Two NYC restaurants just cracked the World's 100 Best Restaurants list for 2025

New York City just added two more reasons to flex its culinary muscle: César and Le Bernardin have landed spots on the World's 50 Best Restaurants extended list for 2025, which ranks restaurants around the world from 51 through 100.
Released ahead of the main awards ceremony in Turin, Italy, on June 19 (where the top 50 dining destinations of the year will be announced), this year's 51–100 list spans six continents and features standout kitchens from 25 territories. Of the eight North American entries, two are right here in Manhattan and both are masters of the sea.
Making a splash at No. 98 is César, the elegant, seafood-focused restaurant from chef César Ramirez. Located in a century-old space at 333 Hudson Street, the sleek dining room, which has both counter and table seating, gives a front-row view of the kinetic open kitchen. Ramirez, best known for his Michelin-starred work at Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, serves a 13-course tasting menu built on Japanese precision, French technique and impeccable ingredients from around the world. Highlights include Norwegian langoustine with shiso and caviar, and sawara paired with yuzu kosho. It's made for a confident debut for a chef known for holding himself to impossibly high standards—and meeting them.
Also holding steady is midtown's beloved Le Bernardin, coming in at No. 90. A mainstay of fine dining since 1986, the Midtown temple to seafood continues to reel in global acclaim under the stewardship of Chef Eric Ripert. The menus, which range from a vegetarian tasting to a chef's selection of greatest hits, strike a delicate balance of French sophistication and Asian influence. Nearly 40 years in, the restaurant remains one of the city's most consistent fine-dining experiences, with service and flavors as polished as ever.
This year's list welcomed 12 new entries from cities like Tulum, San Francisco and Queenstown, reflecting the evolving diversity of global dining. North America's strong showing also included Atelier Crenn in the Bay Area and Huniik in Mérida, Mexico.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Edinburgh Live

5 hours ago

• Edinburgh Live

Edinburgh celebrity chef reveals how he deals with 'difficult customers'

Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An Edinburgh celebrity chef who has served members of the royal family has revealed how he deals with "difficult customers" after years in the restaurant industry. Tom Kitchin runs The Kitchen, a Michelin-starred eatery in Leith, serving gourmet British cuisine inspired by French cooking techniques. The celebrity chef also operates The Scran & Scallie in Edinburgh and Bonnie Badger in Gullane. Another eatery, Kora, previously on Bruntsfield Place, closed earlier this year. Tom has even launched a frozen food line available in Home Bargains. He and his wife Michaela run the restaurants and Tom recently shared what makes the Kitchin so successful. In a video posted to his Instagram, Tom shared tips and tricks on running his Edinburgh culinary empire, including details on some of the celebrities that have passed through the doors. He also opened up on how to deal with "difficult" customers. Tom shared a memorable moment from when he and Michaela first launched The Kitchen. He said: "The one thing I always remember is that first time Michaela took the phone and she said 'I'm very sorry, we're full. Would you like to be put on the waiting list?' That was a big moment." When asked his favourite person that had been in the restaurant, Tom said: "We've had royals, we've had movie stars, we've had David Beckham, all sorts of people. But really I'm a football man and when Kenny Dalglish offered to pull the first pint in our pub, that for me was really the best." Tom also revealed how he and Mikaela deal with more unruly diners. He said: "How did we deal with difficult customers when we first started? That was really difficult for me. Fortunately, I had Mikaela with me who is very good at dealing with difficult customers and she'd go out and fix it for me. The Kitchin, located at 78 Commercial Quay in Leith, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm–2:30pm and 6pm–10pm. You can find more information about the restaurant here. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community her eand get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

