i really think Providence deserves 3 stars.
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I can imagine they wouldn’t be happy. But that’s the risk of putting so much effort into chasing something like stars. What happens to all that work you did when the results don’t change? Because a lot of what I’ve been hearing about Kato and their transition into the new space seems like a lot of money and menu changes were efforts geared towards chasing Michelin stars. They’ll still be the hottest ticket in town, but it’s like you got all this expensive cosmetic surgery,that you maybe didn’t think you needed, at the slightest interest or request from a player who still wants to be dating 10 other girls. And that’s not a unique story when it comes to Michelin.
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Just because Chowseeker wrote it doesn’t mean it’s true. Initially, he railed on how Kato used some obscure brand of caviar named Astrea Kaluga to trick people into thinking that they’re serving quality stuff when, in fact, they were serving subpar tasting caviar from China. Meanwhile, many Michelin starred restaurants including TFL serves Kaluga from China.
After he was confronted on Hungryonion by someone and realized that China serves quality Kaluga. He removed all his disparaging comments on Astrea’s caviar and suddenly they no longer taste bad. 
Also, I’m not crazy about Kato but Chowseeker seems to be the only person in the world that consistently gets “bad” tasting uni from top tier restaurants. It’s amazing.
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Added…the chefs who serve Astrea are not ashamed to say the caviar comes from China.
It’s also really tasty, too. I remember telling Chef Justin at Anajak how delightful the caviar is after including the add-on for my omakase there.
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Oof sorry to hear. I always take Michelin with a grain of salt for Japan. My friend’s wife also had a disappointing 2-star kaiseki in Kyoto on a recent trip. I try to cross check with the Tabelog score and any write ups I can find to avoid expensive misses. 
One suggestion for non-starred sushi in Tokyo (among many amazing places) would be Sushi Ishiyama. I enjoyed a great lunch nigiri course pre-COVID! I basically recommend it to anyone comfortable with the price point and plan to return on my next trip back.
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It was me. I called his dumbass out.
Caveat - I am an owner of astrea caviar 
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Surprisingly, I wouldn’t do Michelin starred places in Japan. Don’t get me wrong, they are great, but like Japan is home to so many good sushi-ya that don’t need star validation. Michelin has always been western made and centric in the sense that it bases itself off France THE leading cuisine/country of the world when it shouldn’t be. If you view the star system this way, then only sushi places are able to break the mold and obtain stars. With barely recently stars in California being given to have kaiseki places, I think has started to break the mold on what type of Japanese food could be deemed a star. I always remember Brandon-san stating something along the lines of “does it have caviar?” And as a food noob I was like what, but then I realized caviar and gold flakes are sometimes way restaurants mark themselves as “high end”.
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I think you’re projecting too much into this. Wouldn’t blame the team there for being disappointed by not getting a second star, who wouldn’t be in their position? If you’ve ever gone to the original Kato you would have seen that they are not lacking ambition. Most people would not try to put out the food they were doing in that size space and location. However, I think the motivations are way more complex than chasing stars. Kato had outgrown their original space (long outgrown, really). IMO they were taking a calculated risk on picking up the M. Georgina space during the pandemic. I hope they got a good deal. They also made very few changes to the space, so I don’t think they spent as much as you assume. Contrast this with Pizzeria Bianco, also at The Row, which went through a full build out for a restaurant that hits a significantly lower price point.
Now they’ve got a lot more seats to fill, need lots more staff, and have much higher fixed expenses. My guess is they don’t have super deep pocketed backers either (better keep your debt load down). So you want more revenue and you want high per diner prices (tasting menu, pairing options!), you don’t want to blow out your food costs and kitchen capacity (no a la carte), and you need enough people to think it’s worth it to come in and fill all those extra seats you have (high margin luxury ingredients that help justify the cost). This does align with what people assume Michelin cares about, but there are reasons to do it other than star chasing. Even from the sustainable business perspective you want stars, because it’ll help fill those seats with international customers who are less price sensitive while on vacation and have no obligations preventing from coming on a slower weeknight.
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In California, the only Asian cuisine that has restaurants with two stars is Japanese.
I love Kato, no matter how many stars it has. We had a dinner at Kato just after we came back from Europe (Spain/France) where we dined in a number michelin starred places, some with 2 stars, and i found myself commenting that they are not as good as Kato. So I think if one were to look at many European two star restaurants Kato definitely can hold its own.
I do not feel like they are chasing stars. To me they appear to have stepped up their level since moving to the new space.
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Not sure if Michelin inspectors have yet to visit the ROW DTLA location (which offers a much finer meal than its original West LA space, and more true to Chef Jon’s vision)…
yeah, I’ve done two meals at the row location and it was night and day compared to old space (which was still great!)
speaking of which…went in october and march…wonder when a good time to revisit will be with enough of the menu to have been changed to make it a good move
they have - that’s why they are part of the “new Michelin star” category. Because Michelin gives the stars based on location. So this is the first star awarded at the new location.
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Doesn’t the star go with the chef and not location?
Stars are for the restaurant and location. They don’t belong to chefs.
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If the Head Chef leaves, do you automatically remove the Star?
Not necessarily, as Michelin Stars are awarded to the restaurant and not the chef. Sometimes the restaurant will promote the sous chef who is of equal talent to his or her predecessor; others might hire a talented chef from another restaurant. We will simply return to the restaurant and see how well we eat.
Good to know!
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Interesting article about the impact on losing a Michelin star
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/michelin-star-loss-17635862.php
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I did see the post on Instagram yesterday mentioned in the story by Jeremy Fox. He sounded like a protective papa bear of his team, really makes me respect him even more especially after over coming his own mental health issues.
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