[0:00] If there are over 1 million restaurants
across North America and an equal
[0:04] number of best restaurant lists,
[0:06] how could you possibly
know which are really...
[0:08] the best?
What if there was one ultimate list?
[0:11] Well, there actually is,
[0:13] and it says there are five
restaurants making food better than
[0:15] anywhere else on the continent.
[0:17] So I'm testing the top five on the list,
[0:19] eating over 100 courses across
North America to see if the list
[0:23] is as accurate as they say it is.
And better yet,
[0:26] is it worth it?
At every stop,
[0:27] we're bringing a very important
guest. Many will be people who
[0:31] rarely eat food like this.
[0:32] A representative of the people.
[0:34] And at our final stop,
[0:35] a chef who knows what it
takes to be number one.
[0:38] Starting not only with a
two-Michelin-star restaurant,
[0:41] but you need a secret...
code to get in.
[0:46] So we step inside a place called Tanière.
[0:48] This is something I've never...
seen before.
[0:51] A long, eerie tunnel.
And then another.
[0:53] Am I going to be locked
away down here forever?
[0:55] Kidding.
I hope.
[0:56] This entire restaurant lives underground,
[0:58] carved into a series
of connected chambers.
[1:01] And as the night goes on,
we'll move deeper and deeper.
[1:04] And our first special guest
waiting in the snack room is Gurky,
[1:07] a local Canadian food YouTuber who
has never been to a place like this.
[1:11] One of only two,
[1:12] two-Michelin-star
restaurants in all of Canada.
[1:15] The snacks were very unique,
but the first main course.
[1:18] Whoa.
[1:19] This is their signature dish called Noble,
[1:21] which in the bottom is
a rich butter sauce...
[1:24] And on top, scallops,
[1:25] poached in that butter with
another topping of a massive
[1:29] pile of the finest caviar.
[1:30] And then they serve that all topped off.
[1:32] The first beverage you get in
here is a beautiful glass of
[1:35] champagne to go with that.
[1:37] I mean, the good life.
[1:39] C'est bon dans 'yeule.
[1:40] Good in the mouth.
[1:41] C'est bon dans 'yeule.
[1:42] Yes!
[1:43] Welcome to Quebec.
[1:44] All the layers work together.
[1:46] They're leveraging very simple
flavors that are very powerful.
[1:49] And then this champagne cuts through
it like a hot knife in butter.
[1:53] It is so sharp and tart and just
[1:56] mineralic.
Is that a word?
[1:58] This meal makes you want to wear
a huge coat of fur and be a Noble.
[2:03] Next up.
[2:04] At the bottom of the
plate is a lobster tail.
[2:05] At the top,
a center cut slice of the lobster claw.
[2:08] And to the left, various greens.
[2:10] But more importantly, matsutake mushroom.
[2:14] Wow, that is so,
[2:15] so packed full of lobster
flavor and like a toasted,
[2:18] like this roasted mushroom flavor.
[2:20] Honestly,
that's borderline MSG hack right there.
[2:23] That's crazy.
[2:24] Full of umami.
Like, it's crazy.
[2:26] The fact that we're getting this from
the number five makes me kind of,
[2:29] like almost,
like nervous.
[2:30] Like, what is number one gonna be?
[2:31] Like,
maybe this deserves to be number one.
[2:33] I don't know.
[2:33] This next one could propel Tanière to the
top of my personal leaderboard so far.
[2:37] So we have a big rock.
[2:38] Ooga booga.
[2:41] So we have cheese,
[2:42] Au Gré des Champs.
[2:43] Yes.
[2:44] Cheese.
[2:45] Let's go.
[2:45] Now,
[2:46] in the upper left and
lower right is that cheese.
[2:48] Shaved morel mushrooms in the bottom,
[2:50] and in the center is a
crunchy tuile cylinder.
[2:53] And inside that,
more of that cheese in a foam form.
[2:56] Cheers.
[2:57] Oh, I have a Ratatouille moment.
Being in...
[3:00] the woods with my father and
walking on a mushroom that farts.
[3:05] I don't like this story,
but I love this dish.
[3:07] That's a 10 out of 10.
[3:08] That is a perfect...
dish.
[3:10] This is a dish that would signal me
that we are in a restaurant that belongs
[3:14] in the top 50 best restaurants...
in America.
[3:16] Creme brulee at a Michelin restaurant.
[3:18] On the left, more caviar.
[3:20] And on the right, a maple creme brulee.
[3:22] I'm a little skeptical.
Oh, wow.
[3:24] That's insane.
[3:25] If someone were to have asked me,
what's your favorite use of caviar ever?
[3:29] I might have said, on a potato chip,
mixed into a sauce.
[3:32] I'm going to go ahead and
say it's creme brulee.
[3:34] Number five is low-key
swinging for number one.
[3:37] The first dessert.
Insane.
[3:39] But could the final dessert match
the surprise I felt entering...
[3:42] the final room?
[3:43] An ice cream sandwich that on the
outside has a crunchy praline,
[3:47] and then inside,
[3:48] that little thinner part
is essentially a jelly,
[3:50] and the thicker,
creamy part is a maple ice cream.
