With just eight tables and an ever-changing menu that’s written in the style of a poem, Dominique Crenn’s flagship restaurant offers an intimate, auteurist dining experience. It’s one of eight Bay Area restaurants to receive the coveted three-star rating from the 2019 Michelin Guide. The French-born chef also operates the more casual, but still luxe San Francisco restaurants Petit Crenn and Bar Crenn. Read a full recap of Dominique Crenn’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Niki Nakayama’s intimate kaiseki restaurant is one the stars of LA’s fine dining scene. In his ode to the restaurant from 2017, Eater LA’s senior editor Farley Elliott wrote: “N/naka famously never repeats a dish for returning customers and keeps extensive notes on anyone who has dined with them, which makes every return customer a new challenge and a new opportunity to go deeper into what makes the chefs, their staff, and the unseen army of producers and purveyors tick.” Read a full recap of Niki Nakayama’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Nancy Silverton’s perennially-packed LA restaurant serves rustic Italian food made with the best local ingredients available. The restaurant sits right next to spinoffs Pizzeria Mozza and the meat-centric Chi Spacca. Some of Silverton’s greatest hits — including her pizzas and the famous “Nancy’s chopped salad” — are also available for take-away in a storefront around the corner called Mozza2Go. Read a full recap of Nancy Silverton’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Grant Achatz’s Chicago flagship is arguably America’s most renowned modernist cuisine restaurant. Meals here typically run around four hours and involve several interactive courses and theatrical moments. In addition to the “gallery menu,” Alinea also offers a more exclusive “kitchen table” experience, plus a pared-down “salon menu” on the second level. Reservations are generally booked two months in advance, with new bookings released on the 15th of the month. In addition to Alinea, Achatz and his partner Nick Kokonas also operate another fine dining restaurant, Next, as well as the more casual Roister and the cocktail bar the Aviary. Read a full recap of Grant Achatz’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Mashama Bailey serves a menu influenced by Southern, African, and New American cuisines at this acclaimed restaurant, which is housed in a former Greyhound bus station. In his “restaurant of the year” appreciation from 2016, then-Eater critic Bill Addison wrote: “The fare — with its nuanced wielding of spices, its adoration of vegetables, and its telltale bacon smokiness that rattles through so many dishes like a train whistling in the distance — all hearken not only to a place, but also to a person.”  

The tasting menu at Virgilio Martinez and Pia Leon’s celebrated Lima restaurant takes guests on a culinary journey from the ocean to the Andes. In addition to Central, the duo also runs the Hong Kong restaurant Ichu, and an Andean-focused establishment called Mil near Cusco, Peru. León also has a more casual Lima restaurant called Kjolle, and the chef and her husband are planning a new project in Madre de Dios, Peru. Central landed at number six on the 2018 edition of the World’s 50 Best list. Read the full recap of Virgilio Martinez’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Cristina Martinez serves her famous slow-cooked lamb barbacoa at this casual taqueria in Philadelphia’s Italian Market. South Philly Barbacoa is open from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday (though the restaurant may close early if the food runs out.) Read the full recap of Cristina Martinez’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Christina Tosi’s bakery turns classic American desserts inside out. The tiny East Village outpost of this burgeoning chain sits directly across the street from the bakery’s original home in a corner of the Momofuku Ssäm Bar space. If you’re new to the Milk Bar phenomenon, try the crack pie, corn cookie, or cereal milk soft serve. Read a full recap of Christina Tosi’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Dan Barber’s restaurant in Pocantico Hills, New York serves tasting menus that highlight ingredients that have been plucked from the soil directly outside the dining room, as well as other local farms. In 2016, Eater’s then-critic Bill Addison declared that Blue Hill at Stone Barns was the best restaurant in America, writing: “Dining here doesn’t just defy our assumptions of what a restaurant can and should be, it elevates them. It can even change how we view the world.” In addition to Stone Barns, Barber also operates a Manhattan outpost of Blue Hill in Greenwich Village that also serves tasting menus. Read a full recap of Dan Barber’s Chef’s Table episode here.

The flagship restaurant from Argentine celebrity chef Francis Mallman serves rustic grilled meat and seafood dishes in an intimate, parlor-like dining room. Reservations are a must. The chef also operates restaurants in Uruguay, Miami, Chile, and France. Read a full recap of Francis Mallmann’s Chef’s Table episode here.

The São Paulo restaurant from Alex Atala serves forward-thinking fare that showcases native Brazilian ingredients. D.O.M. landed at number 30 on the 2018 edition of the World’s 50 Best list. Atala also operates an all-day cafe called Bio, and a meat-centric restaurant by the name of Açougue Central, both of which are located in São Paulo. Read a full recap of Alex Atala’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Asma Khan’s London restaurant serves traditional dishes from Bengal and Calcutta made with organic ingredients sourced from local British producers. Born out of a supper club project, Darjeeling Express is staffed exclusively by women. A portion of the proceeds from the restaurant go to the Second Daughters Fund, a charitable organization that provides support to Indian girls who, like Khan, are second daughters. All of the food at Darjeeling Limited is offered à la carte.

