Michelin Guide

New York City 2006
First Michelin Red Guide for North America

The Michelin Guide (French: Guide Michelin) is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars. Michelin also publishes Green Guides for travel and tourism, as well as several newer publications such as the Guide Voyageur Pratique (independent travel), Guide Gourmand (good-value eating-places), Guide Escapade (quick breaks) and Guide Coup de Cœur (favourite hotels).

History

André Michelin published the first edition of the guide in 1900 to help drivers maintain their cars, find decent lodging, and eat well while touring France. It included addresses of gasoline distributors, mechanics, and tire dealers, along with local prices for fuel, tires, and auto repairs.

The guide was distributed free from 1900 until 1920. The Michelin brothers began charging for the guides to establish more credibility after a pile of them were found propping up a garage workbench. The guide began recognizing outstanding restaurants in 1926 by marking their listings with a star; two and three stars were added in the early 1930s. The cover of the guide was originally blue, but since 1931 has been red.

Gradually, additional guides were introduced for other European countries. In 2010, eight Red Guides were published for the countries of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium/Luxembourg, Italy, Spain & Portugal, Switzerland, and Great Britain & Ireland.

Red Guides have historically listed many more restaurants than rivals, relying on an extensive system of symbols to describe each establishment in as little as two lines. Reviews of starred restaurants also include two to three culinary specialities. Recently, however, short summaries (2-3 lines) have been added to enhance descriptions of many establishments. These summaries are written in the language of the country for which the guide is published, but the symbols are the same throughout all editions.

Red Guides are also published for selected major cities: Paris, London, Tokyo, Kyoto/Osaka, Hong Kong & Macau, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. There is also a Red Guide encompassing the "Main Cities of Europe."

The current (2010) Tokyo Red Guide contains 197 starred restaurants, the most of any single guide. Eleven restaurants received three stars, 42 have two stars, and 144 have one star. This is more than three times New York City's total (56), and more than twice as many as Paris (96).^[1] However, Tokyo is home to 160,000 restaurants, compared to New York City's 25,000 and Paris's 13,000.^[2][3][4]

In 2008, German restaurateur Juliane Caspar was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the French edition of the Red Guide.^[5] She is the first woman and first non-French national to edit the French edition.^[6]

Inspectors

Michelin operates on the principle that only anonymous, professionally-trained experts can be trusted to make accurate, impartial assessments of a restaurant's food and service (as opposed, for example, to the Zagat Survey, which relies on restaurant patrons for its reviews).

The Michelin inspectors write detailed reports which are collated at company headquarters in Paris. All favorable ratings are distilled, at annual "stars meetings", into rankings of 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star, or no stars. Restaurants which Michelin deems unworthy of patronage are simply not included in the guide.

Restaurants are revisited regularly to keep reviews current; for example, Michelin claims that its inspectors revisit all 4,000 reviewed restaurants in France every 18 months, and all starred restaurants several times a year.^[7]

Michelin has gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve the anonymity of its inspectors. Many of the company's top executives have never met an inspector, and inspectors themselves are advised not to disclose their line of work, even to their parents (who might be tempted to boast about it).^[8]

The November 23, 2009 issue of The New Yorker carries an interview by John Colapinto with an unnamed New York-based Michelin inspector—the only time Michelin has ever allowed one of its inspectors to speak to a journalist on the record.^[9]

Michelin stars and other ratings

Stars

The guide awards one to three stars to a small number of restaurants of outstanding quality. One star indicates "a very good restaurant in its category, worth a stop." A two-star ranking represents "excellent cooking, worth a detour", and three stars are awarded to restaurants offering "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."

A three-star Michelin ranking is exceedingly rare. As of late 2009, only 26 three-star restaurants existed in France, and only 81 in the world.^[8]

Rising stars

The Michelin Guide also awards Rising Stars, an indication that a given restaurant has the potential to qualify for a star, or an extra star.

Bib Gourmand

Since 1955, the guide has also highlighted restaurants offering "good food at moderate prices", a feature now called "Bib Gourmand". They must offer menu items priced below a maximum determined by local economic standards. Bib (Bibendum) is the company's nickname for the Michelin Man, its corporate logo for over a century.