[3:53] So, yeah, ice cream.
[3:55] I have a Ratatouille moment once again.
[3:58] This is exactly like
being in a sugar shack.
[4:00] It feels exactly like a maple taffy.
It's delicious.
[4:03] Everything was extremely good.
10 out of 10.
[4:06] I loved it.
Memorable experience.
[4:08] You should try it out.
[4:09] Most people would love this kind of food
because everything that was served are
[4:13] things that are craveable and delicious
and interesting without being,
[4:16] like, so crazy.
[4:17] Incredibly fresh local ingredients
executed literally perfectly.
[4:21] Who's not gonna love that?
[4:22] So is it worth it?..
Duh.
[4:24] But is it a number five
or is it a number one?
[4:27] It's gonna be a hard question to answer
because the remaining spots are insane.
[4:30] Number three is a barn,
literally in the middle of nowhere.
[4:33] Number two, reminder,
in all of America,
[4:35] is just a simple neighborhood wine bar.
[4:37] And number one is inside a New
York City apartment building.
[4:40] We've got an interesting experience ahead.
[4:43] But next, Smyth in Chicago,
[4:45] the only three-Michelin-star
restaurant in the top five.
[4:48] One of only 14 restaurants in all of
America have been bestowed three stars.
[4:53] This is about obsessive creativity.
[4:55] But there's something
unusual they do here.
[4:57] Constant risk taking in the
middle of dinner service,
[5:00] which we'll see soon.
[5:01] And joining me on this adventure is quite
possibly the perfect person for the job.
[5:05] Mr. Beef himself, Christopher Zucchero.
[5:07] What the show The Bear is modeled after...
[5:09] Not only is he a restaurateur,
but he's a lifelong dining skeptic.
[5:13] So we're gonna find out if we change this
man or if his beliefs are solidified.
[5:17] You're not a big fine dining guy.
[5:19] So what do you think of
restaurants like this,
[5:21] and are they worth it?
[5:22] Normally, I would not do this.
[5:24] My wife eats like this.
[5:25] Her friends eat like this.
[5:26] And I've been invited to a
lot of nice places like this.
[5:29] It's just never been my thing.
[5:30] Who would want to eat like this?
[5:32] This isn't comfortable.
[5:33] Now we're gonna see how you feel...
after the meal.
[5:36] Within minutes of being seated,
[5:37] they put something on the table
that I'm worried is going to...
[5:40] upset Chris,
but I thought it was beautiful.
[5:42] That leaf-like object on
top is actually seaweed,
[5:45] and underneath,
a tart filled with Hokkaido uni.
[5:48] Interesting.
It's beautiful.
[5:49] Looks like a piece of art.
[5:50] Why would you want to
eat something like this?
[5:52] Shall we?
Let's go, my love.
[5:53] One bite.
[5:55] Delicious brother.
[5:56] Oh wow.
[5:57] Super well seasoned and
a little bit of umami.
[5:59] Tasted like a real excellent Ritz cracker.
[6:04] Okay, he's being nice,
but let's be honest,
[6:06] he seems pretty unimpressed.
Next up.
[6:07] I think this is the thinnest
sandwich in the world.
[6:10] The bread,
[6:11] crispy corn tuile filled with
a lot of truffle and pate.
[6:14] Second course.
[6:15] And we already have a sandwich
with the king of sandwiches.
[6:18] My wife's gonna be proud.
[6:19] She's not gonna believe that
I ate something like this.
[6:23] What flavors and textures
are you picking up,
[6:25] Chris?
[6:26] I don't know, man.
[6:27] It's delicious, though.
[6:28] This is one of those things
that no matter who eats it,
[6:30] they'll find it delicious and
they won't understand why.
[6:33] It's like the perfect,
[6:34] perfect pairing of an assortment
of flavors that you don't normally
[6:36] see together greater than
the sum of its parts.
[6:38] I would normally not eat pate,
but all that together was
[6:43] outstanding.
It was delicious.
[6:44] I almost want to eat Vicram's right now.
[6:47] Next up, I don't love uni.
[6:49] And this is like, uni on uni on uni.
So...
[6:51] without further ado.
[6:54] I think it's delicious.
[6:55] This is really good, dude.
It's very refreshing.
[6:57] Kind of insanely good.
[6:58] It's, like,
both rich and light at the same time.
[7:01] This is one of the only ways I think
you're gonna get me to eat uni.
[7:04] Restaurants like this will put things
in front of you that are often,
[7:08] like,
underappreciated or ignored or scary,
[7:11] and they find ways to make you love them.
[7:13] And I think that is hallmark
of not just great cookery,
[7:16] but also good creativity.
[7:17] It's basically saying,
[7:18] we're gonna take this thing that not
everybody loves and just figure it out...
[7:23] And then a puffed liquid
nitrogen frozen disc...
[7:25] of lobster with peanut milk in the bottom.
[7:29] This is the most lobstery lobster
I've ever tasted in my life.
[7:32] What he said.
[7:33] It tastes like an amazing
Thai dish right now.
[7:36] Probably number one lobster bite
I've had in the last 12 months.
[7:39] It's the only thing like
this I've ever had ever,
[7:42] in the 45 years I've been on this planet.
