For the fourth consecutive year, Chicago’s Alinea has beat out every other restaurant in the world to be crowned the very best by Elite Traveler readers.
“There’s always that underlying understanding that anything less than number one is not what we want to be,” owner and executive chef Grant Achatz told the magazine.
Luckily, anything less than number one is not often where he finds himself.
Achatz credits the constant evolution of dishes that “surprise and confound the senses” for the restaurant’s success and world-renowned fame over the past 10 years since its opening.
“There’s always that constant curiosity and excitement to come up with something new – a new dish, a new technique, a new way to plate the food, a new service to use – that’s just kind of built into our fabric,” he said in the same interview.
The only other Chicago-based restaurant to make the top 100 list, a compilation of votes from foodies, was another Achatz establishment – Next.
The publication calls Next a “game-changing sister” to Alinea.
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“Based on an innovative concept menu format, Next’s offering is overhauled three times annually, providing diners with the chance to experience a brand new culinary adventure on every visit,” they write.
