Noma Named Best Restaurant In The World For 2nd Straight Year

via The Huffington Post

Restaurant Magazine's annual S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants were announced Monday afternoon and Chef René Redzepi's Copenhagen restaurant Noma has earned the number one spot for the second consecutive year.
The top North American restaurant, also for the second straight year, went to Grant Achatz's Alinea, which moved up one spot in the rankings to No. 6. Thomas Keller's Per Se rounded out the top 10 and was the second-ranked North American restaurant on the list.
The awards are decided by over 800 international restaurant industry experts, though there is no predetermined set of criteria, but rather just a simple computation of votes. The judges are divided into 27 different world regions, in which a chairman for each region appoints 30 jurors, including journalists, chefs and restaurateurs and food lovers. Each juror can vote for seven restaurants, and only four are allowed to be from the juror's region.
Controversially, the 50 Best organization does not require the jurors to turn in receipts, nor prove that they visited the restaurants they vote for, as the New York Times discussed in the recent article, "The World's 50 Best Restaurants? Says Who?". Other pitfalls of the process are discussed, including countries' tourism arms treating jurors to all-expenses-paid junkets to expose them to specific restaurants, and that jurors may actually include chefs that are also eligible to be on the list.
The impact of scoring a top 50 nod can be huge for restaurants even at the lower end of the list, Claude Bosi of London's Hibiscus (at number 43 this year) explained to the Times: "Business after the awards was, like, stupid."
Launched only a decade ago, the S. Pellegrino top 50 list is already stealing some of the Michelin Guide's thunder, though it does tend to favor more contemporary restaurants, as The Telegraph points out.
This year, two awards were announced in advance of the Top 50 list. A new award, the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef, went to Anne-Sophie Pic of the three-Michelin starred restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, France. Juan Mari Arzak received the Lifetime Achievement award, recognizing his work for his family's restaurant, Arzak, which has been operating since 1897.

Notably absent from the list this year is Ferran Adria's El Bulli, which Adria chose to withdraw from the competition because it will be serving its last meal in its current incarnation on July 30 of this year, before becoming a gastronomic think-tank, of sorts.

The 2011 S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants
2010 ranking in parentheses
1 Noma, Denmark (1)
2 El Celler De Can Roca, Spain (4)
3 Mugaritz Spain (5)
4 Osteria Francescana Italy (6)
5 The Fat Duck, U.K. (3)
6 Alinea, U.S. (7)
7 D.O.M, Brazil (18)
8 Arzak, Spain (9)
9 Le Chateaubriand, France (11)
10 Per Se, U.S. (10)
11 Daniel, U.S. (8)
12 Les Creations De Narisawa, Japan (24)
13 L'Astrance, France (16)
14 L'Atelier De Joel Robuchon, France (29)
15 Hof Van Cleve, Belgium (17)
16 Pierre Gagnaire, France (13)
17 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (19)
18 Le Bernardin, U.S. (15)
19 L'Arpege, France (Re-Entry)
20 Nihonryori Ryugin, Japan (48)
21 Vendome, Germany (22)
22 Steirereck, Austria (21)
23 Schloss Schauenstein, Switzerland (30)
24 Eleven Madison Park, U.S. (50)
25 Aqua, Germany (34)
26 Quay, Australia (27)
27 Iggy's, Singapore (28)
28 Combal Zero, Italy (35)
29 Martin Berasategui, Spain (33)
30 Bras, France (Re-Entry)
31 Biko, Mexico (46)
32 Le Calandre, Italy (20)
33 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (Re-Entry)
34 The Ledbury, U.K. (New Entry)
35 Chez Dominique, Finland (23)
36 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (31)
37 Amber, China (New Entry)
38 Dal Pescatore Italy (36)
39 Il Canto, Italy (40)
40 Momofuku Ssam Bar, U.S. (26)
41 St John, U.K. (43)
42 Astrid Y Gaston, Peru (New Entry)
43 Hibiscus, U.K. (49)
44 La Maison Troisgros, France (44)
45 Alain Ducasse Au Plaza Athenee, France (41)
46 De Librije, Netherlands (37)
47 Hotel De Ville, Switzerland (14)
48 Varvary, Russia (New Entry)
49 Pujol, Mexico (New entry)
50 Etxebarri, Spain (Re-Entry)

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Vera Wang's David's Bridal Bridesmaid Collection: A First Look

Vera Wang and David's Bridal seem to be a match made in sartorial heaven.
Just several months after the designer debuted her White wedding dress collection for the chain store, she has released the first image from the accompanying bridal collection, Women's Wear Daily reports. A set of seven dresses will be offered in hues like amethyst, orchid and champagne come June, with price points from $158 to $200.
WWD writes:

A one-shoulder short dress with a bubble skirt adorned with oversize rosettes is geared for style-minded wedding parties. But there are also more traditional choices such as a short dress with horizontal pleats and a sleeveless chiffon column dress with swag skirt.

