Eric Finkelstein could be a normal guy. He works as a computer consultant, lives in New York, is 34 years old and is passionate about gastronomy. So much so that he has entered his name in the Guinness Book of Records as the person to eat in more Michelin star restaurants in one day.
His game board, the city of New York and on the table a bet that this New Yorker had been guessing since 2020, when he already intended to launch himself into the challenge of being the person who ate at more Michelin-starred restaurants in a single day.
With more than eighty restaurants in the French guide, New York is one of the cities best represented within haute cuisine (either fine diningas the Anglo-Saxons call it) and one of the most expensive places to eat.
However, Finkelstein managed to break the record, spending just under $500 and eating in a single day at 18 different restaurants. In addition, part of the added merit of the experience is that he has managed to do it without using any vehicle other than public transport, which in the Big Apple can be almost a bigger challenge than squeezing a Michelin menu.
With prices that can easily exceed 100 euros and going to extremes of close to 1,000 dollars, as happens in the Masa restaurant, although the truth is that the most expensive Michelin stars in New York are around 300 or 350 dollars, which is not bad if we take into account that later you have to add tip.
However, Finkelstein’s record, a guy fond of Guinness (in fact, he already has another couple of records related to table tennis), has a certain trap, because did not eat the tasting menus of the 18 restaurants that they allowed him to inscribe his name in this bible of titles, but he limited himself to trying loose dishes.
Hard work that, when the challenge was raised, led him to write to more than eighty restaurants throughout the city to explain his project to them, after which he barely received a dozen affirmative answers, since it is not normal for this type of restaurant to lend itself to it or to make a single dish for one person and then leave.
Fortunately for this computer consultant, the new batch of Michelin stars in 2023 allowed him to let others eight restaurants were willing to provide you with just one dishso his record, in addition to being affordable, could be gastronomically acceptable so as not to end up bursting to eat.
According to statements to the CNN, Finkelstein estimated that he had eaten about 5,000 calories and claimed “to eat nothing” the next day. Of course, you had to remove it dance 24 hours before where he got at Just 11 hours to meet your challenge.
The best recipes of Direct to the palate (Cooking)
Among its bites, the grilled avocado salad from Le Pavillon, the caviar blinis and crème fraîche from Caviar Russe, Noda’s sea urchin chawanmushiTuome’s grilled scallops or Aquavit’s cranberry bowl.
Images | Eric Finkelstein
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