Dominique Crenn Finally Makes It Onto World’s 50 Best List; Just Not the Top 50

Next week in Melbourne, Australia, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants will reveal its annual ranking of expensive culinary establishments run by a collection of predominantly male chefs. But today, the guide unveiled its consolation prize: the 51-100 list, a mix of older venues that fell off the proper list along with newer spots making their debut.

This year’s big news is the appearance of Dominique Crenn. Long heralded as one of America’s great chefs, Crenn has been notably absent from a list whose judges have historically shortchanged female culinarians; there were just two woman chefs on last year’s list (perhaps in recognition of this oversight, the organizers feted her with the dubious honor of "World’s Best Female Chef.")

Crenn has finally made the cut in 2017. Well, sort of. Her Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, an experimental tasting menu spot that holds two Michelin stars, debuted at 83. Unfortunately, unless the guide changes its policy, the low ranking means her restaurant isn’t the recipient of a multi-paragraph writeup. No link to her website is provided. No gorgeously list food photos are included. And the guide doesn’t even publish her phone number. (Here’s that website link in case you want to check it out.)

In other big news, Thomas Keller’s extravagantly pricey Per Se, the subject of blistering reviews from the NYT’s Pete Wells in 2016 and Eater’s Ryan Sutton (that’s me), continued its free fall to 87. It’s a steep drop from 2013, when the three Michelin-starred temple ranked in the top 10. By contrast, Keller’s Napa Valley flagship, the French Laundry, crept back up to 68 from last year’s 85 following a $10 million kitchen renovation (it was once ranked the "world’s best restaurant").

A number of prominent venues unexpectedly dropped off the main list. Fäviken, Magnus Nilsson’s heralded but hard-to-get-to destination in northern Sweden, fell from 41 to 57. Cape Town’s Test Kitchen plummeted from 22 to 63; it was the only restaurant on the list located in Africa. And New York’s Estela, an affordable-ish and perennially packed small-plates place that doesn’t even offer a tasting menu, fell from 44 to 66.

Here's the full back 50. Use the comments to chime in on whether you agree or disagree with the selections. [Update: Now that they've been announced, here's the top 50 World's Best Restaurants, too.]

51. Mikla (Istanbul)

52. Nihonryori RyuGin (Tokyo)

53. Burnt Ends (Singapore)

54. Lyle’s (London)

55. Disfrutar (Barcelona)

56. Nerua (Bilbao)

57. Faviken (Jarpen, Sweden)

58. Momofuku Ko (New York City)

59. Combal Zero (Italy)

60. 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Hong Kong)

61. Hertog Jan (Bruges, Belgium)

62. Quique Dacosta (Denia, Spain)

63. The Test Kitchen (Cape Town, South Africa)

64. La Grenouillere (La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil, France)

65. Biko (Mexico City)

66. Estela (New York City)

67. Benu (San Francisco)

68. The French Laundry

69. Hisa Franko (Kobarid, Slovenia)

70. Aqua (Wolfsburg, Germany)

71. Lung King Heen (Hong Kong)

72. Schloss Schauenstein (Furstenau, Switzerland)

73. La Colombe (Cape Town, South Africa)

74. The Jane (Antwerp, Belgium)

75. Sud 777 (Mexico City)

76. Lasai (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

77. Martín Berasategui (Lasarte-Oria, Spain)

78. Indian Accent (New Delhi)

79. Maaemo (Oslo)

80. Le Cinq (Paris)

81. Maní (São Paulo)

82. Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (New York City)

83. Atelier Crenn (San Francisco)

84. The Restaurant at Meadowood (St. Helena, CA)

85. Belcanto (Lisbon)

86. Odette (Singapore)

87. Per Se (New York City)

88. Selfie (Moscow)

89. Mingles (Seoul)

90. Manresa (Los Gatos, CA)

91. St John (London)

92. Twins (Moscow)

93. Le Chateaubriand (Paris)

94. Kadeau (Copenhagen)

95. Quay (Sydney)

96. Epicure (Paris)

97. Sushi Saito (Tokyo)

98. Hedone (London)

99. Florilège (Tokyo)

100. Olympe (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)