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A Las Vegas wine connoisseur achieved a jaw-dropping dining feat in New York City by visiting 28 of the world’s top-rated, award-winning restaurants in just 24 hours.
Joshua Fyksen, a sommelier at Peter Luger Steak House at Caesars Palace, earned a Guinness World Record for visiting the most Michelin-starred restaurants in a single day after completing the ambitious food tour across the Big Apple last May.
“I’ve always loved great food and fine dining,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Guinness World Records announced the feat last month. Fyksen set the record with 22 restaurants in 2023 and later lost the title to a duo who completed it in Hong Kong in 2024.
Fyksen set out to do it again last year — mapping out dozens of restaurants across New York City.
Fyksen initially planned to visit up to 30 restaurants.
But some last-minute setbacks — including one restaurant closure just the day before and Le Bernardin being closed for lunch — reduced his final total to 28.
“I left my credit card at Le Pavillon, the sixth stop,” he added. “It added more than half an hour that was tough to make up.”
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Decked out in a suit with a body camera and a GPS tracker, he began the marathon at 3 p.m. at Oxomoco in Brooklyn.
He started off with a tuna tostada, and finished with a single oyster at his final stop, Gramercy Tavern — completing the record just minutes before the 24-hour mark.
Also among his stops were Tuome, Le Pavillon, Café Boulud, Eleven Madison Park and Casa Mono.
Per Guinness World Record rules, Fyksen had to finish every dish he was served.
He tried to order the smallest, fastest food at each stop, but that was not always possible — such as at Semma, a Southern Indian restaurant in Greenwich Village.
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“The dish that was recommended from the server ended up being a potato-filled sosa that was huge. It was bigger than my head and the plate it was served on … It was the largest dish of the record and at 8 minutes 20 seconds, it was the dish that took the longest to eat.”
Despite the pace, Fyksen said the experience wasn’t rushed.
“I savored it. I enjoyed all of it. I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t able to enjoy it,” he said in an interview on the “Kennedy Saves the World” podcast.
The 24-hour culinary sprint came with a price tag of $1,451.34, including nearly $1,000 spent on food and hundreds of dollars more on transportation, according to Guinness World Records.
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Some of the standout dishes included a scallop dumpling with English peas and foie gras at Tuome; a Jonah crab dish paired with apple, grapefruit and wasabi at Le Pavillon; and the tortellini pomodoro at Torrisi, Fyksen said.
One of the biggest challenges for him was securing reservations at some of the most sought-after hot spots.
Fyksen said he relied on calendar alerts to book reservations the moment they became available and even contacted certain restaurants directly to request accommodations.
Michelin-starred restaurants are judged anonymously and reevaluated each year, adding to the prestige and pressure of earning and maintaining a star.
But for Fyksen, the passion goes beyond breaking a record, he told Fox News Digital.
“I plan most of my vacations around restaurants,” he said.
“I know eventually someone will beat it,” he said of his Guinness World Record.
Long before the record, he and his wife, Angela, tried tasting menus and visited Manhattan’s Le Bernardin, Per Se and Eleven Madison Park all in the same day.
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“One of my favorite dining memories was, in the middle of our honeymoon a few years back, I surprised my wife with a one-day trip to Copenhagen just to eat at Noma the morning after a perfect dinner at Restaurant le Meurice by Alain Ducasse in Paris,” Fyksen recalled.
His wife helped document his latest Big Apple feat. One restaurant she wanted to visit most was The Corner Store, a buzzy, celebrity-frequented hot spot — notably not Michelin-starred or part of her husband’s carefully planned route.
So when the challenge was complete, instead of detoxing or napping — the couple headed to SoHo.
“With that restaurant being one of the hardest reservations in the city, I had to have someone hold a spot in line so that we could walk in for dinner at 5 p.m. And we did, and had a great time,” he said.
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While the accomplishment may sound like a dream for some foodies, Fyksen suggested it’s not something he plans to repeat.
“I don’t think I want to do it again,” he said.
But he does want to hold the record for a while, he admitted.
“I know eventually someone will beat it,” Fyksen said.
“I just hope I made it a little harder for them.”
He added, “I know they’ll have fun. And I hope they’ll take some time to enjoy it and appreciate the great chefs and restaurants that work so hard to achieve the Michelin Stars. I know I did.”
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