The Herald Scotland

13 hours ago

• The Herald Scotland

When time ran out for the Glasgow Apollo

The venue's peak came during the Seventies and for those of us who were there then, it, and the many gigs we saw there, remain among the defining images of that decade. Alongside, perhaps, the Old Grey Whistle Test, John Peel's cult radio shows, and enthusiastic reading of the music weeklies – Sounds, NME, Melody Maker for news of the latest vinyl and tour dates. Not to mention, of course, the music of the time, whether it was punk and new wave, the Eagles, the Stones, prog, glam, heavy metal or soul. The Apollo memories are imperishable. Many of the bands that played the venue are, like the Apollo itself, no more, having broken up for one reason or another: 'musical differences', frustration over a lack of success, a desire to follow individual dreams. But a gratifying number of groups are still thriving today: Neil Young, the Stones, the Cure, Status Quo, Rod Stewart, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Robert Plant, the Rezillos, Robin Trower, AC/DC, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison. Santana, too. Led by Carlos Santana, who turns 78 next month, they entertained the OVO Hydro just a few nights ago, nearly half a century after their last appearance in Renfield Street. And then there's Paul Weller, of course; it was his old band, The Style Council, who brought the curtain down on the Apollo on Sunday, June 16, 1985. Time has been busy catching up with other Apollo acts. Black Sabbath are bowing out with a huge farewell gig at Birmingham's Villa Park on July 5. That same night, a few miles away elsewhere in the city, Jeff Lynne's ELO will play the first of five last-ever concerts – two in Birmingham, two in Manchester, and one in London's Hyde Park. Elkie Brooks, who experienced the Apollo on a handful of occasions in the latter years of its existence, is on a Long Farewell Tour. In August, The Who will embark on their North America Farewell Tour, To look through the comprehensive gig listings curated by the people behind the excellent Glasgow Apollo website is to be reminded the astonishing wealth of gigs that took place there, across so many genres. The names of some of the acts – Renaissance, Rare Bird, drummer Ginger Baker's group Baker-Gurvitz Army, the all-female US rockers Fanny, Gentle Giant, Kokomo, Glencoe, Golden ('Radar Love') Earring, the Groundhogs, Traffic, Japan's Sadistic Mika Group – are familiar to fans of a certain vintage today. Less familiar, possibly, are Tea, who supported Baker Gurvitz Army in 1975; Dave and the Mistakes, who opened for Elvis Costello and the Attractions in 1981; and Sandii & the Sunsetz, another Japanese group, who were the support act for (of course) Japan in 1982. It's interesting to look back at the music weeklies and see what they made of certain concerts. Here's a small selection: * 'Heat, dust, smoke, lasers and Genesis combined to turn the Glasgow Apollo into a replica of Dante's Inferno when the band descended on the city on Friday night' – Melody Maker, July 1976. * 'Rory G[allagher] made it however, and played an undeniably proficient over two-hour set to the most rapturous reception I've seen in ages. The audience was crazy, drunken, happy, and collectively about as intelligent as the average tree-stump: in short, all the jolly working-class virtues that made me leave Glasgow in the first place' – Sounds, April 1978. * 'Fred Turner [of Bachman Turner Overdrive] is a real sweathog of a bass player. Whether he's hungrily engulfing chip sandwiches in a Glasgow hotel under the lights of a documentary film crew, or bouncing all over the Apollo stage until the lighting towers begin to develop major instabilities, you gotta admit the dude is, like, heavy, man. He ought to do a seesaw act with Leslie West' – NME, May 1975. * 'As a unit [Lynyrd Skynyrd] peaked with 'Tuesday's Gone', which took on a church atmosphere – in Glasgow the audience even started the Terrace Sway.... In Glasgow, the entire audience sang 'Free Bird' in its entirety. That's freaky (good-freaky), 3,000 people singing homage to a guitarist [Duane Allman] they've never seen' – Sounds, February 1976. * 'Backstage at the Apollo the theatre photographer is taking a group shot of the Rolling Stones receiving their trophies earned by selling out the three shows there. 'More ANIMATION pleeeze,' Jagger shouts good naturedly to the nervous photographer. 'When the Faces played here they could only afford one trophy', Woody [Ron Wood] informs the gathering, 'so we gave it to Tetsu [Yamauchi] to make him feel wanted'. Tonight each band member gets their own special souvenir. Just another memory. Keith gives his to Marlon [his son]' – Sounds, April 1976. * 'For Scotland, the Pretender changed tactics. Wearing a tartan wool scarf, he concentrated on rock 'n' roll. It was such good rock that it made me think maybe the Eagles aren't the best American rock 'n' roll band. Maybe the best American rock 'n' roll band is Jackson Browne ... Browne's initial self-centred introspection gently fades away. The Glasgow Apollo was cold, and Jackson Browne wanted to warm the place up with some powerfully generated rock. I almost thought he'd do 'Whole Lotta Shakin'' – Sounds, December 1976. The Apollo was noted, then, for many things: for its unassailable place on the Scottish gig circuit, for the rampant fervour with which many groups were greeted, for the less-than-salubrious nature of its backstage facilities. It all added up to a brilliant, authentic venue. The Apollo was living on borrowed time 40 years ago, however. The outcry that had greeted an earlier closure date, in 1978, when the venue's operators were granted a licence to turn it into a bingo hall, was decidedly more muted in the run-up to the Style Council farewell in 1985. As to why, David Belcher, the Herald's music writer, had this to say: 'The answer on everyone's lips is the Scottish Exhibition Centre, which has been bruited as having the ability to stage five to 10 10,000-seater per year along with up to 40 annual 2,000-seater shows'. Belcher also noted that the Apollo was damp and crumbling and that its fabric had deteriorated alarmingly over the last five years – not surprisingly, perhaps, given that the place had opened, as Green's Playhouse, back in 1927. The Apollo's time was up, then. But who could possibly have guessed in 1985 that its absence would be mourned, four decades later? RUSSELL LEADBETTER

