Charlie Trotter

Watch Mark Caro, author of The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight discuss the all things ducky.

Could you imagine asking Charlie Trotter to make you a grilled cheese sandwich and potato chips? Or Rick Bayless to just make you a bowl of oatmeal?

Americans have never even cracked the top ten in the Bocuse d'Or despite the increased quality of high-end American gastronomy and the numerous accolades received by the country's leading chefs. It's an anomaly Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller have been working furiously to eliminate.

Alinea and Grant Achatz's cooking was even sometimes dubbed soulless. Like me, though, many of these critics had never eaten the food or spoken with the chef. I think maybe, all they needed to do was eat at Alinea once to discover the truth.