Gourmet's Top 50 Restaurants for 2006

Everyone's been talking about it for a week or more and the Gourmet list is out! Number 1? Alinea in Chicago. Only one other Chicago eatery made the cut -- Charlie Trotter's at 13. Is Tru a blatant omission? Can you really compare Alinea to the venerable Berkeley standby Chez Panisse at number 2? And is it fair to lump all of Thomas Keller's places together at number 3 listing it as French Laundry/Per Se when there are clearly very two different restaurants? As anyone who writes in food knows, compiling these kinds of lists are fraught with challenges and often the result of much discussion and more than a little disagreement. Everyone will raise their own questions. Maybe all is best decided by eating with as many of these wonderful places as possible.

A few other notes: Look at the quality coming out of Las Vegas! It makes me want to go with foodies! No surprises from New York. Daniel, Masa, Le Bernadin, and Jean Georges -- no surprise with the New York offerings. Nice turnout from Texas! And look at the midwestern listings in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Madison, and Milwaukee.

Here's the full list (from Slashfood):

1. Alinea – Chicago, IL
2. Chez Panisse – Berkeley, CA
3. The French Laundry/Per Se – Yountville, CA; New York, NY
4. Spago – Beverly Hills, CA
5. Joël Robuchon at the Mansion – Las Vegas, NV
6. La Rêve – San Antonio, TX
7. Masa – New York, NY
8. Alan Wong's Restaurant – Honolulu, HI
9. Daniel – New York, NY
10. Le Bernardin – New York, NY
11. Magnolia Grill – Durham, NC
12. Michel Richard Citronelle – Washington, D.C.
13. Charlie Trotter's – Chicago, IL
14. Arrows – Ogunquit, ME
15. Cyrus – Healdsburg, CA
16. Striped Bass – Philadelphia, PA
17. Babbo – New York, NY
18. Locke-Ober – Boston, MA
19. Canlis – Seattle, WA
20. L'Auberge Carmel – Carmel, CA
21. Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare – Las Vegas, NV
22. Restaurant August – New Orleans, LA
23. The Inn at Little Washington – Washington, VA
24. The Dining Room in the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead – Atlanta, GA
25. Vetri – Philadelphia, PA
26. Fore Street – Portland, ME
27. Jean Georges – New York, NY
28. Higgins – Portland, OR
29. Da Marco – Houston, TX
30. La Belle Vie – Minneapolis, MN
31. Parker's New American Bistro – Cleveland, OH
32. Michy's – Miami, FL
33. Frasca – Boulder, CO
34. Gramercy Tavern – New York, NY
35. Providence – Los Angeles, CA
36. Restaurant Guy Savoy – Las Vegas, NV
37. Zuni Café – San Francisco, CA
38. Urasawa – Beverly Hills, CA
39. Bacchanalia – Atlanta, GA
40. Sanford – Milwaukee, WI
41. York Street – Dallas, TX
42. Manresa – Los Gatos, CA
43. No. 9 Park – Boston, MA
44. Trattoria Nostrani – Santa Fe, NM
45. Cafe Juanita – Kirkland, WA
46. Paley's Place – Portland, OR
47. Lantern Restaurant – Chapel Hill, NC
48. L'Etoile – Madison, WI
49. Herbsaint – New Orleans, LA
50. Nana – Dallas, TX