Thomas Keller's Per Se And The French Laundry Drop Off The S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants List

The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants is perhaps the most highly anticipated international culinary accolade. Although the official announcement won't happen until next week, we already have the list of the runners-up, aka the top 51-100 restaurants in the world. While being in the top 100 is nothing to sneeze at, it should be noted that both of Thomas Keller's restaurants fell out of the top 50 list this year for the first time, with Per Se coming in at number 52 and The French Laundry dropping to number 85. Last year, The French Laundry barely made the top 50 and Per Se was number 40.

Thomas Keller is not having a great couple of years. Per Se was given a grade pending from the New York City Health Department (which he later contested) in 2014, and two of the restaurant's stars were taken away by Pete Wells of The New York Times. Meanwhile, The French Laundry was closed for the better part of 2015 for extensive renovations.

Other notable changes to the list this year include Daniel Boulud's Daniel, which was lifted nine spots from 80 to 71. Cosme beat out David Chang's Momofuku Ko by one spot this year. Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare — Brooklyn's only three Michelin-starred restaurant — came in at 81 and California's Manresa at 83, considerably better than its low number 100 spot last year. Notable missing restaurants that could still appear in the top 50 include Coi in San Francisco which placed 75 last year, and Heston Blumenthal's critical darling, The Fat Duck, which was number 73 in 2015.

Tune in next week for the unveiling of the S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants final list.