Michelin Guide expands to include U.S. South

The latest: Michelin Guide Inspectors are already scoping out restaurants in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

• Their experiences will result in an elite group of restaurant selections, which the company will share in a ceremony sometime later. It's not yet clear when that will be, the company said in a press release.

Between the lines: They're also tasting in Atlanta, but a Michelin Guide already exists for that city. It expanded there in 2023.

What they're saying: "We are excited to embark on this new journey for the Michelin Guide as this will be the first time since the Guide's North American debut in 2005 that we are launching a regional selection," Gwendal Poullennec, the guides' international director said in a press release.

• "The cuisine of the American South is a unique product of diverse influences creating an iconic array of specialties prepared by proud and impressive culinary talent."

How it works: Michelin inspectors visit restaurants anonymously and look for five criteria, the company says. Per a press release, they include:

1. quality products
2. the harmony of flavors
3. the mastery of cooking techniques
4. the voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine
5. consistency between each visit and throughout the menu. Each restaurant is inspected several times a year.

Catch up quick: The prestigious list of Michelin-starred restaurants began with the advent of car travel, when hungry motorists in France benefited from recommendations for the new places they visited. Go deeper.