I’m not opposed to the pay to play aspect in this regard. Visiting a ton of restaurants 2-3 timesf costs money and they really don’t make anything from it nowadays from print since everyone does it online. I still think out of all of the “lists/awards” Michelin is the best one. Cause people actually eat there and decide opposed to popularity contests like JBF/OAD/Worlds 50
I think Sushi Sho in its heyday was the best sushi restaurant in America. I’m going to go to the new Sho in NYC in October, so let’s see how it is now that he’s moved to new york.
they did give Holbox a star! But part of me thinks it has to do with awarding Mexican food in LA since it’s such a dominant part of our food culture. (I Do love holbox. going on wed for lunch)
yeah that’s why they didn’t have a star for the last two years and finally got a star this year. The food isn’t the same anymore. It’s way more refined.
Just like Kato isn’t the same restaurant it was when it opened in 2021 or Baroo won’t be the same in two years either.
I have some inside baseball insight on this. The GM at Vespertine is now in charge of service for all of the restaurants and it’s made a noticeable difference in the restaurant service wise. It’s far more warm and welcoming.
That sucks, but since I moved here 3 years ago and have been to anajak…10+ times I’ve only had the warmest service there. Is it formal? Not at all, but is it a good hang? Absolutely.
And only the 3 star level is truly standardized regardless of region. I think I read the same group of reviewers have to fly in to 3 star candidates in all regions and come up with consensus. Somewhere in the “lesser” stars category, 1 maybe even 2, they just leave it up to the regional reviewers.
The criteria for three stars aren’t consistent across regions. In California only Thomas Keller-esque tasting menus get three. They’re more diverse elsewhere.
I suspect it’s the regional reviewers nominating the 3* so the international panel only goes to that subset which means it’s biased by the regional reviewers. They could still be judged to the same standard, and there are additional worthy restaurants that aren’t being evaluated by the 3* reviewers.
Four Horsemen is ostensibly a restaurant restaurant. They gave wine bar vibes for the first 6 months but then it became a straight up reservation normal seated dinner.
It’s real miss that people didn’t know if they retained their stars, my stomach would have been in knots.
“The way that they announced the new stars, I almost started tearing up. They put so much more emphasis on the new stars this year. It was the best ceremony to date. They just forgot that there are 70 other people here.”
On the ceremony’s very awkward ending: “Did we all lose our stars? What the fuck just happened?”
“They said go by the checkout and ask them if you still have a star. They looked through a clipboard, found our name on the list, and handed us the placard.”