AMERICA’S TOP-RATED

RESTAURANTS & CHEFS 2008
These restaurants were selected by John Mariani as America’s Top 20 Restaurants 2008
(not in order of preference). The content of this overview was written by the editorial
staff of the Chefs In America Awards Foundation.

 

LE BERNARDIN

SAMPLE MENU   Barely Touched   Seafood Salad Marinated shrimp, calamari, octopus and lobster in citrus vinaigrette; honeydew-cucumber gelee; wasabi emulsion   Escolar White tuna poached in extra virgin olive oil, sea beans and potato crisps, light red wine béarnaise   Dinner Highlights   Geoduck thinly sliced geoduck marinated Peruvian style, dried sweet corn   Calamari sautéed calamari filled with sweet prawns and wood ear mushroom, calamari consommé   Sea Urchin sea urchin risotto, toasted nori, urchin-citrus emulsion   Lobster Warm lobster carpaccio, heart of palm, orange vinaigrette   Kindai Maguro (first sustainably raised Japanese blue fin tuna in the world) seared, parmesan crisp and sun-dried tomato, black olive oil   Bacalao Grilled salted cod salad, arugula-lemon confit pesto, almond and chorizo oil

RESTAURANT
Le Bernardin, New York's internationally acclaimed four star seafood restaurant, was born in Paris in 1972 by sibling duo Maguy and the late Gilbert Le Coze. In 1986 Le Bernardin in
New York opened and became a four star restaurant which was renowned for setting standards in the cooking of seafood in America. The restaurant holds several records in New York: It received its four star review from the New York Times only three months after opening and is the only New York four star restaurant that has maintained its status of excellence for more than 10 years.

CHEF ERIC RIPERT
Born in Antibes France in 1965, Eric Ripert, at a very early age, developed both his Mediterranean and Spanish palates. Ripert attended culinary school in Perpignan, worked at La Tour D'Argent, the Michelin three-star, Jamin, where he was Assistant Chef de Partie and then Chef Poissonier under Joel Robuchon. Ripert came to the United States in 1989 as Sous Chef at Jean Louis in the Watergate Hotel in Washington , D.C. In 1991, he moved to New York, where he worked briefly as Sous Chef under David Bouley until he was offered to serve as Chef for Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze for Le Bernardin, where he has since garnered innumerable awards and accolades.