Joe Beef Sits at #81 on World's 50 Best Restaurants List

The World's 50 Best Restaurants released part of its annual list (51-100) today and for the first time in five years, a Canadian restaurant made the cut. Montreal stalwart Joe Beef sits at #81 on the 2015 list, between Daniel Boulud's Daniel and Alain Ducasse's Le Louis XV. The honour comes at an opportune time for the Little Burgundy restaurant co-owned by Allison Cunningham, David McMillan and Frédéric Morin—this year is Joe Beef's 10th anniversary. When reached for comment today, McMillan said the restaurant's “number one priority has always been to feed our friends and peers.”

“We're motivated by deep-seated insecurity and paranoia. An insecurity that people we respect and admire could walk in the door any minute and not like the food. Martin Picard, Normand Laprise, the staff at L'Express, Derek Dammann, Marc-André Royal at Le St-Urbain—one of the reasons we try to stay on the ball daily at Joe Beef is because of the quality of restaurants and cooks in Montreal. We're happy we're on the list but we'd rather be there with three or four other restaurants in the city.”

McMillan added to the National Post today that “Alain Ducasse is my super hero of all time. I wouldn’t even dare to shake his hand. And Joe Beef ain’t no Daniel. That’s a fantastic NYC restaurant that feeds the elite. To be sandwiched between (Ducasse’s) Le Louis XV and Daniel, it’s like, are you kidding me? There’s a mistake!” And there was this bit of modesty: “I think it’s very un-Canadian to pop Champagne bottles. There’ll be an extra beer for everyone tonight.”

Funny to see @joebeef on the #Worlds50Best list between Daniel and Ducasse's Louis XV. Says everything about the restaurant scene today.

— Lesley Chesterman (@lesleychestrman) May 26, 2015