--- description: The chef digs Restaurant magazine's choice title: Alice Waters Lauds Noma's Ascent to World's Best Restaurant image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65997f79104f8669/69868d1406f2c170d832ea91/140429-time-100-gala-0150.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [TIME 100](/tag/time-100/) ## TIME 100 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Alice Waters Lauds Noma's Ascent to World's Best Restaurant  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 30, 2014 12:34 AM CUT  Alice Waters at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on April, 29, 2014. Alice Waters at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on April, 29, 2014.Jonathan D. Woods for TIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 30, 2014 12:34 AM CUT Alice Waters congratulated Noma on its recently-bestowed honor of [world’s best restaurant](http://time.com/80073/noma-best-restaurant-2014/ "undefined"). “The wonderful thing that’s happening at Noma is they’re gathering people from around the world to think about food differently,” Waters, the chef and [TIME 100 honoree](http://time.com/70811/alice-waters-2014-time-100/ "undefined"), said at the TIME 100 gala in New York on Tuesday. The Copenhagen-based restaurant, was given the top spot by Restaurant magazine this week. Even though Pope Francis, also a TIME 100 honoree and TIME’s 2013 [Person of the Year](http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/person-of-the-year-pope-francis-the-peoples-pope/ "undefined"), wasn’t in attendance Tuesday, Waters says he’s the honoree she’d most want to meet. “I love that he wants to plant gardens on all the Vatican lands,” Waters said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/81994/alice-waters-noma/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/81994/alice-waters-noma/"},"headline":"Alice Waters Lauds Noma's Ascent to World's Best Restaurant","datePublished":"2014-04-30T00:34:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:12.559Z","description":"The chef digs Restaurant magazine's choice","url":"https://time.com/81994/alice-waters-noma/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100","TIME 100 Gala"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65997f79104f8669/69868d1406f2c170d832ea91/140429-time-100-gala-0150.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65997f79104f8669/69868d1406f2c170d832ea91/140429-time-100-gala-0150.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Time 100 Gala","caption":"Time 100 Gala","creditText":"Jonathan D. Woods for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/81994/alice-waters-noma/","name":"Alice Waters Lauds Noma's Ascent to World's Best Restaurant"}}]}] ```