The Star Chamber

To extreme foodies, the highest restaurant ratings awarded by a tire company are the most coveted marks of culinary excellence. Those prized Michelin three stars, the highest rating of cooking superlatives, are the stuff of movies and have purportedly led to chef suicides when a star is lost. All this from a French company that makes damned good tires? Well, here’s the story per brand site, theStrategyStory.com (3/5/21): “To save an ailing family business, the Michelin brothers, Andre an engineer, and Eduardo Michelin a landscape artist took over the factory that specialized in manufacturing farm equipment, and spotting an opportunity, they quickly diversified into selling vulcanized rubber tires in the late 1800s about the time when the first automobiles were rolling out…

“Bibendum, commonly known as the Michelin man and the mascot of the Michelin brand appears in other uncommon places…You might just bump into him at the entrances of several fancy restaurants!! … The automobile industry was in its nascent stage, and in keeping with their strategy of playing an active part in the cycle, [the brothers] hit upon the idea of a guidebook. Guide books were in vogue then – Remember ‘Google’ came in 100 years later…

“The guide book that they came out for motorists had information that any motorist would need – a compendium of all the mechanics in France, instructions on how to replace a flat tire, the location of fuel stations, and ‘suitable restaurants and hotels’ for travelers to eat and stay while journeying across France along with a detailed road map…

“The Michelin Guide became an instant hit. It became such a rage that the brothers decided to launch a similar guide along the same lines in other European countries as well, and needless to say, it became a runaway success… They had the foresight to juxtapose customer focus and rivet it onto their expansion plans. They decided to appoint full-time ‘food inspectors’ and food critics to review restaurants and rate the cuisine and service, anonymously. The company has retained this philosophy to this date. Only the best restaurants would feature in this guide...

“In 1926, they decided to make it even more exclusive; after all, only the well-heeled could afford to purchase and drive a car, so why not. To make these restaurants more exclusive, they started ranking them and awarding stars. Michelin Stars. They followed this for five years awarding the best restaurants single Michelin star.” The rest, as they say, is history. The guide avoided giving top prizes outside of Europe until the late 20th century. Today, while most of these venues do not have “stars,” the guides cover 16,459 restaurants. The US, particularly New York, now has its share of coveted starts. But all is not well in this tiny aggregation of the best of the best. To some chefs, heavily dependent on “over-staffing” with unpaid interns (where that is legal) or low-paid culinary aspirants, getting and maintaining a three star (or even less) restaurant is “unsustainable.”

Writing for the January 14th Los Angeles Times, author and food critic, Karen Stabiner, digs into the underlying story, one that has changed recently in part as a result of the shutdown that occurred during the pandemic. This Euro-centric guide is facing some genuine challenges: “Getting to the top of the mountain takes a toll. Staying there can mean a world of pain.

“Chef David Kinch closed his lauded Los Gatos, Calif., restaurant, Manresa, on Dec. 31, after 20 years and three Michelin stars. The work, he said, had been ‘backbreaking.’ He’s ready to shift his attention to his bread bakery and two casual places.

“Chef René Redzepi, who runs Copenhagen’s Noma, also a recipient of three Michelin stars and widely regarded as the best restaurant in the world, has announced that he will shut it down at the end of 2024. Serving customers at Noma’s stratospheric level is ‘unsustainable,’ he said, amid criticism of the restaurant’s reliance on low-paid staff and unpaid interns. He’d rather oversee a laboratory kitchen and focus on e-commerce and the occasional pop-up.

“There is talk of the end of an era; the air at the culinary peak is too thin to be healthy. And yet, since the Michelin Guide announced its 2022 Los Angeles winners, restaurateurs further down the list, those who had a star and lost it, continue to wonder where they went wrong and how they can regain their stars in 2023… The emperor may have no clothes, but everyone wants to know who his tailor is.

“Michelin, which has published restaurant ratings for almost a century, has expanded its guides over time to include everything from affordable restaurants to service to notable wine lists, but the stars, for the food itself, are still the big prize. Winners face a deluge of reservations from what one restaurant insider calls ‘star chasers.’ Losers lose face, as well as some of those label-conscious customers...

“All of this puts restaurants that lose a star in an especially tough spot because demotion can make them self-conscious. A little bit of doubt and anxiety might inspire a striving chef or owner to dig in, but too big a case of nerves can sink them. And Michelin keeps the heat on throughout the year by publishing lists of possible contenders for recognition, some of whom will not make the final cut. Losing a star or barely missing a star — not the kind of high-profile attention anyone needs.

“High-end restaurants are difficult to pull off because they’re expensive to operate and dependent on a sometimes fickle sliver of the dining public. The pandemic made things even harder, as customers came to regard meal kits as a night out. If that recalibration turns permanent, if our blow-out celebration meals become less frequent, stars could come to matter even more; nobody wants to make a mistake when they choose a destination for that rare big evening out, and a star feels like insurance.”

In past years, when I traveled to a major city, I relied on these Red Guides for unique dining experiences. I have to admit, they were very convenient. But I have since learned that some of the best restaurants in cities and towns to which I travel frequently… are as good as anything with those top ratings… aren’t even mentioned. Time to do your own culinary homework… and probably save a few bucks.

I’m Peter Dekom, and everything in this world is changing, even the best sources of restaurant ratings.