Originally Posted by jbcarioca

This list still surprises me. Many of the top ones are quite over-stylized for my taste, and some I consider better are not included. The criteria for inclusion may well include the use of some of the most overpriced Italian water around, might it not? As much as I enjoy all of those I have been to I cannot in all honesty put Per Se, The Fat Duck or St. John on my list of best restaurants in the world. Some like Eleven Madison Park, Quay, WD-50 and Le Chateaubriand would not even be on my list of the best in their respective cities, much less the world. Certainly these lists must be arbitrary and equally i am certain they are all fine places, anyway the ones I know are, but it does not seem at all objective to me.

The list will not influence my travels but I'll still go out of my way to try the ones I have not been to just to ensure I can have informed opinion.

Who who's been to Gary Danko would choose The French Laundry before it?
Who would choose Per Se above Le Bernardin? Oops, he who desires to pay more, that's who.

El Bulli, sadly, will be gone but I'm preparing to travel to go to the replacement whenever and wherever it opens.