Food & Wine magazine has just come out with their 3rd Annual GO List featuring the top cities in the world to dine-out in, distinguished by the type of venue, price of the cuisine or other important factors when dining while traveling. Out of 332 restaurants in forty cities around the globe, here are the top three in just a few categories:

• Best Restaurant Cities of the World:
• Tokyo
• Paris
• New York City
• Restaurant Cities to Watch:
• Beijing
• Mexico City
• Istanbul
• Three of the Best New Restaurants of the Year (in alphabetical order):
• Bubbles Bar at Guy Savoy in Las Vegas
• Diverxo in Madrid
• Gresca in Barcelona
• Three of the Best Value Restaurants (in alphabetical order):
• Kau Kee Restaurant in Hong Kong
• Kefi in New York City
• Kiosko Universal in Barcelona
  

If you're looking for the top carnivorous place or the premier place with a view check out more of the list on Food & Wine's website. Get out of town and chow down at some of the best eateries in the world.

If you are in Kentucky this week and looking for a special place to eat far away from the Derby madness, you might want to check out the Holly Hill Inn. The historic restaurant is deep in the horse country of Midway, about an hour from Louisville. The inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the cuisine is elegant and fresh with a French flair. They serve a prix fixe menu Wednesday through Saturday with a three-course dinner menu for  $35, four courses for $40. and a five-course dinner for $45. They also have an impressive wine list chosen by sommelier/owner Chris Michel. I had the pleasure of eating here a couple of years ago and can highly recommend both the food and the lovely bucolic setting.

[via Wine Spectator]

We could hardly think of a more scenic location for a wine tasting than Knowlsey Hall near Liverpool, England. The stately hall will be running a series of tasting events as through their new Gourmet Club. The Gourmet Club was launched at the start of this year as part of  Knowsley Hall's plan to attract a wider range of customers. Guests can sample fine wines from the private cellars of  wine merchants Willoughbys and discuss the wines with experts. The first tasting will be on May 11 and costs £15 for club members and £16.50 for non members.

The great legacy of fine cuisine in New Orleans continues with the 15th annual New Orleans Wine and Food Experience. The event will be held in New Orleans on Memorial Day Weekend May 24 – 28, 2006 and is a five-day event, featuring culinary seminars, demonstrations, vintner dinners, and wine tastings. There will be a champagne brunch, and seminars including an interactive wine tasting musical that includes samples for the audience and a celebration of the famous muffaletta sandwich. The full package which includes six seminars, Friday and Saturday Grand Tastings, Royal Street Stroll and Bubbles and Brunch sells for $450.

The San Francisco Chronicle asked people an interesting question this week: What's the most you'd pay for restaurant corkage fee? Most people seemed to find that $25 was the highest price they would be willing to pay for the privilege of drinking their own wine at a restaurant. Some restaurants set the corkage fee deliberately high to strongly discourage bringing your own (the famed French Laundry has a $50 corkage fee). After all, creating a wine list for a restaurant is an art all its own.

 If you are planning to bring your own wine to a restaurant it makes sense to call in advance as the prices for corkage vary wildly depending on a variety of factors including the fanciness of the restaurant, whether or not they have their own sommelier and/or carefully crafted wine list and to some extent, how nice you are about it. If you have a reason for bringing a specific wine and explain it to the staff and if it is clear that you plan to spend a lot of money on the food and other cocktails corkage fees are sometimes waived (but don't ask for that specifically).  An article in Food and Wine has some decent rules for bringing your own wine including perhaps the ultimate rule: don't bring cheap wine. I've searched in vain for a U.S. database of corkage fees but there doesn't seem to be one (although there is a Canadian list). Slashfood's own Sarah Gim has a  list of Los Angeles corkage fees on her blog The Delicious Life but we need a nationwide list.

In our never-ending quest to find you beautiful places to drink wine and eat delicious foods, we bring you the Third Annual Southern Breeze Coastal Wine Tour which will be held May 19-21 in Orange Beach, Alabama. The multi-day event includes winemaker dinners, a wine tasting and seminars from Michael Bryan of the Atlanta Wine School on deciphering the language of wine. Chefs Philippe Parola and Tim Creehan will create original food demonstrations. On Sunday, the Walkabout Brunch is a chance to roam around from station to station, sipping champagne and sparkling white wines and loading up on seafood and regional favorite. Tickets for the Winemaker Dinners are $125 per person, The Grand Wine Tasting tickets are $45 in advance, $55 the day of and the Walkabout Brunch tickets are $35 in advance, $45 the day of. A Connoisseur package costs $225.

The Chesapeake Bay area offers all sorts of delicious food (crabs and oysters spring immediately to mind). The 4th Annual St. Michaels Food & Wine Festival April 27-30, which is being held at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum offers a chance to check out food and wine against a beautiful seaside backdrop. The festival pavilion will be home to wine tastings, demonstrations, book signings and food tastings. Events include a live wine, food and travel auction to benefit three charities and a champagne brunch on Sunday. Tickets start at $35 for a single day pavilion ticket.

The Flagstaff House Restaurant which overlooks Boulder, Colorado is hosting a wine tasting dinner with Michael Silacci the winemaker for Opus One Winery on April 7. Executive Chef and Partner Mark Monette will prepare five courses from Flagstaff House menu matched with Opus One wines. The feast begins with hors d' oeuvres and Gosset "Grand Rose" Brut NV Champagne, then a salad of baby arugula and cured salmon with the Cakebread Sauvingon Blanc 2003, next up is a pheasant breast, crispy noodle wrapped with ragout of braised cabbage and pheasant with the 1984 and 1994 Opus One, followed by the chef's version of steak and eggs  with the1995 Opus One and finally a buffalo fillet and foie gras Wellington with black trumpet mushrooms and a sweet onion tart with a sauce of black truffles partnered with the 2002 Opus One. Leave room for dessert, it's a Valrohna chocolate strudel served with 1994 Dow Vintage Port. This impressive meal costs $175 and space is limited.

Another excuse to jet to a warm locale and sample wine and food, the Scottsdale Culinary Festival is a six-day event held from April 18-23. There are a wide variety of events held during the week including the James Beard dinner, the Culinary Hall of Fame Awards Dinner and "Le Tour Culinaire"  where guests are chauffeured to three different restaurants to sample cuisine paired with prominent wines. Over 250 wineries will be on hand to offer tastings during the week.  Admission ranges from $5 for the Great Arizona Picnic to $200 for the James Beard Dinner. Proceeds benefits arts and arts education in the Scottsdale area.

Ah, if only I had known this was an option. I signed up to run a 10K in Malibu on April 1, not knowing that in the same location on the same day, the 2006 Malibu Wine Classic will be taking place. The event takes place on the tented grounds of The Sunset Restaurant and includes an afternoon tasting session and an evening tasting session. Last year, over 1000 attendees enjoyed wines from more than 50 wineries and this year, over 75 wineries and 25 restaurants are expected to show up. This non-profit event will benefit Childhelp USA which works to help in the treatment and prevention of child abuse. Advance tickets are $75 per session or $125 for both. Tickets are $100 at the door.