[7:45] I can't believe it.
[7:46] Is this actually changing
Chris's mind here?
[7:48] We haven't won him over yet, though,
so on to the next course.
[7:51] Three Michelin stars don't fuck around.
[7:53] They design their spoons for the
vessels that you're eating out of.
[7:56] This is essentially a lobster chawanmushi,
which is a savory Japanese egg custard.
[8:02] It's so hard to make
something cold that flavorful.
[8:04] It's crazy.
[8:05] I like custards.
Whatever came out of that was delicious.
[8:08] This is the type of dish that makes
a restaurant two or three Michelin.
[8:12] It also is the type of dish that
will get you on the top 50 list,
[8:15] especially...
in the top five.
[8:17] I don't like seafood.
[8:18] I've engulfed everything
that's been seafood.
[8:20] It's easy to do here.
[8:21] He goes, "I don't like seafood." I'm,
like,
[8:23] hammering him with the seafood restaurant.
[8:25] No, you do whatever you want to me,
Joshua, I'm enjoying this.
[8:28] Chris was shocked,
but it turns out I am as well.
[8:31] And it gets crazier.
[8:32] Smyth is known for creating
dishes on the spot,
[8:34] and believe it or not,
they did that with this.
[8:37] A completely translucent ravioli.
Like, look at this.
[8:39] You can see through them,
filled with pea broth and hoja santa.
[8:44] Banger.
Bingo.
[8:45] This was seasoned 30 seconds ago.
[8:47] They dialed it in just
now and then sent it out.
[8:49] From an operational standpoint, it's,
like,
[8:52] not only borderline impossible
but it also is ballsy.
[8:55] This is another on the spot dish.
[8:56] The little brown pieces
are brined young walnut,
[8:59] a quenelle of cream sitting in a broth,
[9:01] and possibly the most generous
serving of caviar I've ever seen.
[9:05] Hopefully, Chris likes caviar.
[9:08] It's f***ing crazy.
[9:09] There's no way they haven't tested this.
[9:10] This is the best caviar
dish I've ever had.
[9:12] Same here.
[9:13] Like,
this is a 10 out of 10 use of caviar.
[9:15] This is it.
This is the one.
[9:17] A three Michelin star restaurant
constantly striving for utter perfection.
[9:21] And they're like, f*** it.
[9:22] Let's just test brand new dishes
on these guys that we've never
[9:24] put on the menu ever before.
[9:26] Right now on camera.
[9:27] You gotta respect that.
[9:28] I understand
[9:29] why this is at the top
five restaurant in America.
[9:32] I also am beginning to question,
[9:34] should this be number one?
[9:35] Then came the most beautiful bread
I've ever seen in my entire life.
[9:40] This looks like it belongs with
the gods on Mount Olympus...
[9:43] Oh, my God.
[9:45] That is diabolical.
[9:47] How good that is.
[9:48] It makes Parker House rolls
look like f***ing b******t.
[9:51] All right, that's what it does.
[9:53] I don't know if this is our last course,
but if it is,
[9:55] that was one hell of a crescendo.
[9:57] And that means that dessert is next.
[9:59] Of course.
It's rice pudding,
[10:00] My favorite quintessential...
dessert.
[10:03] Any place has rice pudding.
[10:05] I automatically get it.
[10:06] There's a twist, though.
[10:07] The twist is that it has foie gras in it.
[10:09] And I'm gonna be honest with you guys.
[10:10] I don't like foie gras that much.
[10:11] Neither do I.
[10:12] They're f***ing it up for us.
Man,
[10:14] I really hope this is not a risk
that doesn't pay off for them.
[10:17] It all comes down to this.
[10:19] Mm.
I hate foie gras.
[10:21] I hate all that stuff.
[10:22] But the rice pudding is warm.
[10:24] Most people never have that s***.
Rice pudding warm.
[10:27] This just won me over,
even though there's foie gras in it.
[10:29] I love you, Josh.
And I love you, Vic.
[10:32] Going through this whole thing,
[10:33] we took you to the number four
restaurant in North America,
[10:36] three Michelin star Smyth.
Is it worth it?
[10:39] I think I've reached my ne plus ultra,
as they say,
[10:41] which is the French word for like,
the limit.
[10:44] I've eaten 24 inch pizzas by myself,
all types of racks of ribs.
[10:48] I've never been this full in a while.
[10:50] I didn't think a place like this,
you could fill up on that.
[10:53] And I'm completely wrong about that.
[10:55] So I apologize for sitting
in my restaurant for
[10:57] so many years,
[10:58] f***ing harping on joints like
this because clearly you can
[11:01] get your money's worth here.
[11:02] I'm stuffed right now, Joshua.
[11:04] Wow.
Honestly.
[11:05] On to the next.
[11:07] Now that we've come back to the US
we're actually going to go right back
[11:10] to Canada for restaurant number three,
Pearl Morissette.
[11:12] This one might be one of the weirdest.
[11:14] It's just on a random farm
in the middle of nowhere.
[11:16] So if all of their food is
being served off the farm,
[11:18] how are they going to deliver any sort
of an experience when it looks like this?
[11:22] So this is their moment to prove
their seating on the list...
