As we quickly are leaving the year 2006 behind, a number of choices from Gourmet Magazine’s Top 50 list of America’s best restaurants are worth mentioning here for those of you who may have missed Gourmet’s October issue.

Alinea in Chicago, where Chef Grant Achatz is redefining cooking as well as the eating-out experience, newly took the Number One honors.

The remainders of the Top Ten include mostly household names of American elite dining:

Number 02: Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Chef Alice Waters

Number 03: The French Laundry & Per Se in Yountville & NYC, Chef Thomas Keller

Number 04: Spago in Beverly Hills, Chef Wolfgang Puck

Number 05: Joel Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas, Chef Joel Robuchon

Number 06: Le Rêve in San Antonio, Chef Andrew Weissman

Number 07: Masa in New York City, Chef Masayoshi Takayama

Number 08: Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu, Chef Alan Wong

Number 09: Daniel in New York City, Chef Daniel Boulud

Number 10: Le Bernadine in New York City, Chef Eric Ripert

Following are GastroNomad’s fifteen picks "off the beaten path. Rankings reflect Gourmet Magazine’s:

Number 11: Magnolia Grill in Durham, North Carolina, Chef Ben Barker

Number 14: Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier

Number 15: Cyrus in Healdsburg, California, Chef Douglas Keane

Number 20: L’Auberge Carmel in Carmel, California, Chef Walter Manzke

Number 25: Vetri in Philadelphia, Chef Marc Vetri

Number 26: Fore Street in Portland, Maine, Chef Sam Hayward

Number 28: Higgins in Portland, Oregon, Chef Greg Higgins

Number 31: Parker’s New American Bistro in Cleveland, no chef listed

Number 33: Frasca in Boulder, Colorado, Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson

Number 39: Bacchanalia in Atlanta, Chef Anne Quatrano

Number 41: York Street in Dallas, Chef Sharon Hage

Number 42: Manresa in Los Gatos, California, Chef David Kinch

Number 43: No. 9 Park in Boston, Chef Barbara Lynch

Number 45: Café Juanita in Kirkland, Washington, Chef Holly Smith

Number 47: Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chef Andrea Rensing

Hopefully we’ll see you at one of these choice tables soon, supporting the fine work our chefs are doing all across the country!