Best 50 - "You can't be serious"

To quote John McEnroe. Some rankings are "spot on", like Le Bernadin, Arzak, Per Se & The French Laundry......... But St. John is better than Le B, you've got to be kidding. We've met and interviewed Fergus Henderson, and he's a wonderful man whose made a huge contribution to the food scene with his focus on disrespected animal parts. Likewise Momofuku Ssam Bar is 2 spots better that Martin Berasategui. How do the raters know El Bulli is absolutely the best year after year, when a reservation is harder to get than a personal audience with the Pope. This ranking thing is a dangerous game, as you may find if you let the Best 50 rankings affect your choices of where to go. Join the fun - let us know what you think.

World's Top 50 Restaurants - What do you think?

Any list of the World's top restaurants can't avoid being controversial, and the Restaurant Magazine San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants in the World is no exception. This year's biggest news is the complete exclusion of Gordon Ramsay. Based on OTM's own experience and what we hear "on the street" this seems more like vengeance, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. We're delighted to note that 5 of the top 10 and 9 of the top 20 Chefs/Owners have appeared at On the Menu, and we've actually sampled 6 of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20, just didn't get to interview at a couple of them. So we extend our congratulations to The Fat Duck, Mugaritz, Per Se & The French Laundry, Arzak, Alinea, Osteria Francescana, St. John, Le Bernadin, Tetsuya's & L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Paris, and of course all the others which we're sure to get to eventually. Special congratulations to Massimo Bottura at Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, entering the list for the first time at No. 13, the highest new entry , and we're not the least surprised, Bravo Massimo!! Check out all the interviews in OTM's Audio Archive & OTM Highlights at www.onthemenuradio.com.

2009 James Beard Awards - Share your favorites from among the Finalists

We know far too many of the nominees to pick and choose our own favorites - well not exactly - we have some favorites, we just don't think it's appropriate for On the Menu to go public. As we just noted, all are deserving, and we just know too many of them. But if you'd like to share with the OTM community........... Well that's a different matter

Numerous OTM Guests recognized by James Beard Award Nominations - listen to them in OTM Audio Archive

Congratulations to the following upon the announcement that they are finalists for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards to be announced at the "big bash" at NYC's Lincoln Center on May 4.

Mario Batali, Pat Kuleto, Frank Stitt & Jean Georges Vongerichten for Outstanding Restaurateur; Jose Andres, Dan Barber & Paul Kahan for Outstanding Chef; Nate Appleman & Sean Brock for Rising Star Chef; Jose Andres-The Bazaar Beverly Hills, Drew Nieporent-Corton NYC & David Chang-Momofuku Ko NYC for Best New Restaurant; Clark Wolf & Dorothy Cann Hamilton, inductees Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America; Pichet Ong for Best Pastry Chef; Daniel Boulud-Daniel NYC & Marc Vetri-Vetri Philadephia for Outstanding Service Award; Douglas Keane-Cyrus Healdburg & David Kinch-Manresa Los Gatos (interview upcoming) for Best Chef-Pacific; Michael Anthony-Grammercy Tavern NYC, Wylie Dufresne-WD50 & Gabriel Kreuther-The Modern for Best Chef NYC; Mike Lata-Fig & Bob Waggoner-Charleston Grill, both in Charleston SC for Best Chef SE.
We know they're all deserving of this recognition, and may the best persons win!!