[11:24] If they can still deliver,
do they deserve to be number one?
[11:27] Eating with us is Canada's
biggest calorie consumer
[11:30] bodybuilding YouTube legend,
[11:32] Will Tennyson.
As a bodybuilder,
[11:34] you try to get every last ounce
of value out of what you consume.
[11:37] So Will is the perfect
person to help us decide.
[11:39] Is this meal truly worth it?
[11:40] We'll make that decision at the end.
[11:42] Here we have a tart filled with crab.
[11:44] But you see that little clear jelly
looking stuff underneath the crab?
[11:48] That's a hardened gel of pure crab flavor.
[11:50] I don't want to eat it.
[11:52] I want to frame it.
[11:53] It's beautiful.
[11:55] Then in front of us,
we have what looks like a taquito to me.
[11:56] But it's not a taquito.
[11:57] It is a roe crispy carrot.
Cheers.
[11:59] That's a nice taquito.
Whoa.
[12:01] The tart shell.
[12:05] That was executed well.
[12:07] I love, like,
the crispy wafer at the bottom.
[12:09] Oh, my God.
[12:10] Never had anything close to this.
[12:11] This is just a snack.
You gotta calm down.
[12:13] I thought when he put this down,
[12:14] this is like a little
burrito or something.
[12:16] But it's a towel.
You never know.
[12:18] This dish is interesting.
[12:19] I wasn't expecting to see a geoduck dish,
[12:21] which is a type of clam
that looks like a penis.
[12:24] Oh, huge penis, actually.
I love that.
[12:27] It's very fresh.
[12:28] It almost reminds me of
like a Chinese egg custard,
[12:30] even though there's no egg in it.
[12:31] Not only is this beautiful,
but it's hyper, hyper,
[12:33] hyper local.
[12:34] Because they have stuff that's
coming from the ocean locally,
[12:36] and then they have stuff that's
coming from their greenhouse locally.
[12:38] Are you supposed to, like,
superset,
[12:40] like the sake with the dish or you, like,
finish one and then go...
[12:43] Yes, superset.
The sake.
[12:44] Crazy use of superset.
[12:46] This is where things got a little unusual.
[12:47] Instead of a small plate,
we were given a giant slice of bread.
[12:50] Did you smell it?
[12:51] Sniff the underside of that.
Right.
[12:53] Wow.
[12:54] Yeah.
[12:55] So fine dining,
you typically see a lot of small portions,
[12:56] which you've already seen, but we have...
[12:58] the signature dish,
which is from a 3 kilo loaf of bread.
[13:01] They did specify you can have
as much of it as you like.
[13:03] Should we ask for more?
[13:05] Of course we should.
[13:05] I low key, could just do this
[13:07] and then just eat that.
[13:08] That's crazy, man.
[13:09] Macros are dead.
[13:10] Memories over macros, right?
Mmhmm.
[13:13] Why is bread so f***ing good?
[13:14] I don't even know.
It doesn't make sense.
[13:16] But I can almost taste the fact
that the butter was made here.
[13:19] It tastes so fresh.
[13:21] You give it a 10 out of 10?
[13:22] I give it a 9.
[13:23] Damn.
[13:24] Almost perfect.
[13:24] This is supposedly the most
perfectly cooked lobster ever,
[13:27] but will it compete with the
lobster dish at Taniere and Smyth?
[13:31] I don't smile much,
but this one's making me smile.
[13:33] I haven't even eaten it yet.
[13:35] This one deserves a standing ovation.
[13:37] It is a privilege to be here right now.
[13:39] We've had lobster at almost every single
restaurant we went to on this list.
[13:42] Best lobster dish by far.
That is a banger.
[13:44] Cooked absolutely perfectly.
[13:46] Seasoned perfectly without losing
any of the flavor of the lobster.
[13:49] On to the next course.
[13:50] The most perfectly cooked
scallop sitting on top of pearls,
[13:54] made of lobster, green strawberry,
and served tableside...
[13:57] a savory broth.
[13:59] Oh, this is so good.
[14:00] First of all,
the scallop is cooked insane.
[14:02] Ooh.
Tastes like bacon.
[14:05] I also am getting that.
[14:06] They're leveraging all the briny
flavors of the sea in this.
[14:08] You have dashi, rich umami.
[14:10] God, the scallop is just,
like, briny and perfectly cooked.
[14:12] It, like,
melts in your mouth,
[14:14] and I don't know how to
say it without saying it,
[14:15] but the little balls in your mouth.
Incredible.
[14:17] Like texturally.
[14:18] Actually, yeah.
Honestly, Will's right.
[14:20] The balls in your mouth are crazy.
[14:21] Like, I love these balls in my mouth.
[14:23] Gargle them around and then chew.
[14:25] Whoa.
Yeah.
[14:27] So we've moved on to
an interesting course.
[14:29] This is a celery root,
one of my most favorite vegetables.
[14:31] They like
[14:32] let it stay in the ground
too long so it freezes over,
[14:34] and then it thaws,
[14:35] and then they slowly cook
it for multiple hours.
[14:37] It smells more like a croissant
[14:40] than celery root.
[14:41] That's bonkers.