Daily Mirror

14 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Incredible £1.3bn theme park built to rival Disneyland abandoned and left to rot

Mirapolis was created to rival Disneyland Paris when it opened in 1987, but within four years, the ambitious project became one of the country's most infamous failures as it now lies abandoned Once heralded as France's answer to Disneyland Paris, designed to bring French literature to life, Mirapolis now stands as a ghostly and desolate landmark. Initially celebrated as "France's first large amusement park," the site is now eerily deserted. Strategically located less than an hour from Disneyland Paris, Mirapolis opened its doors in 1987 with high hopes of immersing visitors in the wonders of French literary classics. ‌ However, the lofty dreams were short-lived, as within a mere four years, this bold venture turned into one of France's most notorious flops. ‌ Created by architect Anne Fourcade, Mirapolis was intended as a cultural foil to Disneyland, marrying historical literature with thrill-seeking. Backed financially by Saudi businessman Ghaith Pharaon, the whopping construction cost was $600 million – a figure that would translate to around £1.3 billion today considering inflation, the Express reports. Even Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister of France, graced the park's opening and kicked off the excitement surrounding its 29 attractions. According to AD magazine, the new amusement park had high hopes of welcoming as many as 600,000 tourists a year. Yet despite the buzz, problems loomed from day one - relentless rainfall marred its debut season, leading to frequent closures of its open-air rides. Mirapolis did find a silver lining in its theatre, which hosted a popular children's musical with grand puppetry, but insufficient foot traffic persisted. Seemingly lacklustre market research and overzealous financial predictions meant that the park was destined for closure, sealing its fate in 1991 without ever turning a profit. It is said to have been sensationally labelled one of the biggest financial failures in France. ‌ By 1993, the demolition process had started, with most of its structures being removed or sold off. The park's iconic centrepiece, a towering statue of Gargantua from French folklore, stood firm against dismantling until 1995, when its head was finally destroyed with dynamite. Nowadays, all that's left of Mirapolis is some entrance fences, pathways leading to former attractions and a park featuring a small lake. Over time, various plans to breathe new life into the site have been proposed and then abandoned. ‌ Many residents of France still remember the amusement park today, with various comments emerging on X, formerly Twitter, over the years. One former visitor wrote: "This is the France we love", while a second added: "With Gargantua as the figurehead. I went there once with my school. It was pretty awesome. And the ruins remained for years." A third noted: "I remember this park offering wins on TV shows like The Price Is Right and others. It was a dream come true..." Another penned: "Apparently the characters scared children and that's understandable." In response, someone added: "It was awesome, I went mainly for the 'gravitron.' I don't remember being scared of the characters, but they probably terrified others."