Honestly I think they are both are right. There are plenty of restaurants that are at the "top" of the restaurant world that really buy the best, most expensive ingredients, and don't adulterate them and plop them on a plate. It's quite easy on the execution, just insanely expensive. Similarly, there are equally prestigious restaurants that straight up use mountains mirepoix, bones, and very few lux ingredients to create cuisine of the same level. Each come with their set of difficulties, but from a cooks perspective restaurants that lean on more expensive or rare ingredients feel like cheating. But hey, from a dinning and critic perspective, they are seen as equal.