There's also long skirts -- "I never thought we would see that come back but it has," Wang told the fashion newspaper.
So, what's next in this happy marriage? Shoes! A series of four styles by Vera will be shelved in David's Bridal for summer.
Take a first look at Vera Wang's bridesmaid dresses for David's Bridal:

Gilt MANual Minute: Matching Your Sunglasses to Your Face

Here is a common problem, I would think, most men face when purchasing the right pair of shades for their face.  Josh and Tyler, along with a shot of whiskey, explain what you can do to fix it.


Gilt MANual Minute: Matching Your Sunglasses to Your Face from Gilt MAN on Vimeo.

Live Forever: The Stone Roses live at Spike Island

Fiat 500 by Gucci: The Launch Party

The Fiat 500 Gucci by Lapo Elkann

With his best Parisian accent Lapo describes the collaboration between Gucci and Fiat Group. The end result is quite dope.

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Highlights from Burberry Beijing Event

A Personal Tour of Ralph Lauren's Car Collection

Why is Glen Beck Leaving NEW YORK???

Galliano Booted From His Own Label

Despite having the empathy of most of his peers in the design community, things keep getting worse for disgraced designer John Galliano, who has been fired from his job as head of the John Galliano label, 91 percent of which is owned by Christain Dior.
According to a WWD article, there are some companies who have expressed interest in purchasing the label, including some of its licensing partners. However, it is looking like at the moment no effort has been made to put the John Galliano label on the block and supposedly the in-house design team continues to produce and a pre-Spring collection is in the works, which, how weird will that be sans Galliano? And given that he was fired basically for being the poster child for anti-Semitism is there any hope of rehabilitating a label named after him?
The image above was taken at the Spring 2011 runway show for John Galliano. By the time of his Autumn 2011 show in early March, the axe had fallen and Galliano was absent from a salon presentation of what would be his final collection for the label. Via Style.

Street Swag

via Mr Sartorial

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Saint Etienne [Nothing Can Stop Us]

Made in Rochester | Hickey Freeman

via A Continuous Lean

Home to corporate juggernauts like Kodak and Xerox, Rochester, New York has a rich industrial history. In addition to some of America’s largest companies, the city is also quietly home to Hickey Freeman, one of the country’s oldest and last surviving (and arguably one of the best) clothiers. Founded in 1899 by Jeremiah Hickey and Jacob Freeman, the company is still at it, making suits in their sprawling 77,000 square foot factory in Rochester. Having been to several other clothing factories in the U.S., I have been interested in paying a visit to Hickey Freeman for the past several years. I wanted to see firsthand the quality of the Hickey Freeman full canvas construction. Needless to say, when I finally got the opportunity to see the operation I was not disappointed.
The factory in Rochester ranks up there as one of the most well organized I have ever seen. Wait, I should clarify that last statement a little bit. Hickey Freeman’s plant is one of the most well organized clothing factories that I have come across in the U.S. Allen Edmonds also has a pretty amazing production facility in Wisconsin that I have toured. There aren’t a lot of clothing companies still operating in the U.S., which is why it is interesting to see how advanced the Hickey Freeman process and facilities are. Everything is clean, well organized and modern. And all of this in the same building the company was founded in. Pretty amazing if you ask me. All of the garments move through the production line on special trays that the company has produced especially for its needs. In most clothing factories pieces and parts are bundled. You will notice in the photos that special care is given at every step to preserve the desired shape of the clothing as it snakes its way through the process. This example just illustrates the care and attention that goes into making a Hickey Freeman suit.
Another thing that stood out to me about the factory is the diversity of the work force, something that is also unrivaled at any facility I have been to previously. The plant manager told me they have workers from 17 different countries under one roof. It literally is the closest thing to a melting pot that I have ever seen working together. And everyone is working toward one common goal, to make fine tailored goods.


In the past few years Hickey Freeman has gone through a bit of a reorganization and was taken over by a new ownership group. Through that process the company has taken on three very skilled stewards in Doug Williams, Joseph Abboud and Mike Cohen to help lead the brand. I would think it would be tough to find three better people to run an American clothing company. Williams as the CEO of HMX Group (Hickey Freeman’s reorganized parent company), Abboud as group creative director and Cohen as Hickey Freeman president.
I have spent some time with Mike Cohen and he could be the best dressed guy in the game. In addition to being painfully nice and in possession of a much evolved sense of style, Mike can literally construct an entire suit by hand. Now that’s not something many executives can say. Cohen also understands the ins and outs of what is happening in menswear at the moment. Mike is the type of guy you want to go out drinking with and talk shop. The simple way to say this is that: Mike gets it.
All of this adds up to a return to the classic style and expert construction that gave Hickey Freeman the reputation it has today. To see HMX Group revitalize and re-brand the company should be pleasing for anyone interested in wearing a quality American made suit.
The photos below are pretty extensive, but there was so much to see in Rochester that I couldn’t resist sharing all of these with you.