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| Chris Shepard of Underbelly |
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| El Claustro Lobster Salad |
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| SeaBass in Granada |
This year was a pretty great eating year! I went to a lot of different cities globally and was able to write up 20+ restaurants. It also showed up on my waist where I gained another 1/2 inch. I went to several countries this year and well over a dozen different cities and have chosen 'the best' to share with you. It is important to note that I started using the
James Beard Annual Nominee List to help guide me in restaurant selection the US.
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| Melt in your mouth Waygu |
My nominees for best Restaurant are
Underbelly in Houston,
Animal in Los Angeles,
Empellon Cocina in New York City and
Incanto in San Francisco. They were all good but my favorite was Chris Shepard's Underbelly. I can still recall the tastes of the food and Beef that literally melted in my mouth. Chris was also the most engaging of any chef this year and I will bet we will see more on a national scene.
My favorite International Restaurants were
Havis in Helsinki and
El Claustro in Granada; both were of great quality but El Claustro was my favorite because of the creativity, tastes, venue and the company I was with, my wife.