Critics’ choice:
Los Angeles When you dine at Vespertine, “you may as well be on Jupiter,” said Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times. Housed in a purpose-built, four-story structure with wavy glass walls, Jordan Kahn’s six-month-old venture represents L.A.’s first leap into the culinary avant-garde, and while you’ll rarely know what you’re eating, “you aren’t supposed to know.” You buy a $250 ticket beforehand and arrive for rooftop cocktails and the first of the tasting menu’s 20 or so courses. Once you’ve settled downstairs for dinner, thrumming minimalist music plays and your server, dressed in a severe frock, will explain almost nothing as she presents what looks like an empty black bowl—except that its surface is halibut or flounder pounded thin and crusted with charred onion powder. A lot of the food will be presented on black pottery. A lot of the food resembles flowers, or might even be a flower with petals that look like Komodo dragon scales. In truth, the entire experience—including an almost inescapable $500 final bill—is “going to drive many of you insane.” At this moment, however, Vespertine is also “the best restaurant in Los Angeles.” 3599 Hayden Ave., Culver City, (323) 320-4023
Chicago Not all of the best restaurants convey a singular culinary vision, said Phil Vettel in the Chicago Tribune. At Next, the team in the kitchen “has no shortage of nerve,” but chefs Grant Achatz and Jenner Tomaska use it to start anew three times a year with a fresh menu, and their latest borrows all 16 dishes from restaurants ranked among the top 50 in the world. Surely, no other place would have the skills and credibility to pull off such a stunt. New York City’s Eleven Madison Park contributed a miniature eggs Benedict served in a caviar tin, while Modena, Italy’s Osteria Francescana lent out its “extraordinary” risotto. Thank Mugaritz, of San Sebastian, Spain, for the snowball topped with an oyster: Eating it is “like biting into the ocean.” In a bold move, Achatz and Tomaska also included a course of their own—squab encased in an almond-and-lavender-flavored white sauce. The message? Next belongs in the same