The Best Mexican Food … in Tokyo
“Salsita (4-5-65 Minami Azabu, 03-3280-1145) is this wacky, wonderful Mexican restaurant set up like a sushi bar; the chef makes everything to order: soft corn tortillas, really lovely tacos, great guacamole, roasted peppers stuffed with beans. It’s all done so precisely, it’s such a hoot.” —Mitchell Davis, executive vice-president of the James Beard Foundation
The Craziest Comedy Show … in Ethiopia
“Asmarabeit is this little shack of a club in Addis Ababa; any cabdriver can take you there. Shows start at 2:30 to 3 a.m., and the performers, who are both comedians and raw a cappella singers, make money by heckling audience members. There’s moonshine, tribal dancing, bongo playing—it’s wild.” —Marcus Samuelsson, chef-owner of Red Rooster Harlem
The Edgiest Art Space … in India
“Periferry (periferry.in) is an abandoned boat docked on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati. Two filmmakers took it over and now invite artists and curators from around the world to present public-art projects onboard. Anybody walking by can pop in and see a movie, hear a poetry reading, or catch a panel discussion. It’s like a laboratory for creativity in a fairly volatile city with little visible art.” —Sandhini Poddar, curator of “Being Singular Plural,” currently on view at the Guggenheim
The Best Vegetarian Eatery … in Argentina
“Hole-in-the-wall Artemisia (Cabrera 3877; 011-4863-4242) in Buenos Aires’s groovy, Brooklyn-ish neighborhood of Palermo Viejo is really excellent. The staff were so happy and grateful and immediately took us as some of the non-beef-eating contrarians in a city devoted to beef. It was like, ‘Oh, you’re a part of our little secret cult now!’ ” —Kurt Andersen, writer