Bucket List | as of 2.9.2011

I'd like to officially announce that I can cross out a restaurant on my gastronomic bucket list as well as announce updates this year so far to the token "places-I-need-to-eat-before-I-croak" list. I'd like to get to these restaurants in the next decade--one per decade, on average! I plan to commemorate an item being crossed-out (or checked off--however you see list-making) by taking a photo of myself in front of the restaurant's sign (hopefully with a new, soon-to-be-mine Fujifilm Instax camera, and commemorate it on a map that I plan to put up with some color coded pins to mark the cities where I've eaten and mark the cities I'd like to taste my way through! Anyways, here's the list!:

1. Alinea (Lincoln Park, Chicago): October 9, 2010 – Yay for the Best Restaurant in North America being the first item crossed-off on this list! I've replaced my old Bucket List photo with the one I took of Alinea's napkin cloths with the restaurant's logo, a pilcro (or alinea in Latin), to mark the start of a new thought! As of today, it was the best meal I've ever had. I even received a gracious blog post comment from Nick Kokonas himself, which just added even more icing and excitement to my already proverbial iced cake! Time will only tell if any of the future listees will surpass Chef Grant Achatz's kitchen wonders!





2. The French Laundry (Yountville, California): anticipated for May 2011 – Marcus and I have booked tickets to San Francisco to visit my cousin Bill and his wife Pam mid-May of this year, so with our fingers crossed (and a little help from our friends and family), perhaps we'll score a reservation at Chef Thomas Keller's primary culinary landmark in Yountville to celebrate our anniversary!





3. The Fat Duck (Berkshire, England): anticipated for Summer 2012 – I hope to be able to attend the Olympic Games in London during the Summer of 2012, so Chef Heston Blumenthal's spot in Berkshire will definitely be on the must-go list!
   





4. per se (Columbus Circle, New York City): anticipated for October 2011 – Maybe for Marcus's 25th birthday, if I've fully recovered from The French Laundry's extravagance!





5. Daniel (Upper East Side, New York City)





6. Le Bernardin (Midtown East, New York City): anticipated for Winter 2011 – I'm planning to take my mom here for her birthday this winter!





7. Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark)





8. moto (West Loop, Chicago): TBD – Perhaps during my next visit to Chicago to see my kai family!





9. Jean Georges (Upper West Side, New York City)





10. Cinc Sentits (Barcelona, Spain): TBD – I was at a TimesTalk lecture last year entitled The Cooks Who Saved My Life, featuring Rachael Ray, Julie Powell, and Nora Ephron, interviewed by NYT writer, Kim Severson. Julie Powell and Nora Ephron took the place of former Gourmet editor, Ruth Reichl, the original featured guest, as she had broken her ankle in California that month. During the talk's Q&A session, one of the audience members had asked Nora Ephron where her favorite restaurant was, and I remember her mentioning this place in Barcelona. Cinc Sentits translates to "five senses" in Catalán, the regional language of Barcelona (located in the province of Cataluña). I like the implication that the restaurant poses at the getgo--that you'll be expected to use all five of the body's senses for meals served at the restaurant.

Anything new I should check out on your Bucket Lists? :)