If 2013 was a great year for eating, 2014 was an embarrassment of riches. Over the course of twelve months, we were able to sample many of the world's finest chefs, adding up to some of the rewarding meals of our lives. Suffice it to say this was our best year for dining yet.
This declaration does comes with a small caveat. For the most part, our culinary adventures came in the first half of the calendar. This is when we were living in NYC and includes a blow-out trip to Europe in June. That three week stretch was easily the year's apex, with many of our top meals overlapping. The frequency and caliber of our dining slowed down once we returned to Los Angeles. This is no dig at the food scene in LA, we were simply dealing with numerous life changes, including the move itself and new jobs/careers to settle into.
Which is not to say our adventures stopped altogether. We still managed to fit in return visits to NYC in September and October, a birthday weekend getaway up the coast to Carmel in November, and a few special meals in the City of Angels sprinkled throughout.
Still, taken as a whole, the list of restaurants we visited in 2014 is undeniably impressive. In the course of 52 weeks, we dined at 24 Michelin starred eateries, including 4 three stars and 6 two stars. Another benchmark would be the always controversial "50 Best Restaurants in the World" list, announced annually by Restaurant Magazine. This year alone, we ate at 4 of the top 10, 8 of the top 50, and 14 of the top 100. (Including prior years, we've now eaten at 28 of the current top 100…not that I'm keeping score or anything).
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