Alinea Top U.S. Restaurant In New Rankings (PHOTOS); El Bulli No Longer World's Best

Restaurant magazine's annual "San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants" rankings have been announced and there are some notable developments from 2009's list:

• Noma, in Copenhagen, Denmark, previously #3 on the list, now sits atop the rankings. For more about Noma, including photos, go here.
• El Bulli is no longer #1 after four consecutive years atop this set of rankings, perhaps not surprising as Ferran Adria recently announced he would be shuttering El Bulli for two years. El Bulli is now ranked #2.
• Alinea, previously #10, is now #7, but more interestingly garnered the top American spot overall. This just two weeks after being named the best restaurant in Chicago, ever. To see photos of Alinea's signature courses from Chef Grant Achatz, go here.
• Alinea overtook Per Se as the country's best restaurant. Per Se is now #10, and the third best American restaurant on the list behind Daniel, new to the top 10, at #8. Thomas Keller's other restaurant, The French Laundry, in Napa, fell a whole 20 spots from last year's list to #32.
• Four of the top ten restaurants in the world are in Spain: El Bulli in Rosas, Girona, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Mugaritz in Rentería, Guipúzcoa, and Arzak, in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa.
• Danny Meyer-run Eleven Madison Park, with Chef Daniel Humm at the helm, rounded out the top 50 in its first appearance on the list.

Here are the top ten restaurants (from #1-#10) from the 2010 San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants rankings:

1 of 10

#1: Noma, in Copenhagen, Denmark (Chef: René Redzepi)

1 of 11

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Chef Rene Redzepi, right, in the Noma kitchen.

10 Health Benefits of Eating Chocolate

Top 9 Reasons You Can't Always Trust Yelp

gadgets/slideshows/233346/slide_233346_1108830_small.jpg

Food Robots Around The World

Expensive dishes

Fast Food Restaurants You Haven't Heard Of

Red Hook In The Blizzard

Chef Rene Redzepi, right, in the Noma kitchen.

comments(56)

Total comments: 56 | Post a Comment

1 of 11

This Restaurant

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Overrated. One of the best.

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top Restaurant Slides

loading...

Top Restaurant Slides

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Go here for more -- including photos -- on Noma, the world's best restaurant, according to new rankings from Restaurant magazine.

To see photos of Alinea's signature courses from Chef Grant Achatz, go here.

You can see the full list of Restaurant magazine's rankings here.

Comments

[ptfcNassoc]

10:34 AM on 05/03/2010

geez, these 10 "best restaurants in the entire planet" all happened to be in like the same 4 countries. uhmm i wonder what those countries all have in common. I guess, asia, africa, middle east, south america, i guess all those places suck at making food, can't have any top notch restaurants in those regions.

[Godweiser]

08:45 AM on 04/29/2010

The usual griping about food snobbery commences, but seriously...these chefs aren't in it to sneer down at people. They're driven by things besides passion. I'm not sure why the chefs are blamed for the attitudes of customers...or not even customers. Fans that haven't dined at the establishments.

I'm just saying, if you have issues with foodie snobbery, take it out on the foodies, not on the chefs. The chefs are cooking for the challenge, they aren't the ones eating it and then looking down their noses at you.

[Godweiser]

08:59 AM on 04/29/2010

Err, driven by passion and things beside snobbery. Pardon the typo. ;)

[TRUTHDOG]

06:31 AM on 04/29/2010

I'd rather eat at a place featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and get VALUE for my money and hang with real people.

[Susannah Masur]

06:00 PM on 04/27/2010

Starting today you can bid on unique culinary experiences at some of the S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, including The French Laundry, Alinea, El Bulli, and others. Chosen as the charity partner for S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, global humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger gets 100% of the proceeds of the online auction to benefit its life-saving programs. Check out the online auction: http://bit.ly/9BxUo7

[Gabblog]

02:36 PM on 04/27/2010

At #7, Alinea's book is found here: http://www.amazon.com/Alinea-Grant-Achatz/dp/1580089283

[Tom Lauria]

11:42 AM on 04/27/2010

Congratulations to all the San Pellergrino Award winners. The legendary Italian bottled water from the Alps has been a natural and refreshing taste sensation for hundreds of years. It makes sense the fabled water would sponsor a global restaurant awards program. We at the International Bottled Water Association are understandably proud when our member companies make distinquished contributions to the culinary arts. What is not understandable is why many of the readers of the pages can't seem to couple "amazing taste" with "effective recycling." We can't get San Pellegrino without a bottle. Why not enjoy this unique water and recycle the bottle afterwards? Everyone wins.

