It's no longer just about the art -- the world's hottest museums are debuting glittery restaurants led by star chefs.
With architects like Herzog & de Meuron, Richard Meier and Frank Gehry behind their winning designs, places like the Getty and Guggenheim are attracting more than just a touristy following with the prospect of foodie feasts that await.
Le Georges
Museum: Centre Pompidou -- Paris
Architect: Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers
Built in the early '80s, with its dramatic tubular spaceship design and finger-vents that spread a city block, it wasn't until 2000 that the building arrived on the social and nightlife calendars of Parisian hipster with the arrival of Gilbert and Jean-Louis Costes. By the men who created the Hotel Costes, Restaurant Georges is located on the sixth floor of the Centre Georges Pompidou with one of the most impressive views of the city.
The interior architecture by Jacob and MacFarlane is a tubular landscape of deformed flooring and asymmetrical walls coated in an aluminum skin. A very dapper staff in skinny suits and slicked hair could double as Dior Homme models, as they divvy seating real estate with the precision of a social surgeon.
Main courses include hefty portions of homemade foie gras, a delicious tuna tartare over avocado mayonnaise and grilled fillet with rich port sauce.
20.21
Museum: The Walker Art Center -- Minneapolis
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Known as one of the "Big Five" contemporary art museums in America, the Walker Art Center didn't become an architectural icon until its 2005 expansion by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron, who created a daring high-profile arts center that has become Minneapolis's most popular cultural landmark. Not just for art lovers, the contemporary museum is also home to Wolfgang Puck's 20.21 Restaurant.