Albert Adrià creates inventive riffs on traditional Spanish tapas at this Barcelona hot spot. The chef also runs the tasting menu destination Enigma, the Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant Pakta, the vermouth bar Bodega 1900, and the Mexican-inspired Hoja Santa and Nino Viejo, all of which are located in Barcelona. Read the full recap of Albert Adrià’s Chef’s Table episode here.

The menu changes often at Adeline Grattard’s small fine dining restaurant in the 11th Arrondissement, but guests can always expect to find dishes that marry seasonal French ingredients with Chinese techniques. The tasting menu, with around ten courses, costs €150 (around $170), and a pared-down lunch menu is available Wednesday through Friday for €70 (around $80). Grattard’s husband Chi Wah manages the restaurant and its tea service, and the duo also operates a takeaway shop specializing in tea and dim sum. Read a full recap of Adeline Grattard’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Meals at this forward-thinking Spanish restaurant end with an array of treats from pastry chef Jordi Roca, who loves playing with forms and flavors. One of his most famous creations, “the Rainy Forest,” actually includes distilled dirt as one of its edible components, to evoke a sense memory from childhood. El Celler de Can Roca landed at the top of the World’s 50 Best list twice over the last decade, and, as of summer 2018, it’s listed at number two. Read the full recap of Jordi Roca’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Third generation chef Michel Troisgros serves seasonal French fare with global influences at this storied fine dining restaurant near Roanne, France. Troisgros was awarded three stars in the 2019 Michelin Guide to France. Read the full recap of Michel Troisgros’s Chef’s Table episode here.

In addition to a world-famous butcher shop, Dario Cecchini’s culinary complex in Panzano, Italy also has three restaurants where guests can enjoy various meat dishes and vegetable sides, family-style. The lunch-only Dario DOC is the most casual of the three.Reservations are recommended for the nose-to-tail focused Solociccia and the steak-centric Officina Della Bistecca.

At this lodge-like fine dining restaurant, chef Magnus Nilsson puts a modern spin on Sweden’s old-world recipes. In the past, Nilsson has served dishes like: pig’s head in sourdough with pickled gooseberry; a cottage cheese pie with preserved mushrooms; blood bread with moose broth, back-fat, and onions; and cured reindeer meat pie. The restaurant also has accommodations for guests who wish to stay the night. Read a full recap of Magnus Nilsson’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Chef Tim Raue’s Berlin restaurant serves Asian-inspired fine dining fare in an airy, but intimate setting. In addition to his eight-course tasting, Raue offers a set of “classic” dishes as well as an à la carte menu. The eight-course meal costs €198,00 (approximately $225). Restaurant Tim Raue landed at number 37 on the 2018 edition of the World’s 50 Best list. Read a full recap of Tim Rau’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Corrado Assenza’s gelati and granita are the main draws at this charming cafe in the town of Noto, Sicily. But the acclaimed chef also makes all manner of traditional Italian sweets, from cakes to cannoli. Read a full recap of Corrado Assenza’s Chef’s Table episode here.

For the last three decades, Musa Dağdeviren has served grilled meat dishes and thin, crispy lahmacun at this casual Istanbul restaurant on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait. Its sister restaurant on the same block, Çiya Sofrasi, offers regional dishes inspired by Dağdeviren’s travels around Turkey. Read the full recap of Musa Dağdeviren’s Chef’s Table episode here.

At this glass-domed restaurant, perched 16 floors above Moscow’s Smolenskaya Square, Vladimir Mukhin serves a tasting menu showcasing Russian ingredients, as well as an à la carte menu of reimagined classics from his homeland. The tasting menu includes around 15 courses for 10,000 ₽ (approximately $153). White Rabbit landed at number 15 on the 2018 edition of the World’s 50 Best list. Read a full recap of Vladimir Mukhin’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Married chefs Bo Songvisava and Dylan Jones prepare tasting menus at this acclaimed Bangkok restaurant that channel Thailand’s culinary past. The duo is committed to using sustainably-grown local ingredients whenever possible. Bo.lan offers three tasting menus priced from ฿ 3,280 to ฿ 3,680 (approximately $105 to $118). Read the full recap of Bo Songvisava’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Will Goldfarb serves an ever-changing tasting menu of desserts made with local, seasonal ingredients at this Bali culinary destination. With spirit pairings, the dessert bacchanal will set you back around $80. The menu changes often, but you can expect enough food to constitute a full meal. For the first time in nearly a decade, Room 4 Dessert announced plans to take a winter break from January through April this year. Read the full recap of Will Goldfarb’s Chef’s Table episode here.

Jeong Kwan, the Zen Buddhist nun featured in Season 3 of Chef’s Table, does not cook in a restaurant. But the temple where she lives opens its doors to a limited number of visitors throughout the year. Baegyangsa takes reservations for a temple stay program called “Experience of Original Temple Food and Culture With Monk,” where a meal is part of the itinerary. The cost of this program is 150,000 KRW (approximately $134) per person. Read a full recap of Jeong Kwan’s Chef’s Table episode here.