[jymfrancais]

07:08 AM on 04/27/2010

Its a very subjective opinion....in my opinon.

[nakedhand]

05:41 AM on 04/27/2010

I guess there is no excuse for not paying Noma a visit any longer, I live 5 minutes away. I better sign up and enjoy the 6 months wait... Congrats to Redzepi!

[DessLoch]

06:28 AM on 04/27/2010

lol. If it's that difficult to get a res, then I guess I won't bother hopping over to Copenhagen this summer, no other reason I'd go back.

[nakedhand]

10:56 AM on 04/28/2010

I think its much short for week day reservations...

But yeah, there is no other reason to come back here, Europe is a drag.

[klondiker]

03:59 AM on 04/27/2010

I thought the Fat Duck was closed down (or maybe temporarily closed down) because of several diners getting food poisoning...did I imagine this? Anybody?

[nakedhand]

05:38 AM on 04/27/2010

No you didnt, it was temporarily closed because of widespread food poisoning of the guests.

[DessLoch]

06:37 AM on 04/27/2010

yuck, that's really saying something, brits have iron stomachs.

If that happened here in the US those customers would be fat rich. Might be lawsuit limits in Britain, don't think they have as many lawyers per capita.

[kayg]

02:39 AM on 04/27/2010

yay spain!

[quixoto]

12:39 AM on 04/27/2010

I never heard of any of these place nor could I ever afford to go to them... so I just gave a 10 to the Chicago one.

Was that wrong?

[SilentSolidarity]

01:19 AM on 04/27/2010

Good! Why should you waste money on food? The body doesn't know the difference and msot of it looks the same when it comes out of your behind.

[quixoto]

08:13 AM on 04/27/2010

First. Eww.

Second. I agree with you in part because I feel there is a limit to how expensive a meal for one person should be... $20 is usually my limit and that's for a BIG meal with drinks and dessert. However, I do think that the quality of the food itself is important because it's one of the few pleasures in life that never fail to bring me up. I think I live to eat more than eat to live, but I do it on the cheap so I guess that makes it ok.

[WildTango]

09:42 AM on 04/27/2010

Id rather spend money on a properly proportioned meal made with high quality ingredients than huge portions of food made with average resources. To each their own...

[plazma]

11:55 PM on 04/26/2010

The Fat Duck is an amazing restaurant and Heston Blumenthal is a mad genius.... the guy comes up with things that I would never ever dream of, its a place where sight, sound, texture, smell all come into place and thats just what you are eating, not the decor.

[NoMercy]

08:12 AM on 04/27/2010

Fat Duck's food makes a "sound"?

[newtom]

09:59 AM on 04/27/2010

Did you ever have a sizzling steak (presuming you're not vegetarian)?

All the senses can be involved in a good meal.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

11:54 PM on 04/26/2010

I'm a bit shocked Daniel beat Per Se....ps if you ever get the chance Per Se is soooooooooooooo worth it. It is expensive but think of it as dinner and theater tickets....price is about the same.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

11:53 PM on 04/26/2010

I suspect El Bulli was dethroned when they announced their closing...food politics.

[plazma]

11:57 PM on 04/26/2010

They arent closing forever.. Ferran is just closing down to figure out what to do next, as in what can he do to blow your mind with his reboot. He never makes any money off the place, just does it for the diners who can experience what he is doing.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

12:00 AM on 04/27/2010

I've read he might not reopen...he is considering a restaurant school.

[Graceless]

03:45 AM on 04/27/2010

I haven't heard anything since he announced that he intends to close the restaurant permanently and focus on a culinary school, and that was in February.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/el-bulli-to-close-permanently/

[mfinbh]

10:59 PM on 04/26/2010

I have rarely had a bad meal in Spain, but I'm very surprised to not see France represented.

[DessLoch]

06:43 AM on 04/27/2010

me too. there are many michelin starred restauraunts in France according to Wiki 26 3-star restauraunts are in France out of the 81 worldwide. That's also why Michelin is accused of bias.