The Michelin Guide makes the scene in Atlanta on Oct. 24, and a coveted mention can have a large impact on a restaurant.
The Michelin Guide — the beacon of fine dining across the globe — is owned by a French tire manufacturer. Conceived by brothers André and Edouard Michelin, the 400-page first edition Guide Michelin France debuted at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. It was a handbook with maintenance guides, maps, petrol stations, hotels, restaurants and even post offices. Its real purpose, however, was to get people to take to the road and eventually buy more tires.
In the guide’s preface, André Michelin wrote, “This book appears with the new century, it will last as long.” Today there are 40 guide destinations.
Single-starred ratings of restaurants didn’t arise until 1926, with the three-tiered system running seven years later. In 2005, anonymous inspectors arrived in New York City with the United States’ first guide, basing an assessment on five universal criteria focusing on “the quality of the cuisine, and only the cuisine,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide.
Credit: Courtesy of Michelin North America
Credit: Courtesy of Michelin North America
The methodology’s five criteria include quality of products, mastery of cooking technique, harmony and balance of flavors, personality of the chef as expressed in the cuisine, and consistency between visits and throughout the menu.
Initially, Michelin’s star rating system was a strategy for mileage on Michelin’s tires from the motor tourist, explicating that dining justified a trip. One meant good in the area. Two stars were good enough for a detour and a visit even if far. Three stars warranted a special journey. The stars are similar today (with “high quality cooking,” “excellent cooking,” and ”exceptional cuisine” added sequentially), and worldwide culinary tourists plan itineraries around them.
The Bib Gourmand distinction, introduced in 1997, honors restaurants offering “exceptionally good food at moderate prices.” In 2020 the Green Star was introduced, for restaurants that are particularly inspiring and impressive with sustainable gastronomy. The Guide also includes “Recommended” restaurants.
A Guide could be an economic driver for Atlanta and Georgia as it amps up the food scene. According to a 2019 study by Ernst & Young, two-thirds of frequent travelers said they would choose to visit a destination with a Michelin Guide presence over a comparable location without one. Of these travelers, 57% would extend their stay if a Michelin selection was offered and 71% would increase their spending.
Credit: Elcielo Grou
Credit: Elcielo Grou
Last year when Florida got its first Guide, Miami’s Colombian restaurant Elcielo received one star. “As soon as the guide arrived,” said chef Juan Manuel Barrientos, “sales skyrocketed and the number of covers increased. Now we have foodie travelers from all over the world, tourists from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East whose hobby is visiting starred restaurants around the world.”
Atlanta has always been intriguing in Michelin’s continual evaluation of possible destinations. Michelin inspectors left Atlanta “impressed with its outstanding culinary offerings and found that the city had enough high-quality dining establishments for a guide,” said Poullennec. “Atlanta is the perfect place to be the seventh Michelin Guide destination in the U.S., and we are eager to let the world know how special its culinary scene is.”
Poullennec also said that “for restaurants and their teams, earning a star is a career milestone — something many chefs work for years to achieve.”
Along with a steady stream of bookings, New York’s Clover Hill saw a change in demographics with the star it earned last year. Charlie Mitchell, the first Black chef in New York to be honored with a star and only the second Black executive chef in the country to do so, said that people were traveling specifically to eat at the Brooklyn restaurant. “They were coming in with more intention,” he said. “The Michelin star gave us the reassurance to open up more nights and showed us that we really have a future.”
It was a weight off Mitchell’s shoulders that gave him motivation. “It shows that this was a result of all the work we’ve done, a sigh of relief that our doors will stay open.”
As to the insinuation from detractors that Michelin stars cause chefs to narrow creativity and innovation, Poullennec said, “Quite the contrary. The distinctions reward creativity and the infusion of the chef’s voice and experience into their culinary creations.”
Mitchell agrees. “The reason why I wanted to be a Michelin-starred chef is because I feel like at that level you can be your most creative, more of a visionary because people are looking at you now.”
He’s not the only chef who sees it as an inspiration to reach even higher.
“For us, winning a star challenged us to improve and be even more creative, to be able to maintain it every year and why not aspire to win a second one in the future?” said Barrientos. “The market is very competitive, and although we offer a unique product and experience worldwide, we cannot stop, because Elcielo has been innovating creative cuisine since its inception.”
The 2023 Michelin Guide Atlanta will be unveiled Oct. 24 at an invitation-only gala at the Rialto Center for the Arts.
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