Choosing the very best among the multitude of great chefs and cuisines is not for the faint-hearted. Undaunted, International Herald Tribune food critic Patricia Wells spent a year traveling the globe to do just that. Her method: "When I dine, I filter out everything about the restaurant that's not food: its reputation, my preconceived notions or previous experiences, other people's opinions, even the service and the room in which I dine. I focus only on the look, the aroma, the taste, the texture of the food. The restaurant wins or loses on the basis of my physical and emotional response." Concerned at the outset whether she'd know when she'd found the finest example of a country's cuisine, Wells wrote in presenting her choices, "I needn't have worried. When the big one comes along, the earth moves." Picking 10 favorites from the thousands of more casual restaurants with superb food was a far tougher assignment, she says. Her choices:

1. Joel Robuchon
   59 Avenue Raymond-Poincare
   Paris 16, France
   47-27-12-27
   

2. Restaurant Fredy Girardet
   1 Route d'Yverdon
   Crissier, Switzerland
   21-634-0505
   

3. Lai Ching Heen
   The Regent, Salisbury Road,
   Hong Kong
   721-1211
   

4. Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse
   Hotel de Paris, Place du Casino,
   Monte Carlo
   92-16-30-01
   

5. Osteria da Fiore
   San Polo-calle del Scaleter
   Venice, Italy
   41-721-308
   

6. Jiro
   Chuo-ku, Ginza 4-2-15,
   Tsukamoto Sozan Building, B1,
   Tokyo, Japan
   3535-3600
   

7. Guy Savoy
   18 Rue Troyon
   Paris 17, France
   43-80-40-61
   

8. Taillevent
   15 Rue Lamennais
   Paris 8, France
   45-63-96-01
   

9. Restaurant Daniel
   20 East 76th St..
   New York, NY
   212-288-0033
   

10. Da Cesare
    12 Via Umberto
    Albaretto della Torre, Italy
    173-520-141
    

1. Al Forno
   577 South Main St.
   Providence, R.I.
   401-273-9767
   

2. La Tupina
   6 Porte de la Monnaie
   Bordeaux, France
   56-91-56-37
   

3. Frontera Grill
   445 N. Clark St.
   Chicago, IL
   312-661-1434
   

4. City Chiu Chow
   E. Ocean Ct., 98 Granville Rd.,
   Tsim Sha Tsui East
   Kowloon, Hong Kong
   723-6226
   

5. Ca l'Isidre
   Les Flors 12
   Barcelona, Spain
   441-1139
   

6. The Seafood Restaurant
   Riverside, Padstow, Cornwall
   PL28 8BY, England
   841-532-485
   

7. Checchino dal 1887
   30 Via Monte Testaccio
   Rome, Italy
   6-574-6318
   

8. Cibreo
   8R Via del Verrocchio
   Florence, Italy
   55-234-1100
   

9. Viridiana
   Juan de Mena 14
   Madrid, Spain
   523-4478
   

10. Le Cameleon
    6 Rue de Chevreuse
    Paris 6, France
    43-20-63-43
    

SOURCE: International Herald Tribune.

We've started a library of "Living Footnotes" for this section, and welcome your suggestions and your URLs to make it more useful. Use our customized Lycos search to linkthink your way around the web, or feel free to consult the experts about the above topic.

Living Footnotes

• Burgundy Stars: A Year in the Life of a Great French Restaurant - by William Echikson (Little, Brown & Co)