14. Laja (Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico)

When he's not overseeing the cooking at MeroToro in Mexico City (see number 47), Jair Téllez — whose background includes stints at Daniel in New York City, La Folie in San Francisco, and the Four Seasons in Mexico City — is designing daily four- and eight-course fixed-price menus here at his original restaurant, a rustic, laid-back establishment in the Mexican wine country of the Valle de Guadalupe. Téllez was a pioneer of Baja Mediterranean cuisine, and is fanatical about using the freshest and best organic ingredients grown around the place or in other parts of the valley. Because he cooks according to what's best and most seasonal, the particulars can be unpredictable, but his salads are anthologies of freshness, his soups are authoritative (a cream of eggplant with jamón serrano, for instance), his seafood is first-rate (marinated yellowtail with preserved lemon, say), his meat dishes are full of flavor and perfectly cooked (oven-roasted baby lamb raised a mile or so away is a standout), and his desserts, usually based around fruit from neighboring orchards, are bright and refreshing. Téllez makes his own wines, and also serves a fine selection of the valley's best.