Other ratings

All listed restaurants, regardless of their star- or Bib Gourmand-status, also receive a "fork and spoon" designation, as a subjective reflection of the overall comfort and quality of the restaurant.^[10] Rankings range from one to five: One fork and spoon represents a "comfortable restaurant" and five signifies a "luxurious restaurant". Forks and spoons colored red designate a restaurant that is considered "pleasant" as well.

Restaurants, independently of their other ratings in the guide, can also receive a number of other symbols next to their listing.

• Coins indicate restaurants that serve a menu for a certain price or less, depending on the local monetary standard.^[10] In the current (2009) French Red Guide, the maximum permitted "coin" price is €16.50.
• Interesting view or Magnificent view, designated by a black or red symbol, are given to restaurants offering those features.
• Grapes indicate restaurants that offer, at minimum, a "somewhat interesting" selection of wines.^[10]

Green Guides

The Green Guides review and rate attractions other than restaurants. There is a Green Guide for France as a whole, and a more detailed one for each of ten regions within France. Other Green Guides cover many countries, regions, and cities outside France. Many Green Guides are published in several languages. They include background information and an alphabetical section describing points of interest. Like the Red Guides, they use a three-star system for recommending sights ranging from "worth a trip" to "worth a detour", and "interesting".

Controversy

Because of their reputation the Michelin Guides have been subject to scrutiny and criticism.

Allegations of lax inspection standards

Pascal Rémy, a veteran France-based Michelin inspector, and also a former Gault Millau employee, wrote a tell-all book in 2004 entitled "L'Inspecteur Se Met à Table" (literally, "The Inspector Sits Down at the Table", but also translatable idiomatically as "The Inspector Spills the Beans", or perhaps more literally, "The Inspector Puts it all on the Table").

He described the French Michelin inspector's life as lonely, underpaid drudgery, driving around France for weeks on end, dining alone, under intense pressure to file detailed reports on strict deadlines. He claimed the Guide had become lax in its standards. Though Michelin states that its inspectors visited all 4,000 reviewed restaurants in France every 18 months, and all starred restaurants several times a year, Rémy said only about one visit every 3.5 years was possible because there were only 11 inspectors in France when he was hired, rather than the 50 or more hinted by Michelin. That number, he said, had shrunk to five by the time he was fired in 2003.

Furthermore, Rémy charged, the Guide played favourites. He specifically named Paul Bocuse, the pioneer of nouvelle cuisine, whose restaurant, l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near Lyon, was known, according to Rémy, to have declined considerably in quality, yet continued to hold 3 stars.^[11] Michelin denied Rémy's charges, but refused to say how many inspectors it actually employed in France. In response to Rémy's claim that certain 3-star chefs were untouchable, Michelin said only, "...if [our ratings] weren't true...customers would write and tell us."^[12] Rémy's employment was terminated when he informed Michelin of his plans to publish his book. He brought a court case for unfair dismissal, which was unsuccessful.^[13]

Accusations of bias

As the Michelin Guide is published by a French company, some US food critics have claimed that the rating system is biased in favor of French cuisine, or French dining standards. When Michelin published its first New York City Red Guide, for example, Steven Kurutz of the New York Times noted that Danny Meyer's Union Square Cafe, a restaurant rated highly by the New York Times, Zagat Survey, and other prominent guides, received a no star-rating from Michelin. (He did acknowledge that the restaurant received positive mention for its ambiance, and that two other restaurants owned by Meyer received stars.) Kurutz also claimed the guide appeared to favor restaurants that "emphasized formality and presentation" rather than a "casual approach to fine dining." He also claimed that over half of the restaurants that received one or two stars "could be considered French".^[14]

Further reading

• Trois étoiles au Michelin: Une histoire de la haute gastronomie française et européenne, by Jean-François Mesplède and Alain Ducasse, ISBN 2-7000-2468-0. Follows the 60-odd chefs who have been awarded three stars.
• The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, by Rudolph Chelminski, ISBN 9780141021935. The story of Bernard Loiseau.

References

External links

• The Michelin Guide