If the question were what restaurant is doing the most innovative food or the most modern food I would have 100% no problem believing they would be likely fine dining in a large metro area, but that isn't what the list allegedly is. It stands the reason that the best restaurant serves the most delicious food because I had always assumed good food tastes good. I remember reading reviews of elBulli where the diners made remarks along the line of "well, food like this isn't being judged on how good it tastes" or "it's hard to quantify this kind of cooking in terms of taste" and there is a certain novelty to toying with textures or preconceived expectations. There is also something about riffs on classic dishes with modern technique, but when asked people like Thomas Keller say their favorite food is something incredibly simple, something from their childhood. Thumbing through Grant Achatz biography I remember a story he tells when he realizes he's just had the best meal of his life cooked by someone's grandma in a hole in the wall after being thoroughly disappointed by several three star restaurants. That being the case, I just cannot believe that anything at Noma, Alinea or Can Roca is just that much mindblowingly more delicious than the perfect ramen or perfect po boy that they deserve to be on the list and the hole in the walls don't. That isn't even to say anything about the restaurants in between. I guess it has a lot to do with how you define the best, and my definition is just the most delicious food, even ignoring the frill and price tag to match, the most delicious food in the world is probably not being served in those restaurants.