That's a flex.
[14:43] My toenails are curling.
[14:45] Wait pause.
[14:46] How are you supposed to go
back after something like this?
[14:48] You know what I mean?
[14:49] Like,
if my wife makes me dinner when I go home,
[14:50] I'm just gonna throw it away...
[14:51] I'm like, this is what I expect now.
Like,
[14:52] you're not making me
celery root like this.
[14:54] Give it to the dog.
[14:55] How many calories you think
we're at for the meal so far?
[14:57] I'm gonna say we're at 1350,
maybe you 2000 with the butter.
[15:00] You're right.
[15:01] Yeah.
[15:02] This is the best dish I've had so far.
[15:03] This is number one.
[15:04] Number two is the lobster,
[15:06] and number three is the
tart in the very beginning.
[15:08] I just want to point out the fact that
what beat out lobster was a vegetable.
[15:12] Not just a vegetable,
but a really f***ing ugly vegetable.
[15:15] I don't know about this one, guys.
[15:16] A halibut dish sitting what
they call an onion bubble bath.
[15:20] Ah.
And more caviar.
[15:21] Of course.
That is a f***ing banger.
[15:24] Personally, we got another number one.
[15:26] No!
[15:27] it's seasoned perfectly...
[15:28] Balanced perfectly.
[15:28] The caviar, little pops of umami,
and salty brininess from that.
[15:32] The fish is cooked perfectly.
[15:33] But what I really love about this
is the explosion of smoke in my
[15:36] mouth from the smoked onion.
[15:38] Like, every bite, I'm like...
[15:39] almost like my mind just goes clear.
[15:40] It's just so good, though.
[15:41] We were getting tremendously full,
but then at the start of dessert,
[15:44] they threw us a curveball
that really confused Will.
[15:47] Can you explain to me why at this
point we need to have cheese?
[15:50] It's like, the last thing I want.
[15:51] Honestly, I don't know, but I like it.
[15:53] Yeah.
I'm not gonna complain about it but...
[15:54] You sound like you're complaining.
[15:55] I guess I am complaining about it.
Yeah.
[15:59] I think it's kind of like...
[16:06] Oh, oh, you're changing your mind?
[16:08] That honey.
[16:09] I'm never gonna be able to
enjoy other honey ever again.
[16:11] This feels like the most
luxurious bite we've had.
[16:13] We're transitioning into dessert
quite literally with a very sweet
[16:17] but also a very salty dish.
[16:18] Our first two desserts were tasty,
but not crazy.
[16:21] A rosehip ice cream and an apple tart.
[16:22] But now we have something
I didn't know was possible.
[16:25] We have reached the final two courses.
[16:27] So far, they've had non-stop bangers.
[16:29] A few ones that didn't
quite impress us as much,
[16:31] but ultimately, I think overall,
[16:32] we could agree this has been a
pretty phenomenal experience.
[16:35] Are they going to win it at the end,
or is this going to be a crash?
[16:37] I feel like they have to.
They have to end on a high note.
[16:39] I feel like the chefs back there
know that this has to bang.
[16:43] The more I eat this the more I like it.
[16:45] I appreciate the creativity of this.
[16:46] We ate that fast.
Hang on.
[16:49] We have warm madeleines.
[16:52] It's like a little banana bread pillow.
[16:54] Crispy on the outside.
[16:55] It's almost like a donut
and a cake at the same time.
[16:57] I love the cold, and I love the hot.
[17:00] It's a nice, lighter thing to finish off.
[17:02] Kind of like a fruity finish.
[17:03] Holistically,
this meal has been absolutely bonkers.
[17:06] I wish it would have ended
with a bit more of a bang,
[17:08] but I have mixed feelings about it,
and I want your actual opinion.
[17:11] Is it worth it?
[17:12] I feel like there was a few moments
within this meal that I'm going to
[17:15] talk about for a very long time.
[17:17] I think that food is more than just food.
It's an experience.
[17:19] And I think you'll be able to, like,
go and share that with other people...
[17:21] Makes it worthwhile.
That, like, halibut, that lobster.
[17:24] I think it's definitely worth it.
[17:26] We're at number three,
but does this belong at number one?
[17:29] So we move on
to number two...
[17:31] This is Mon Lapin in Montreal, Quebec.
[17:34] This is the biggest upset on the
entire list because it's nothing
[17:38] like any of the other restaurants.
[17:40] It has zero Michelin stars,
no tasting menu, reasonable prices,
[17:44] and it's run by one of the chillest
chefs I think I've ever met.
[17:47] But I'm a little bit in the hot seat
here because we're with Chef Laurent.
[17:51] He's a regular here.
He's a native,
[17:52] and his goal is to convince me that
Mon Lapin should be number one on
[17:56] the list. We'll see if he's
right at the end of the video.
[17:58] We're at Mon Lapin.
[18:00] My rabbit.
[18:01] Like you.
[18:02] The food, the wine,
the service,
[18:03] everything is to the
level of a Michelin Star.
[18:06] Like,
[18:06] you can come here on a
regular Tuesday night,
[18:08] just show up in sweatpants,
have a good dinner, and leave.
