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Raleigh couple finishes round-the-world culinary adventure

Shelby and Evan Pushchak, both emergency physicians at WakeMed Hospital, have dined at the world's best 50 restaurants, a list created by industry experts.

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Renee Chou, WRAL anchor,
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Kathy Hanrahan, WRAL Out
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A Raleigh couple has been on the hunt for the world's best meals.

Shelby and Evan Pushchak, both emergency physicians at WakeMed Hospital, have dined at the world's best 50 restaurants, a list created by industry experts.

Shelby Pushchak said the two are always searching for their next best meal.

"This goal has forced us to go places and see places we would never otherwise have thought about going," she said.

The journey, which was five years in the making, has taken them to all continents, including Antarctica.

Their favorite experience came at El Cellar de can Roca in Spain. Evan Pushchak said the entire experience, "from the aesthetics and beauty of the restaurant" to its "delicious and playful" cuisine made it a top pick.

Their favorite dish? The 21, 31, 41, 51 salad at Piazza Duomo in Alba, Italy. It's named because it started with 21 ingredients, then the chef added more bringing the total to 31. That ingredient list just kept growing to include at least 100 items. It is served with tweezers so no two bites are the same.

"There's no seasoning. There's no dressing and so you get this bowl full of 100 different elements to this salad," Shelby Pushchak said.

The couple has also dined on some unusual dishes including goat brain, cactus ceviche, emu eggs, reindeer heart, young pinecones and piranha skin.

The two described the piranha skin as delicious with a "salty flavor" you'd expect from a crispy fish skin.

"It's really been fun to expand out conception of what is edible and what is good," Evan Pushchak said.

What wouldn't they eat?

Shelby said no to eating the Sao Paulo specialty - ants. Evan said he ate two ants and said they tasted like lemongrass.

With the average meal length at about four hours, the couple estimates that they have spent 200 hours dining at these restaurants.

And getting into some of these restaurants wasn't easy. Some restaurants only have eight to 10 tables. One meal required them to book up to 11 months ahead of time.

Through it all, the Pushchaks said they learned to "keep an open mind and try new things."

The couple blogged their entire journey and posted images to their Instagram account.

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