stimpy

Clearly San Sebastien is a place to go. I've been Akelare, but not Mugaritz.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give one back and say I had an excellent dinner and overall experience at Maple & Ash in Chicago a couple a month or so ago.

cakegirl

Septime in Paris moved into the list this year at slot # 50. I happened to be eating there the day after it did. I found it inconsistent, and I think they take the casual dining thing a bit far. I loved the first dishes on the tasting menu - the veggie focused ones were very good. But as the menu moved on it went a bit downhill. A fish was bland, and one of the desserts was really just a terrible flavor.

We did the tasting with wine pairing. They did forget one of our wine pairings but realized after and gave us an extra course and pairing without us asking about it. That was very nice-but the problem was we could not get a waiter's attention while we had the course to ask about the missing wine.

I know they are very focused on the casual dining thing, but clearing the plates and placing the dirty silverware on a bare table repeatedly is a bit much for me. At one point I pointedly handed the silverware( covered with a sauce from the previous course) to the waiter with the plate and it was returned to the table.

It was good and innovative and the space had charm. But it was not Top 50 to me. I had a MUCH better lunch at Frenchie, with better service, a few days later.

Kagehitokiri

did they refuse to give you new silverware?

cakegirl

I didn't ask- I was in the middle of a conversation and didn't notice for a second. There was just something about the whole experience that seemed a little like contrived rusticity.
I've gone to a decent number of Pellegrino and Michelin * restaurants. Of the very modern ones, I've had amazing meals, good meal, unmemorable meals but something about this left a bad taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively.)

aa213bb

Just got a booking to the new #1, Osteria Francescena. Between its elevation and the Chef's Table episode, am very curious to find out what it's all about.

offerendum

[QUOTE=bhrubin;27109376]Dinner has actually fallen to #45 on the Pellegrino World's 50 Best list.
[QUOTE]

Wrote it in a post before and wrote "was" now. But even 45 is too high in my eyes.

bhrubin

^^^

I couldn't agree more. And St. John at #91 is also nonsensical to me. I'll be thrilled when those restaurants drop off entirely. But other than those two restaurants (ironically both in London), we've really enjoyed every restaurant on the Pellegrino list.

offerendum

Wouldn´t say I didn´t enjoy Dinner. Would be unfair. Even number 300 (virtual) on the list should still be great.

LM225

A few weeks ago, we got the chance to dine at Noma and Geranium on consecutive nights (cleared the Noma shared table waitlist three days out, and was able to move our Geranium lunch booking to dinner the day before).

At Noma, the food was insanely creative. They take great risks, but with very impressive execution.

Was it the best tasting food I've ever had? Definitely not, though these kinds of meals rarely are. Nobody's "last meal" wish is going to be lightly grilled baby cucumber with ant paste. The food blew my mind more than it made me crave it the next day. It was just really cool to see what the chefs were capable of, and nearly every dish challenged our palettes. The juice pairing was very good, though not spectacular (as the meal was).

Geranium, by comparison, was delicious (probably better "tasting"), but a bit less adventurous. They took fewer risks, and used more things I consider "crutches" (pork fat, butter, etc... Noma had little to none of that, with the focus being nearly exclusively on the fresh raw ingredients).

Bear in mind that this was still a stellar meal for us. Just less "holy ....how did they do that?".

At both restaurants, we were invited to tour the back of the house (I believe this is standard?). This was much more interesting at Noma, with the massive library and test kitchen stocked with all sorts of odd ingredients and idea-filled whiteboards.

In short, Copenhagen is a fantastic place to eat

DaveInLA

Your post summarizes how I feel about restaurants like this. In many regards, it's for the experience rather than the food itself. Sometimes a good piece of steak or bowl of ramen is so much better, but there's no WOW to that. That said, I'm surprised you did 2 such meals less than 24 hours apart and enjoyed the secondas much as you did. I've done high end meals 24-48 hours apart 2 separate occasions in Tokyo and Barcelona area (2 3* in Tokyo and a 3* followed by 2* in Spain), and both times I wanted to cancel the second meal. It's exhausting in its own way, not something I can do too often.

LM225

Completely agree re: these meals usually not being enjoyable in such rapid succession. I'm usually so uncomfortably stuffed, even if I really enjoyed the meal, that the next day I want nothing more than a salad until dinner time. I STILL remember feeling sick the morning after tasting menus at The Ledbury and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (though I loved both).

However, what made these two especially unique was that I didn't leave either feeling stuffed. It's not because there wasn't enough food (there absolutely was), but it had more to do with the type of food they served. At Noma especially, it was very seasonal and focused on veggies and a bit of seafood. No meat/poultry at all (something I see as a risk, but one that paid off!), nothing too heavy, none of the butter-based sauces you might typically see. Something that made the meal all the more impressive.

bhrubin

Well, at least it sounds like you enjoyed both as much as I said you would! While you aren't giving Geranium as much credit as I will, I can let that pass.

I judge meals by how memorable they are. YEARS later, I can still remember the sights, sounds, and tastes of many entrees at Geranium and Noma and Relae...and at The Ledbury in London, Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon in Paris, Meadowood in Napa, Amber in Hong Kong, Alinea in Chicago, Central and Astrid y Gaston and MAP Cafe in Peru, the Test Kitchen in Cape Town, Biko and Pujul and Quintonil in Mexico City, Mikla in Istanbul, and Saison and Benu in SF.

I also can remember my disappointment at St John and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London (HATED THEM), French Laundry in Napa (never returned), and Malabar...and even La Colombe when the transition occurred (but went back and it's amazing again).

We often have 2 top end dinners in a row, but I agree that it can sometimes be overmuch. It often depends on the style and how many courses. We had lunch at Noma and dinner the next evening at Geranium...so I was able to judge Geranium perhaps more on its own merits for dinner.

I've got #39/3 star Le Calandre coming up outside Venice in October...followed by 2 consecutive nights with 1 Michelin star dinners in Venice...and then 1 and 2 and 1 Michelin star dinners in Milan...and then #14 The Ledbury and Marcus (both 2 star as it were) in London. We'll see if I make it through without canceling on any...but nothing will cause me to ever willingly cancel Le Calandre (never been there) or The Ledbury (my fave for years in London).

I find breaking up such dinner experiences by not always getting a tasting menu is also useful. I can still experience a great chef but not always go all-out for the tasting menu if I don't quite feel up to it.

VivoPerLei

Agree completely. I did two heavy tasting meals back to back in Barcelona in May and didn't want to eat anything for a couple of days afterwards. I was on the waiting list for El Cellar that week and don't know that I would have gone if given a place.

rdurlabhji

I can definitely recommend Girl and the Goat, although it won't be as much of a "fine dining" experience as Alinea or Grace. I'd also recommend trying to get a table at Next for their French Laundry menu.

LM225

I knew that was coming

I was worried that what would get lost in my comparison was just how much we actually enjoyed Geranium. It was still one of the best meals we've ever had, and I'm certain we'll remember it for a very long time!