[18:11] Kicking us off,
this is a cookie in the shape of a rabbit,
[18:14] except it's filled with chicken liver.
[18:16] A humble and also unexpected start.
So good, simple.
[18:20] The cookie is super crisp.
[18:21] It's like a shortbread.
So very buttery.
[18:23] A little lightly sweet.
[18:24] And then the inside,
[18:25] the chicken liver mousse
is creamy like butter.
[18:28] So clean.
Nice flavor, well seasoned.
[18:30] Really nice great start.
[18:31] Another shockingly simple dish.
[18:33] Clams with a lot of crushed
sun gold tomato on top.
[18:36] Very fresh, briny.
[18:39] The perfect sweetness, acidity.
[18:41] The natural brininess of
the clams. It's amazing.
[18:43] Followed by what looks like
essentially deep fried ravioli.
[18:46] Wow.
[18:47] It's so tender.
It almost has like a spanakopita.
[18:49] I was just saying, we think the same way.
[18:53] It's just like
uncomplicated and delicious.
[18:55] There wasn't a million ingredients.
[18:57] It was a great sauce.
[18:58] A lot of Swiss chard cooked very nicely,
seasoned very nicely, very simply...
[19:02] This last one stopped me in my tracks.
[19:03] These are leeks,
gently cooked in mussel brine.
[19:06] And you eat them by taking them out,
[19:08] putting them on a beautiful
in-house made potato chip,
[19:11] spoon on some of the aioli they
serve on the side and take a bite.
[19:14] Beautiful.
[19:15] So simple.
[19:16] I always have the word
pure because of that,
[19:17] letting the ingredient
just speak for itself.
[19:19] They're really blowing me away.
[19:20] I can't believe how good this is.
[19:22] We're just getting started...
[19:23] So they've earned their
number two spot for sure.
[19:25] But this next dish might have
me thinking it's number one...
[19:28] So we have shrimp from Nova Scotia.
[19:30] which are usually cooked
directly on the boat,
[19:32] and somehow they've
managed to acquire them,
[19:34] on the plug...
[19:34] So we're gonna enjoy them raw.
[19:36] Yeah.
In 37 years of existence,
[19:37] I've never had those raw
because they always come cooked.
[19:42] Yeah, they're unbelievable.
[19:43] Wow.
Great sweetness.
[19:44] That's insane.
[19:45] Are those not regular capers?
Question.
[19:47] Yeah?
[19:48] What are those you said?
[19:49] Blueberry capers.
[19:50] Premature blueberry fermented like capers.
[19:55] Green blueberries fermented like capers.
[19:57] That just blew my **** right off my body.
[19:59] The sweetness from this is
sweeter than any king crab,
[20:01] lobster, whatever.
And they're just little baby shrimps.
[20:04] I mean,
[20:05] I don't think I've ever had anything
from a seafood standpoint that pops
[20:08] with sweetness like that naturally.
[20:10] Canada.
[20:11] This is toast...
Well,
[20:12] actually a scallop toast filled with a
scallop mousse and a sauce to dip it in.
[20:21] So good...
[20:22] The sauce here is called a
rouille with saffron and garlic.
[20:25] That is incredible.
[20:26] Better than any shrimp
toast I've ever had.
[20:28] The textures are so
beautiful and contrasting.
[20:31] The outside's beautifully
crispy and toasted.
[20:32] The inside is like smooth
and almost creamy texture.
[20:36] Almost like a soft scrambled egg.
[20:38] Oceanic, briny,
super, super salty and nice.
[20:41] It's a perfect dish.
It really is.
[20:42] It's unbelievable.
[20:43] The first time I had this,
it was like the first time I kissed you...
[20:46] It was amazing.
[20:49] Now a celery root dish that may compete
with the one from Pearl Morissette.
[20:53] We have a roasted celery root,
buffalo mozzarella, a special sauce,
[20:57] and finished with a ton of
grated Perigord truffle.
[21:01] Wow.
[21:02] If I smell it, I only get truffle.
[21:03] When you bite it,
all you get is celery root.
[21:06] It's also so fresh.
[21:07] It's not too rich at all.
[21:08] All the flavors are there to, like,
lift the celery.
[21:11] This is making me realize something.
[21:12] Tell me.
[21:13] I understand now why they are so high
on the list. I'm realizing that every
[21:17] single thing here is so fresh and also,
[21:19] like, creatively hand selected.
[21:21] You probably have a guy for celery root,
a guy for asparagus, a guy for tomatoes,
[21:25] you have a guy for clams. It's when
you take the time to curate different
[21:29] suppliers for every single ingredient.
[21:31] A lot of chefs don't think about that.
[21:32] It's kind of a lost art.
[21:33] Mon Lapin.
Wow.
[21:35] Fewer dishes,
and they're matching punch for punch.
[21:38] And apparently, it's my birthday,
by the way.
[21:40] It's not.
[21:41] Happy birthday, Joshie!
[21:42] He's 25 years old today.
[21:43] Just aged very badly, that's all.
[21:45] Yeah.
[21:46] Worked in the restaurant industry.
[21:47] Yeah.
[21:48] This is the most random
thing you can imagine.
[21:50] A buckwheat cake is something
I've never even heard of.
