Daniel Humm (Astrid Stawiarz )
It’s awards season in the restaurant world — with all the Champagne-fueled celebrations and grumbling that go with it. Tomorrow night, the culinary elite will flock to the James Beard Foundation Awards at Lincoln Center. And last week, the 10th annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was announced in London.
The world’s best? That would be Copenhagen’s Noma, for the third year straight — and the reason why “New Nordic” cuisine and “foraging” have become such foodie buzz words of late.
Five NYC restaurants made the list organized by Britain’s Restaurant Magazine, which is based on the polling of 837 industry panelists including chefs and critics. (The US, with a total of eight restaurants on the list, had the strongest showing of any country.)
Leading the New York pack at No. 6 was Thomas Keller’s luxurious Per Se in the Time Warner Center, which has surpassed his Napa restaurant, the French Laundry, in recent years. Keller was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award — a first for a US chef.
But arguably the biggest win was by Eleven Madison Park — Daniel Humm and Will Guidara’s cutting-edge fine-dining temple — which jumped to No. 10 after debuting on the list in 2010 at No. 50.
“We’re thrilled,” says Guidara, who traveled to London with Humm to attend the awards on Monday evening. “We’ve had two pretty big jumps — from No. 50 to No. 24 [in 2011] and [now] from No. 24 to No. 10. We’ve been working really hard here over the last couple of years.”
Other New York winners included Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin (No. 19), Daniel Boulud’s flagship Daniel (No. 25) and David Chang’s Momofuku Ssäm Bar (No. 37) — the only casual, no-reservations NYC restaurant to garner a coveted slot (it also bested its more upscale sister Ko).
“The list, and especially the restaurant that’s on the top of that list, has really had an impact throughout the entire industry,” says Guidara. “Look at [Spain’s now shuttered] El Bulli being on top, and how molecular gastronomy proliferated throughout the world. And then Noma took the top [slot and] the foraging movement has become huge.
“I also think that the restaurants that really succeed on that list are restaurants that are developing a unique and singular point of view. I think it’s a list that rewards evolution and innovation.”
He’s right: In late 2010 at Eleven Madison Park, he and Humm introduced a controversial and radical new menu format — a minimalist grid listing just 16 ingredients — meant to spark dialogue between diners and staff. It’s a risk that’s been rewarded by their international peers.
The Upper East Side’s Daniel fell 14 spots to No. 25, from No. 11 — perhaps reflecting a generational shift.
Besides the US, the only other country with three Top 10 rankings was Spain, with the gastronomically adventurous El Celler de Can Roca, Mugaritz and Arzak; France, meanwhile, had none. Mon dieu!