The Michelin Guide resumed its rating of U.S. restaurants in April, 2021. They have since released guides for Washington D.C., Chicago and New York; California is expected at a later date.
Michelin remains one of the few institutions to continue rating restaurants. Most, including the James Beard Awards and World’s 50 Best, have chosen to pivot their strategies, either abstaining from rankings all together, or highlighting the most innovative chefs.
In an interview with The New York Times, Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, said that Michelin was “impressed with their [restaurants] incredible achievement throughout the crisis,” and hopes to continue supporting the industry. “We feel it’s important to highlight those that are in business, to support the industry, help it recover and keep people interested in dining out…”. This year, the guide added 15 new restaurants:
- Washington D.C. now has 23-starred venues, including newly starred Jônt (two stars), Rooster & Owl (one star), Cranes (one star), El Cielo (one star) and Xiquet (one star).
- Chicago now has 24-starred restaurants, including three newly initiated venues: Ever (two stars), the Bar and the Dining Room at Moody Tongue (two stars) and Porto (one star).
- New York City now has 68-starred venues, including seven new one-star restaurants: Rezdora, Tsukimi, Jua, Don Angie, Kochi, Vestry and Francie.
Notably, they didn’t remove or demote any open restaurants. This means all operational venues had their pre-pandemic rankings preserved, even if their dining rooms were closed, or their brands drastically changed (like 11 Madison Park’s new vegan menu, which we’ll get to in a minute). The only restaurants that were removed from the list are those that closed permanently. This was notably not the case for international guides released earlier this year.
Eater New York said that while “extra leeway” was given to venues, allowing those that had temporarily closed or drastically pivoted to retain their stars, the selection process is much the same. And that’s not necessarily a good thing. In the article, Chief Critic for Eater New York, Ryan Sutton, wrote, “The new starred selections are all French, Italian, Korean, or Japanese-leaning venues. With the exception of Francie, they are all in Manhattan. In short, as the restaurant industry continues to adapt and change to survive, Michelin’s starred ranks have largely remained the same.”
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Michelin has long been criticized, especially in New York, of not fully appreciating the wide variety of international cuisines available. In fact, we hosted a Clubhouse talk about this a few months ago, and Leandro Lagera of @FoodNomad brought up a startling figure: there are no Michelin-starred Filipino restaurants in the U.S. (not even D.C.’s beloved Bad Saint, which was helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef, Tom Cunanan; the restaurant has been recognized as Michelin Plate-worthy). It’s not a unique oversite—a quick search of Michelin’s site reveals there are only six Michelin-starred Mexican restaurants and zero Vietnamese-starred restaurants in the country. For contrast, there are six Michelin-starred French restaurants in New York alone.
In addition to overlooking cuisines, Michelin Guide is also notoriously averse to change. Many chefs feel constrained by their stars, afraid to experiment with their menus for fear of losing the coveted award. To keep their status, they stagnate– and it’s one of the (many) reasons some chefs have lost interest in the ranking all together.
In light of all of that, it’s worth noting – even celebrating— this year’s “extra leeway”. The fact that no open restaurants were demoted for radical (albeit necessary), changes like subscription models, take-away only, and totally revised menus is practically revolutionary for the almost 100-year-old guide. It hints at an exciting possibility: could this be the start of more freedom within Michelin’s ranks?
Three-starred Eleven Madison Park recently announced they’re moving to a plant-based menu. The change is shocking, because it shows they’re putting their growth above accolades. Pre-pandemic, a change of that magnitude could have cost them their stars, which is a devastating personal and financial loss. Granted, the announcement came only days before the New York guide was released, but still, I like to think that it offers a glimmer of hope that maybe, finally, restaurants will start to influence the guide, instead of the other way around.
Daniel Humm, chef and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park wrote a moving letter on the restaurant’s homepage (it’s worth reading in its entirety). In it, he explains that he agonized over the decision to move to a plant-based menu. “I’m not going to lie, at times I’m up in the middle of the night, thinking about the risk we’re taking abandoning dishes that once defined us.” He goes on to say that this new venture has brought his kitchen to life. “What at first felt limiting began to feel freeing… all this has given us the confidence to reinvent what fine dining can be.” Ultimately, he says, “this is a risk worth taking.”
The restaurant has also launched the Eleven Madison Truck, in partnership with Rethink Food. The truck is part of the venue's new circular business model. Every meal sold at the restaurant funds five meals for New Yorkers facing food insecurity.
If the world’s leading restaurants, those like Eleven Madison Park, decide to develop and grow, rejecting the risk of ‘punishment’ (demotion) from the Michelin Guide and embracing their own values and passions, perhaps it will force the ‘little red book’ – and all ranking bodies – to evolve, too.
A few months ago, I wrote an article about how the Michelin Guide had failed restaurants by moving ahead with their European and Asian guides. At the time, the world was still very much gripped by the restrictions, and fears, of COVID-19. Only 26% of Michelin-starred restaurants were open globally, and yet the guide decided to launch their French, British, Hong Kong & Macanese guides. Over 70 restaurants lost their stars, and it seemed an especially cruel decision for Michelin to make at a time when so many operators were hurting.
RELATED: Watch Our Evolve Virtual Series On-Demand Now
That was almost four months ago. Today, I’m elated to write that 36% of Michelin-starred restaurants are opened globally. Within the U.S., that percentage jumps to almost 70%. The industry is healing, and those that have survived the storm are coming back smarter and bolder than ever.
This realization came up a lot during our virtual Evolve series. Operators around the country told us how they had pivoted and grown during the pandemic. The consensus was the venues that could pivot were the venues that would survive. As Travis Tober, owner of Austin’s Nickel City bar said, “I truly believe the great operators are going to come out stronger than ever, and ready to rock and roll.”
After over a year of drastic changes and forced pivots, it’s clear the industry is truly evolving for the better. Real, earnest conversations about food sustainability and employee welfare are happening. Authentic change is happening. Maybe, just maybe, the Michelin Guide will change with it. Otherwise, they risk being left behind by an industry that has proven they can survive anything.
All views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author. For questions or comments, you can reach her directly at [email protected].
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