A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
British media company William Reed just released its annual World's 50 Best Restaurants list. The No. 1 spot went to a restaurant in Lima, Peru, called Central. William Drew is director of content for the World's 50 Best Restaurants. He says Central explores Peru's biodiversity and different ecosystems.
WILLIAM DREW: The menu is structured around different altitudes of where the produce came from, whether it be below sea level in the Pacific, all the way to the mountains of the Andes and taking in the Amazon jungle.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
There are only two restaurants in the United States that made the Top 50, both in New York City - the French restaurant Le Bernardin at 44 and a Korean restaurant, Atomix, it's No. 8.
DREW: It's captured the imagination of the world with its extraordinary individual take on the best Korean ingredients.
MARTÍNEZ: Here's the thing, though. You won't find the kind of food most people eat every day represented on the list.
ALAN SYTSMA: The 50 Best list tends to favor restaurants with long luxury-tasting menus that highlight technical and high-skill cooking and a pretty distinct point of view from a chef - really favors seasonality, a preference for local ingredients.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Alan Sytsma, a food editor at New York Magazine.
SYTSMA: They're good meals. But you really have to be ready for a three or four-hour fine dining procession of, like, tiny bites and lots of talk about the chef's vision and the kitchen's technique and whatever.
ELLIOTT: So if that's what you're looking for, you'll probably have a great time if you can get a reservation. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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