Eleven Madison Park's co-owners, Daniel Humm (L) and Will Guidara (C), accepted the 2017 award in Melbourne, Australia. (Reuters)
The world’s best restaurant of 2017 was revealed Wednesday morning, and lo and behold, it’s right here in America.
Eleven Madison Park, the James Beard Award-winning eatery located in New York City, overtook such renowned restaurants as Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, and El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona, Spain, to take the No. 1 spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, as revealed at a ceremony in Melbourne, Australia.
The restaurant has actually nabbed a spot on the prestigious list once before, in 2016, though it ranked third after the aforementioned Italian and Spanish restaurants, respectively.
“It’s the perfect partnership of outstanding hospitality and exquisite food in an iconic setting in New York City that makes Eleven Madison Park the No.1 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants,” the organization wrote on their website.
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They also added that co-owners Daniel Humm and Will Guidara do an excellent job of making their dining experience “harmonious from start to finish.”
Humm and Guidara attended the Melbourne ceremony, though Guidara told The New York Times it was “a total surprise” to learn that they’d won.
During his acceptance speech, Guidara explained that, while he and Humm were honored to earn the top spot, they were especially thrilled to be recognized by their peers.
“Affirmation is a beautiful thing that fills your gas tank. It fuels you, and gives you the ability to keep pushing. And this, because it comes from everyone in here, this is the greatest affirmation of all,” he told the crowd, reports The New York Times.
Eleven Madison Park’s win marks the third time an American restaurant has topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, following Calif. eatery French Laundry, which took the title in both 2003 and 2004. Eleven Madison Park also becomes the seventh restaurant, ever, to take the top spot since the Restaurant magazine launched the list in 2002.
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The annual list is determined by over 1,000 members of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy, which is comprised of over 1,000 chefs, jouirnalists and restaurant owners from 26 regions around the globe. Previous winners have included: El Bulli, in Spain (2002, 2006-2009); The Fat Duck, in England (2005); Noma, in Denmark (2010-2012, 2014), El Cellar de Can Roca (2013, 2015); and Osteria Francescana, in Italy (2016).
The rest of this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants can be found here.
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