While the state of the economy didn’t improve very much in 2009, foodies continued to visit the top restaurants. Opinionated About Dining asked 75 top chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and bloggers where they had their best meals of 2009 and which new chefs and restaurants showed the most potential. The full list of respondents and restaurants can be found at www.opinionatedabout.com.OAvert on Bite of the Best

Participants included: Dan Barber (Blue Hill, New York), Anthony Bourdain, Sean Brock (McCrady’s Charleston, S.C.), Michael Carlson (Schwa), David Chang (Momofuku), Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park), Gale Gand (Tru, Chicago), Krista Kern Darjelais (Bresca), Paul Liebrandt (Corton), Thomas Keller (French Laundry), Danny Meyer (Union Square Hospitality Group, New York), Daniel Patterson (Coi, San Francisco), Eric Ripert (Le Bernardin, New York), Anna Sortun (Oleana) and Cindy Wolf (Charleston).

Responses range from casual to fine dining establishments around the world. Restaurants named most frequently include:

Aldea New York City. Chef George Mendes

Corton New York City. Chef Paul Liebrandt

Ferraro Bociarent, Spain. Chef Paco Morales

Marea/Alto New York City. Chef Michael White

McCrady’s Charleston, South Carolina. Chef Sean Brock

Mugaritz Errenteria Spain. Chef Adoni Aduriz

Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark. Chef Rene Redzepi

Ubuntu Napa, California. Chef Jeremy Fox

“Putting the article together is informative,” says Plotnicki, who added that he “made it a point to visit a number of the restaurants mentioned in last year’s article.” Plotnicki started publishing the Opinionated About Dining Survey in 2007 and he plans on releasing the 2010 United States survey results on February 1.

Stay tuned!

– Guest Contributor