[21:52] And every time I come here,
I get it because it's very good.
[21:55] Wow.
Yeah.
[21:56] Oh, my God.
[21:57] Right?
[21:58] That's so good.
[21:59] Like,
a little crispy tuile makes the cake.
[22:00] Dense and, like,
whole grain, but in a nice way.
[22:02] Yeah.
[22:03] Super lightly sweetened.
[22:04] And then that caramel, like,
super rich, super buttery,
[22:07] salty.
That brings a lot of the sweetness.
[22:09] Textural wonderland.
[22:11] So this is the final dessert.
[22:12] The sorbet meets meringue meets
brown butter meets berries.
[22:16] It doesn't look crazy.
[22:17] If they don't hit it with this,
then it really ruins the meal.
[22:20] Can these guys bring it home?
[22:22] That is a top 10 dessert of my life.
[22:25] I love this.
[22:26] That brown butter powder is genius.
[22:28] Because it brings dairy in without, like,
overwhelming your palate with cream.
[22:31] Yeah.
[22:32] Instead, we get the best form of dairy,
which is toasted milk solids.
[22:35] I'm shocked.
[22:36] Could this place be the best
restaurant in North America?
[22:40] This is the best meal
I've had on this list,
[22:43] and it is the best cooking
I've had on this list by far.
[22:46] You can't be the best
without having ego about it.
[22:49] You can't, but this is,
like,
[22:51] one of the first times I've been to a
restaurant that's on a major list and has
[22:55] a high ranking where it does not feel
overwhelmingly like they have a huge ego.
[23:00] This level of talent
has been here forever.
[23:02] It's just been always under-recognized.
[23:03] I think we're starting to get the love
that we deserve in Montreal because
[23:06] we've had some great restaurants
for the longest time here.
[23:08] Out of the list we've had thus far,
[23:10] it is the best place
that we have eaten at.
[23:12] We have one more left.
[23:14] So the question is,
[23:15] is this number one or is
the number one number one?
[23:19] It all comes down to this.
[23:20] The final restaurant.
[23:22] The number one on the list,
Atomix in New York City.
[23:26] From the outside, I'm going to be honest,
it's just a random apartment building.
[23:30] But what's tucked inside blew my mind.
[23:31] Underneath the surface isn't
just a breathtaking kitchen.
[23:34] You're greeted by a display of
every single fresh ingredient
[23:38] you're about to eat.
[23:39] Hand selected by the chefs.
[23:40] It's a whole experience
before the food even starts.
[23:43] It has best restaurant
in North America energy.
[23:46] And to help us make this decision,
[23:47] we have the only person I
think suited for the job.
[23:50] Christian Petroni, chef,
Food Network celebrity.
[23:53] He's built and run many restaurants.
So I asked him,
[23:55] what does he think it
takes to be number one?
[23:58] Well, first of all,
[23:59] the people behind it need to
be a little sick in the head.
[24:02] There's a level of pure obsession
to be called one of the best
[24:06] restaurants in America.
[24:07] You need to execute every day at
the highest level humanly possible.
[24:12] Nobody is moving without purpose.
[24:14] It's theater, man,
in the most beautiful way.
[24:18] First course,
[24:18] a wild looking raw scallop set
atop rice and a wrap of seaweed,
[24:22] almost like a sushi roll.
[24:25] Send out a dozen more.
You know?
[24:26] I would eat 600.
[24:27] A whole tray of them.
[24:28] Every little grain of rice,
you could detect the individual
[24:33] piece in your mouth.
[24:34] And everything about
that bite was so dialed.
[24:37] Believe it or not,
[24:38] this is the craziest
looking little clam tart
[24:41] in the form of a single bite.
Bang.
[24:46] Wow.
[24:47] Yeah.
[24:48] When fine dining is executed really well,
[24:50] it's when they can still
maintain craveability.
[24:52] Because when you lose craveability,
then what's the point?
[24:54] You'll be thinking about those
bites three days from now.
[24:57] They sent these out to let us know, hey,
man, you guys are safe here.
[25:01] If they were like, take your shoes off,
I'd do it.
[25:03] Mine are already off.
[25:04] Oh shit.
Okay.
[25:05] Belt?
[25:06] So I don't know the last time you
guys went to a restaurant and they had
[25:09] personalized chopsticks for you to choose,
but this one does.
[25:11] Part of me is excited about the choice,
[25:13] but I'm also a little nervous
because what if I regret this?
[25:16] These are a little short.
[25:17] Sometimes you just gotta pick a pair
of chopsticks and run with them.
[25:20] I should add,
every time they bring me a new drink.
[25:22] It is so cold.
[25:23] It's like, colder than ice,
but somehow in a liquid state.
[25:26] It's like McDonald's Diet Coke level cold.
[25:28] You know what I'm talking about.
[25:30] This next one is risky,
to say the least. Monkfish liver...
[25:33] Now, this is a make or break dish.
[25:35] I've had monkfish liver
four or five times,
[25:37] and there have been times
where it has blown me away.
[25:39] Delicious.
[25:40] And then there have been other times
where it was the polar opposite.
[25:43] It's like butter.
Oh, my God.
[25:45] Oh, my God.
