@savvysearch posted about that last week, with some choice quotes.
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Thanks! I missed it entirely.
Frexit?
Flat tire.
Smart. It would have been pretty tacky to proceed as if it was a normal year
No Michelin Guide 2020?! Oh dear oh dear, who then will dictate to tell us if where the good food is to be found?
Paging @sffood to fill in the void.
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Too bad. I was hoping Chef Go will get his second star.
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His time will come.
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I think Michelin is more useful in a city like Tokyo with hundreds of high-end restaurants than in LA, where everybody already has a pretty good idea of where restaurants stand.
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Internationally recognized stamp of approval (along w W50B, Chef’s Table etc etc) for star chasers / 'grammers. If not why else would one travel half the world to dine at some dinky ol joint… there won’t be a meaningful hashtag to use for their effort.
The ironic thing is that many of the chefs in Tokyo actively seek to avoid Michelin notoriety, as their restaurants already enjoy plenty of business from locals and regular customers - The newbie tourists walking in through their doors, with Michelin Guide in hand, would just muck things up for their joint’s flow.
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I actively avoid Michelin darlings in Tokyo. Not worth the all of the baggage that comes along with it when there are probably 10 comparable restaurants doing the same thing, but without the baggage.
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I think that Michelin is entirely useless in the days of the internet.
FTC on the other hand…
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The internet doesn’t have a comparable resource to help rich gastrotourists make their bucket lists.
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I guess I am not one of those rich gastrotourists.
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Plus, those many of chefs/restaurant in Japan who DO seek this stream of high-end business also happen to employ staff who likely speak English/Mandarin/French/etc., and so it avoids those awkward encounters at places where there is often an unbridgeable language gap.
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We had maybe one Michelin sucker here.
There are plenty of great restaurants on their lists, but the focus of this board is pretty far from those of the kind of people who plan trips where they eat at places with two or three Michelin stars every night.
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Years ago I was up in Napa. I ate at Ken Frank’s Le Toque which was excellent (although I was primed for it having eaten several times at his Sunset Strip rendition), Bistro Jeanty (amazing Bistro food) and at Meadowood (it seemed a little stiff but it was good). Never got to the French Laundry, but unbeknownst to me I had eaten some Keller cuisine at Checkers in DTLA when he was there. The thing that stands out in my mind was this incredible hot chocolate he served (epic).
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