WORLD'S BEST? THAT'S UP TO YOU.

BARCELONA
By Joe Ray

 
 

I love the hype surrounding the announcement of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants* – it somehow points out how goofy and subjective it is to rank them (where are Pinotxo and the Agawam Diner?!?!) while reminding us how wonderful they are.

For anyone interested in a trip down memory lane to the places on the list where I’ve been lucky enough to eat, here we go…

noma – Rene Redzepi

El Bulli – Ferran Adria

El Celler de Can Roca – Joan Roca

WD-50 & Daniel

Le Chateaubriand

Pierre Gagnaire / Plaza Athenée - Pierre Gagnaire & Alain Ducasse

St. John

Finally, two conspicuously absent personal faves:

Restaurant Jean-Marie Amat (and here)

and

Les Cols

*Congrats to my pal Lexy Topping for breaking the 50 Best story for the Guardian – woop woop!

Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year and author of the blog Eating The Motherland. 

Comments

[Joe Ray]

Good question, Lex.

(Ms. Topping, btw, is the person who broke the story at the Guardian - see link in the blog.)

First, I think it goes back to that goofy/subjective thing I'm talking about - really - what is 'best' and who are they to tell us? I'm only half joking about Pinotxo and the Agawam Diner. If I was going to kick the bucket next week, I'd round up a couple of good friends and head to those places first. The list also has a very narrow view of the world. There really aren't more places in, say, Japan, China or Canada that make the cut?

On the other hand, Spain's got a lot going for it. There's an infectious enthusiasm here, tons of knowledge sharing and willingness to take risks that I don't see elsewhere, particularly in France. I've been watching that wave build in Spain long enough that the maestros have built a generation of followers. That can only mean good things for the future. Keep that in mind and compare Spain's offerings just against who made the list (forgetting its shortcomings) and, yeah, I can see why they did so well.

Joe

[LexyTopping]

Why do you think four Spanish restos made it into the top 10 Joe?

[Joe Ray]

Clearly, You've never tried their coconut creme pie... :)

Twitter: @joe_diner

[adrian]

Agawam Diner! Hahaha!