FlyerTalk Forums - Consolidated "Michelin Restaurants" thread

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Consolidated "Michelin Restaurants" thread

Three French restaurants capture the ultimate prize: Three Michelin stars

http://www.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2004...337263-ap.html

Quote:

Three restaurants have captured the Olympic gold of French gastronomy - three stars in the latest Michelin Red Guide - a reward one chef found easy to describe: "This is joy."

Quote:

All told, 27 restaurants now rank among the best there is in a category that Michelin describes as "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey . . . One will pay accordingly!"

One establishment - Les Crayeres in Reims in the heart of the champagne region - took a devastating hit, being demoted from three stars to two. The restaurant now shares a place with 66 others on the two-star list.

"We have a lot of motivation and we'll win the third star back," said Les Crayeres chef Thierry Voisin. He said the restaurant had been prepared for bad news because of the retirement last year of master chef Gerard Boyer.

While two-star restaurants still feature some of the best cooking offered anywhere (what Michelin calls "excellent cooking, worth a detour") the loss of a star can be brutal to a restaurant's bottom line and a chef's morale.

Michelin Giveth Stars and Taketh Away

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/dining/11MICH.html

Quote:

THE new Michelin guide will award a third star to three restaurants in France and demote one restaurant to two stars.

Les Loges de l'Aubergade in Puymirol, in southwest France, a place of refined rusticity that specializes in the truffle-infused cooking of Michel Trama, its chef and owner, was elevated from two stars to three in the guide, which will be published on Feb. 27.

Quote:

Last year, to avoid rumors, the guide, whose restaurant ratings are the most respected in Europe, began announcing the star ratings before publication of the book.

The suicide of Bernard Loiseau last year publicized the pressures chefs feel over the ratings. Mr. Loiseau's restaurant, the Hôtel de la Côte d'Or, was downgraded in the Gault-Millau guide, and there were suggestions that it would lose one of its three Michelin stars. It did not.

Thanks for posting this.

The mentioned restaurant near Reims is better known as "Boyer", which is also a first class Relais & Chateaux hotel.

Just heard this today on NPR radio.

Fraud Charges Abound in Michelin Dispute

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown....rgDate=current

(scroll down to about 1/2 way down the page...)

Sorry, looks like the weblink has moved. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...um/redface.gif Here's the current one:

Fraud Charges Abound in Michelin Dispute

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown....te=17-Feb-2004

Ex-employee disputes value of Michelin stars

From the Herald Tribune during my trip to Paris 2 weeks ago:

Not all restaurants awarded three stars in the prestigious Michelin guides are up that high standard, and not all are vetted as often as the public would believe, a former inspector for the guides said.

Pascal Remy, who was dismissed after working 16 years for the 104-year-old Michelin Red Guide, told Europe 1 radio that the company had less than a dozen inspectors at work at any one time and each tested only about 200 restaurants per year, a fraction of those listed.

Michelin said Remy had been fired for a "serious fault."

Thanks for posting this.
I found the article:

http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=...20040226144038

Interesting story .. his book will be a bestseller!

Still, when planning a trip to France, Germany, Italy .... the Red Michelin Book is a great help. Generally speaking, Michelin is a valuable source for hotels & restaurants in Europe.
We have nothing like this in the USA...also Zagat does not come close. On several occasions I found restaurants in Zagat that were gone out of business ..

Michelin Ratings - NYC

According to Manhattan User Guide, here are the new Michelin NYC restaurant ratings. I'm not sure if I agree with some of the one star. Gramercy Tavern probably deserves 2, and it's far better quality than Nobu, for example.

***
Alain Ducasse
Jean-Georges
Le Bernardin
Per Se

**
Bouley
Daniel
Danube
Masa

*
Annisa
Aureole
Babbo
BLT Fish
Café Boulud
Café Gray
Craft
Cru
Etats-Unis
Fiamma Osteria
Fleur de Sel
Gotham Bar and Grill
Gramercy Tavern
JoJo
Jewel Bako
La Goulue
Lever House
Lo Scalco
March
Nobu
Oceana
Peter Luger
Picholine
Saul
Scalini Fedeli
Spotted Pig
The Modern
Veritas
Vong
Wallsé
WD-50

Daniel should have 3 and Alain Ducasse 2...I don't think Ducasse should be that high - perhaps they are awarding more points for atmosphere than food (which would be quite a dis-service to the Michelin name). It is especially interesting to see Jean-Georges at 3 in light of the aforementioned.

I am disappointed to see Babbo only get 1* - their tasting menu is superb and, at $50 per person less than Jean-Georges, more than worth it! It's true it's not as "fancy" as the 2-3* but the food, and especially the food and wine pairings, are the best.

I think I tend to agree with thelark.

Oh! And where are L'Impero and Alto? :(

What happened to Guide Rouge (Michelin) online

Whenever I go somewhere in Europe then I do a search and look for typically one star restaurants in the area in the Michelin Guide at www.viamichelin.com

Now it looks like they crippled the search. You can only search for restaurants without any criteria and they don't tell you if they have stars unless you click on them. :(

Many years ago Michelin charged for their searches and I gladly obliged. It yielded micropayment type charges. Then suddenly in 2002 or 3 they changed everything to be free and even refunded my micropayments. :rolleyes:

Now this....... I don't want to and buy every bloody book and the big cities book is not useful since I often go to smaller towns.

How relevant is the Michelin Guide these days?

I know its not quite the same but I am a Zagat's subscriber for years. For some unexplicable reason prefer them over the Michelin rating system.

How relevanzt can they be, if the testers at some place come 3 times and everybody knows they come???

I consider the Michelin ratings to be the most reliable of any system. I've just traveled in Spain, and had amazing meals relying on Michelin ratings. I found other guides to be more descriptive of the food, so I used them as an addition to Michelin - but Michelin was the most important resource for me.

Giving this a bump for a great Michelin find yesterday in Belgium. I went to the closest rated restaurant, which happened to be a "bib gourmand". The restaurant was very high quality, much better than anything than I find in the U.S. The lunch with two courses was EUR 15!

Zagat's: give me a break...... First of all, I am talking about Europe. Secondly,the average American has no idea about good food and Zagat's is based on reviews by the public.