Michelin Stars in the Bay Area
Two years ago, Michelin began rating restaurants in the USA. Michelin stars carry so much weight in Europe, that losing a star has been known to drive chefs to suicide. The French tyre company has been publishing its restaurant guides for Europe since 1900. Michelin's first guides for the US released two years ago covered New York and the Bay Area. In November they will release their first guides for Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
This year, 27 Bay Area and Wine Country restaurants recieved at least one Michelin Star. Here's the list for those of you who are interested; the ones marked new! made it to this list for the first time in the 2008 Guide.
Michelin Three Stars (signifying exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey) :
The French Laundry, Yountville (I am not surprised; you can find a brief mention in one of my earlier posts here)
Michelin Two Stars (means an excellent cuisine, worth a detour) :
Aqua, San Francisco
Chej TJ, Mountain View new!
Cyrus, Healdsburg
Manresa, Los Gatos
Michael Mina, San Francisco
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena new!
Michelin One Star (meaning a very good restaurant in its category) :
Acquerello, San Francisco
Ame, San Francisco new! (My experience posted here)
Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford
Bistro Jeanty, Yountville
Bouchon, Yountville
Boulevard, San Francisco
Chez Panisse, Berkeley
Coi, San Francisco new!
Cortez, San Francisco new!
The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant, Forestville
Fifth Floor, San Francisco
Fleur de Lys, San Francisco (My experience posted here)
Gary Danko, San Francisco
K&L Bistro, Sebastopol
La Folie, San Francisco
La Toque, Rutherford
Madrona Manor, Healdsburg new!
Martini House, St. Helena new!
Masa's, San Francisco new!
One Market, San Francisco new!
Quince, San Francisco
Range, San Francisco
Redd, Yountville new!
Rubicon, San Francisco
Sushi Ran, Sausalito
Terra, St. Helena
Incidentally, Michelin uses inspectors who dine anonymously multiple times in short-listed restaurants before awarding them stars. While ambience, service, decor, cleanliness and general comfort level are also evaluated, the stars are given solely for the restaurants' cuisine.
7 comments:
OK, There's like 5 places in Yountville... what's that about? Yountville is a culinary hotspot apparently. I'll have to get there again, I always thought of it as a hick town in the wine country.
You should come down to the east Coast to give us a restaurant review
@sank: Apparently, other than San Francisco, Napa Valley is the place for great food (to go with the great wines). Also, two of these five places are owned by celebrity chef, Thomas Keller (the only three starred chef in both Bay Area and NYC).
@sandeepa: I hope I do! It's been a while since I have spent time on the East Coast (other than for Florida where I did travel this year).
Okay, this is sooo freaky. guess where we are going this weekend :) San Francisco :) We won't be able to go to French Laundry this trip, the number one in my to-try places... but now I can go through this list and find one in the city :)
@shantanu: Enjoy! :-) In any case, it's difficult to combine a visit with the French Laundry with other things, given that you have to book almost 3 months in advance down to the exact date.
Makes sense that Napa Valley is the place to go - you need good food to complement good wine after all. or so i tell myself :)
So how many of these chefs have had a nervous breakdown? i've heard getting a michelin star can drive you up the wall.
@amrita: There have been more than one such case in France.
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