Osteria Francescana

Chef Massimo Bottura took the Italian dishes everyone thinks they know and turned them into something closer to storytelling you can eat — a lemon tart named for the moment one got dropped, a love letter to the crunchy corner of nonna's lasagna, a "Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano" that's really five textures of one cheese. It nearly didn't make it: when it opened in 1995, locals were not at all sure about a man rethinking a cuisine this sacred. He stuck with it, twice landed at No.1 on the World's 50 Best, and hung contemporary art all over the dining room while he was at it. Three Michelin stars. One of the genuinely few places that changed how Italy cooks.