Cafe Arabica
Venomous lionfish are native to the reefs of the Indo-Pacific Ocean and have found their way to the western Atlantic Ocean, where they are growing in numbers, eating everything and causing severe environmental dangers. Despite the venom they deliver via needle-like dorsal fins, divers are fishing them and cooks in Caracas are discovering their goodness: white, firm and gloriously tasty meat. Café Arabica surprises visitors with lionfish mixed with local ají dulce croquettes and small potatoes strung in kebabs. Dip it in the spicy, creamy Peruvian-style huancaína sauce for an over-the-top experience.

Lardo
This is no ordinary French dip sandwich. Lardo -- arguably the best sandwich shop in Portland -- melds the flavors of a bowl of Pho with a French dip sandwich to make the perfect combination. Roast beef, hoisin and sambal mayo, bean sprouts and pho beef broth are a match made in heaven. Order this sandwich with a side of their signature Dirty Fries, loaded with pork scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs and Parmesan. You'll be full the rest of the day.

Soi 6 Pochana
This restaurant, within the Sam Yan area of Bangkok behind the famous Chulalongkorn University, serves incredible roast duck and roast pork belly. You can order a single portion of meat over noodles or rice. Even better, you can order a full plate of meat. The pork belly is incredibly crispy, creamy and rich all in one. The duck is succulent, smoky and crispy. And rather than being too sweet like some duck sauces tend to be in Bangkok, this duck sauce is just lightly sweet, but smokier and rich in flavor, all the duck drippings accumulated into a sauce of heavenly flavor.

Fikeaw Yaowarat Restaurant -
Fikeaw, meaning Green Light, is a street food stall that sets up in Bangkok’s Chinatown (known as Yaowarat) in the evening. They serve a full range of Thai stir-fried dishes, but the main reason to visit is to see the way the pyromaniac chef cooks nearly every dish with a flame that explodes in the air. His pak boong fai daeng, a simple yet delicious stir-fried vegetable side dish, is one of Thailand's most popular foods. Morning glory (water spinach) stir-fried with Thai chilies is cooked in about three seconds within a flame ball. It is simply delicious.

Gustu
Calmly creating a revolution from the Zona Sur district of La Paz, Gustu is much more than a restaurant, or perhaps, is exactly what a restaurant should be. To the casual visitor, it is a beautiful space, with a modern style comfortably meeting the bright and historied Bolivian culture. It is the chance to dip into the incredible range of products Bolivia has to offer, from regions as diverse as the Amazon, the Andes, the high altitude winelands in the south and the lush central region. Even the great Salar de Uyuni is sourced for, well, salt. Everything on the menu is locally sourced and showcases the excellence of Bolivian raw resources as well as refined products like coffee, wine and craft beer. In the kitchen, and the main creative source for the beautifully and intelligently presented food, is Kamilla Seidler. But every other staff member -- bar, floor or kitchen (excluding the beverage director) -- are young, local students, graduates of the Gustu training school. Gustu is one of various projects of the Melting Pot foundation founded by Claus Meyer on the ideal of promoting Bolivian gastronomy and creating the skills to drive a new industry around the world of gastronomy.

Doa Cristina
In Parque Las Cholas on the border of Zona Zur, skip past the playground and make a beeline for the Cholas, the mighty Bolivian matriarchs marked by their bowler hats, lined up to sell their famous sandwiches. Look out for ‘Doña Cristina’ Crecencia Zurita, who’s held the #6 post for an astounding 53 years, dishing out the city’s champion sandwich de chola. Inside the traditional pan sarnita, the heart of this sandwich is a thick, juicy slice of roast pork shoulder, marinated in a special brine as it cooks. But what elevates this sandwich to the sublime is the generous inclusion of hunks of crispy pork crackling. It’s finished with the standard combo of tomato, carrot and onion pickle and llajua. Like Doña Elvira’s choripan, more sensitive eaters can feel safe, as both ladies form part of the fantastic Suma Phayata initiative run by local fine-dining icon, Gustu, which is training the best local street food sellers to higher hygiene standards, to make the tastiest La Paz street food more accessible to visitors.

Mercado Lanza
Mercado Lanza, a must-visit in La Paz, is a maze of food stalls offering everything from daily groceries to the gamut of Bolivian fast food. The smells of sizzling meat are tempting, and you could spend months trying everything. Just head for the best: Doña Elvira Goita’s choripan in the corner of Level 3. She has been there for 30 years, and the lines are longer than ever; everybody recognizes the quality of her products, which she carefully tends and watches over, and the flavor of her secret recipe chorizo stands out above everyone in the market. The bread is always fresh, either pan sarnita, a white bun topped with cheese, or pan marraqueta, a hard-crust white bun that tends toward sourdough. The thin and tasty chorizo is perfectly balanced by the carrot and onion pickle, lettuce, tomato and llajua, a traditional spicy sauce of locoto chili and tomato. To miss the crowds, avoid peak lunch (noon to 2 p.m.) and dinner (6 to 8 p.m.) hours.

Paulie Gee's
Paulie Gee serves up some of the most creative Neapolitan style pies you'll ever find -- sourcing ingredients from local purveyors in the New York area. For example, his Brisket Pie features beef from Red Hook's Hometown BBQ. Many of the pies have fun names (Porkypineapple, Ricotta Be Kiddin' Me) and make sure to get at least one with Mike's Hot Honey, which was invented at the restaurant. Check out Paulie's website for a list of more than a dozen secret pies. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu, but some highlights include the Cherry Jones and Delboy.

NOLA
It’s not every day you’ll find a New Orleans-style gastro pub in Argentina. But luckily, locals have been going loco for Louisiana-influenced dishes mixed with Buenos Aires favorites at NOLA. A fine example of the dishes coming out of their Cajun kitchen is the sweetbreads, a true porteño delicacy. The mollejas (gizzards) are deep-fried nuggets topped with pickled onions and drizzled with a garlic lemon aioli.

La Carniceria
A modern take on the classic Argentine sausage, this pork chorizo is made in-house and served in a cast iron pan alongside crispy Andean potatoes, peas and two fried eggs. Grab a seat at the bar of the city’s only hip steakhouse and wash it down with the house specialty gin and tonic, a local gin infused with yerba mate tea, grapefruit and eucalyptus.