That is so damn good.
[25:47] I'm kind of shocked out of the
monkfish liver that I've had.
[25:49] This one's craveable.
[25:50] I was gonna say make or break...
[25:52] So far, it's a make.
[25:53] Underneath that giant dollop of
caviar are shreds of kohlrabi,
[25:56] which is kind of like a radish.
[25:58] Underneath that is hot crab all
sitting in a rich cream sauce.
[26:03] Whoa.
[26:04] I'm, like, tearing up a little bit.
This one's getting me.
[26:06] This one's really...
good.
[26:07] The little flecks of salt popping.
[26:09] The perfectly cooked kohlrabi,
the cream...
[26:12] This is a
[26:13] meal.
I'm feeling it.
[26:14] I'm schvitzing.
[26:15] So this is a standout dish for me.
[26:17] It's a dish that makes me ask,
[26:18] is this the type of dish that
makes a restaurant the number
[26:21] one restaurant in America?
[26:23] How many times can lightning strike,
right?
[26:25] I don't know.
[26:26] It's striking.
Ever heard of abalone?
[26:27] Well, it looks like this.
[26:29] It's essentially a giant clam.
[26:30] This one is tempura fried sitting
in a sweet and sour sauce,
[26:33] almost oddly simple.
[26:34] But they gave us another little
dish that they told us to
[26:37] save for the very last bite.
[26:39] If you want to be the best in the US
you have to find a way to merge
[26:43] the creative art with familiarity.
[26:46] That's crazy, right?
[26:47] That's f***ing insane.
[26:48] And then you hit this thing
that they tell you to hit last.
[26:50] The accoutrement.
[26:51] The accoutrement.
This little thing is a 10 out of 10
[26:54] I'd change absolutely nothing.
[26:55] It was so good because I think
that the intensity of the acid,
[26:59] the saltiness, the sweetness,
[27:01] and the umami combined with all of the
aromatics was at its absolute maximum.
[27:06] And that was crazy.
[27:07] Now they're hitting me in my soul.
[27:09] Lobster glazed in one of my
favorite ingredients ever,
[27:13] Gochujang.
And on the side,
[27:14] a perfectly cooked rice
rolled in tofu skin.
[27:17] The rice is cooked so crazy perfect.
[27:20] And the spicy little kimchi in there.
[27:22] This is, like,
I think,
[27:23] the most obvious impression of Korean
cuisine in our entire meal tonight
[27:26] that is perfectly meshed because
this is the fine dining,
[27:29] the lobster.
[27:30] But then you take a bite of this,
and it's like, oh,
[27:32] this is like an amazing
little Korean dish.
[27:34] The lobster, creamy, rich butter.
[27:36] We're in France...
[27:38] But then you put it up against
this Korean style rice.
[27:41] One of the things I'm
starting to realize here,
[27:44] they're telling a story about Korean
culture with every single dish.
[27:47] What drives me to cook food...
[27:49] I'm constantly trying to get people to
see food through the lens that I see it,
[27:53] to enjoy it as much as I do.
[27:54] And that's kind of what
they're doing here.
[27:57] They're telling the story of Korea and
presenting it to you in the best possible
[28:01] format in a way that's delicious,
that you get it.
[28:03] We didn't have a single bite of truffle
for this entire dinner until dessert.
[28:08] To the right,
[28:09] there's a little chocolate torte
topped with a massive layer of fresh,
[28:12] thinly sliced black truffle.
On the left,
[28:14] a corn ice cream on top
of white chocolate snow...
[28:17] We waited the entire meal for this.
[28:19] Will it pay off?
[28:20] The texture of the cake is, like,
decadent and thick.
[28:23] It's like a black truffle brownie
with corn ice cream is
[28:25] what it tastes like to me,
[28:27] and I'm here for it.
[28:28] I love that the truffle adds, like,
a little bit of a subtle, earthy funk,
[28:32] but leaves almost like an earthy
mocha kind of tone to the chocolate.
[28:36] Having that sort of hint of, like,
let's be honest, dirt,
[28:40] right?
[28:41] Yeah.
[28:42] Is beautiful.
Against,
[28:43] like,
[28:44] what I see as a very sort of
nostalgic style of dessert.
[28:47] Guys.
[28:48] A hilariously understandable ending to
a meal that closes out possibly one of
[28:52] the craziest dining experiences we've
flown all across North America.
[28:57] The top five restaurants.
[28:58] The question that we
need to answer here is,
[29:01] do they deserve their spots?
[29:03] After 100 courses?
[29:04] Five major cities.
[29:05] Here's what I really think.
The ranking
[29:08] did not matter at all, actually.
[29:10] It's so incredibly difficult to even
get on a list like this as a restaurant.
[29:13] It's just giving you an idea of
the type of caliber of a restaurant
[29:16] you're going to be walking into.
[29:18] They all felt like number one in
their own way because they
[29:21] were all completely different.
[29:22] Each restaurant could be number one on
a different day to a different person,
[29:25] just depending on how the
restaurant's night went or
[29:28] how that person's night went.
[29:29] So just pick something,
go and have a good time.
[29:31] Love you.
Subscribe...
[29:32] see you.