What's the next big restaurant?

Which of today's lesser-known eateries will be tomorrow's impossibly booked dining meccas? We analyze the patterns, interview the influencers, gauge the buzz and pick out the ascendant stars- McLauglin's article from October 2011 in Wall Street Journal asks.

It's easy to identify the world's hottest restaurants: They come to your attention just as the possibility of ever snagging a seat in them begins to approach the likelihood of winning Mega Millions.

What's harder is picking out the restaurants that are careening into that stratospheric position held by the globe's top dining destinations. They're tricky, but not impossible, to spot—if you know what to look for.

Seminal restaurants—such as Spain's El Bulli (closed as of this July), Denmark's Noma and Next, Chicago chef Grant Achatz's new restaurant—share some key characteristics beyond their unbearably booked tables. Foremost, these are places that go beyond offering mere dining and make a mark on contemporary culture, redefining haute cuisine and demonstrating how artful and thought-provoking food can be. To find the next restaurant phenomenon, look for the concept that is a true departure from the past, not a mere personalization of an already existing idea.

Then, peer in the dining-room windows and look for the folks who have skin in the game: other chefs. The first people to sniff out a talented chef are his or her competitors, who today more than ever consider travelling the world and scoping out new players part of their job description. Even better, ask sous chefs of top restaurants where they spend their modest salaries. Another sign: Young chefs in training desperately want to work there—and will often do so for free. If you hear about culinary graduates traveling to beg for a stage—an unpaid cooking internship—at the kitchen door, that's where you want to eat.

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