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Local Talent Gets Love From Bourdain, But Not From World’s Great Chefs

Photo: Men’s Health

Well-traveled though he is, Anthony Bourdain counts no less than four hometown joints (Russ & Daughters, Katz’s, Per Se, and Le Bernardin) among his Men’s Health list of Thirteen Places to Eat Before You Die. Meanwhile, Bourdain wasn’t one of the tastemakers featured in Coco, or the ratio of hometown picks might’ve been more respectable. Editors of the book tapped ten superstar chefs to each name ten of their favorite emerging stars. The blue-ribbon panel: Ferran Adrià (Spain), Mario Batali (U.S.), Rene Redzepi (Denmark), Alice Waters (U.S.), Jacky Yu (Hong Kong), Gordon Ramsay (U.K.), Fergus Henderson (U.K.), Shannon Bennett (Australia), Alain Ducasse (France), and Yoshihiro Murata (Japan). How’s this for humbling: Of the 100 chefs they recognized, only eight were New Yorkers! Though the book doesn’t come out till fall, we’ve gotten our hands on the list of local honorees.

John Fraser – Dovetail
Cruz Goler - Lupa
Akhtar Nawab - Elettaria
April Bloomfield - Spotted Pig and the John Dory
Mario Carbone - Aeronuova
David Chang - Momofuku
Andrew Feinberg - Franny’s
Jody Williams - Gottino

Given that they’re often toiling away in their own kitchens or eating at friends’ restaurants, we always take chef recommendations with a proverbial grain of salt. It has to be asked: How many New York restaurants has Ferran Adrià dined in other than Chang’s and Ken Friedman’s? And was Batali the chef who gave a shout-out to his chefs Mario Carbone, Cruz Goler, and April Bloomfield? Either way, Andrew Feinberg of Franny’s can now count himself among the world’s heavyweights — nicely timed with the opening of Bklyn Larder.

Local Talent Gets Love From Bourdain, But Not From World’s Great Chefs