Michelin is coming: What that means for New Orleans
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Michelin-starred restaurants get plaques that share their elite status. This sign denotes two stars for the Hisa Franko restaurant in Kobarid, Slovenia. Photo: Jure Makovec/AFP
The Michelin Guide will soon offer its sought-after recommendations for restaurants in the U.S. South, potentially offering stars to New Orleans restaurants, the company announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: A Michelin star is one of the restaurant world's top honors, and having one can launch a chef's career into the culinary stratosphere.
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. It's not yet clear when that will be, the company said in a press release.
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.
- It first expanded to North America in 2005.
Between the lines: It's no guarantee that New Orleans will end up with a restaurant — let alone more than one — with a Michelin star.
- But the idea of it, a possibility foodies around town have talked about for years, could push the city's restaurants even harder toward greatness.
- "New Orleans has always been a beacon of culinary excellence, and the arrival of the Michelin Guide brings an exciting opportunity to showcase our city's vibrant food scene on a global scale," says Serigne Mbaye, who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants before opening Dakar NOLA.
What they're saying: "Whatever pushes all of us is good for this city and this food scene, and we have this very adoring-of-each-other competition in this town, but that competition is good," says Commander's Palace co-proprietor Ti Martin.
- "All of this pushes us forward, and that's good for our whole city and region."
Yes, but: Upping the ante for the possibility of a Michelin star doesn't necessarily come cheap. Emeril's Restaurant, for example, underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation in recent years and took a turn toward the kind of menu approach that might appeal to Michelin Inspectors.
- Martin, for one, is glad Commander's Palace recently renovated, too.
- "But shoot, I wish [our new chairs] had already arrived," she laughed.
How it works: Michelin inspectors visit restaurants anonymously and look for five criteria, the company says. Per a press release, they include:
- quality products
- the harmony of flavors
- the mastery of cooking techniques
- the voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine
- consistency between each visit and throughout the menu. Each restaurant is inspected several times a year.
The bottom line: "There are so many more great restaurants in New Orleans than in most cities that it's inevitable to leave off a lot of great places," Martin says.
- "You can go wrong in my restaurant or any restaurant on any given night, but having dined around the world, it's harder to go wrong here. It's just so damn good all over the place that I'm leery already of who's not on [the list]."