bjakewhite at gmail.com.
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I have eaten at many Michelin three-star restaurants and many of the Top 50 restaurants in the world. Making reservations at them is not as hard as the press often makes them out to be sometimes. But what is becoming harder and harder is finding highly-rated restaurants that actually stand out from the crowd. The more I eat at these places, the more I find them to be the same. And in many cases, there are often no locals who actually eat at these restaurants. As a result, you travel thousands of miles to be surrounded by "foodies" from NYC or San Francisco or some other American city. I was in one such highly-rated restaurant in Paris last week. Everyone in the restaurant was American and the homogenized food didn't reflect any of France's glorious cooking traditions. So while I applaud these lists, my advice would be to try other places not recommended by the NYT or whatever else is the "hot" restaurant guide of the month. Ask a local. Ask your waiter where they like to eat and you might actually discover something truly special.
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@ KR Western Massachusetts
Your sad experience in Paris reflects the Usanization or Americanization of the global cuisine and its submission to the hamburger with ketchup and tasteless vegetables, eaten with bare hands.
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@Tuvw Xyz Actually, I've had many great meals in Paris over the years, just rarely at Michelin three star or Top 50 Restaurants In The World.
The overrated meals I'm talking about are more the homogenized "Chef's Table" style meals - plain decor, white plates, elaborate descriptions of tiny, bland portions.
The exception is Arpege. Great, inventive meal with amazingly fresh ingredients.
Stay clear of Taillevent and Le Chateaubriand in Paris unless you want to surrounded by Americans eating underwhelming food.
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@KR guy savoy?
This article appears in the same issue in which the Times does a spread on food and climate change. Go research the impact of overseas travel on global warming. Start here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/climate/airplane-pollution-global-warming.html
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@Mary Sojourner The vast majority of CO2 emissions in the transportation sector is caused by cars and trucks. Airline travel is the most carbon intensive. But it’s a small fraction of the overall issue.
I take vacations to enjoy food and drink, but with one difference. I'm not interested in Michelin star dubbed restaurants. I want to enjoy as much street food as I can. I've eaten at Charlie Trotter in Chicago and other esteemed restaurants and I can't recall a single course. But I'll never forget that first bite of the bahn mi we enjoyed as our first meal in Saigon, after watching it getting prepared.
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@DRC PGH
I agree. We were on a bike tour in Vietnam and the operator bought us bahn mi. For the grand total of $1 each. I still think about how delicious that sandwich was. I’ve eaten at Eleven Madison several times. It was good, but the bahn mi experience was more memorable.
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@Mary’s
I also agree. We were in Santa Fe and were at an Indian reservation. There was a woman making burgers in the back of her small house and selling them to tourists. My daughter and I still talk about how good those burgers were.
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If you are lucky enough to secure a reservation at Eleven Madison Park, you must pay in advance, and the restaurant does not accept cancellations. Given the airlines’ proclivity to cancel or delay flights (especially US domestic flights), exercise extreme caution in making travel plans. Speaking from unfortunate personal experience.
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