How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

2024-08-25 20:55:00, Trending CNA

It's one of the highest culinary honors bestowed on a restaurant, but for decades, the process around how it's awarded has been shrouded in mystery.

The most interesting plot point of the new season of "Emily" in Paris may be chef Gabriel's dream of getting a coveted Michelin star at his restaurant, l'Esprit de Gigi.

From Menyja to The Bear, plenty of chefs have pursued this illustrious distinction over the past few years, but the treatment of the secrecy and solemnity of the Michelin star is right on the money.

"Even for us, the Michelin Guide is a bit cloudy," said Julia Sedefdjian, who became France's youngest Michelin-starred chef at the age of 21. "It's not like we have a grading scale ahead of us."

But given the strict anonymity of the Guide's inspectors, perhaps the best people to offer insight into what it really takes to earn a Michelin star are the chefs.

The Michelin Guide began humbly in 1900 as a free guidebook for Michelin customers, showing gas stations, hotels and restaurants.

The three-star hierarchy only appeared in 1931, with one-star establishments said to be worth a stop, two stars a detour, and three stars an entire trip.

The contemporary guide is shrouded in mystery, with an undisclosed number of inspectors reviewing more than 40,000 restaurants in more than 30 countries. France alone counts 639 restaurants with Michelin stars, of which 75 have two stars and only 30 have three.

How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

The mysteries of what makes a restaurant worthy are clearer to chef Maxime Bouttier after 15 years working in starred kitchens across France, as well as a stint at Les 110 de Taillevant in London.

"I know how you can earn a star," said the chef, who won her first at Géosmine in March 2024. She mentioned "codes" like white tablecloths and soft piano music playing in the background, boxes that some restaurateurs seek to score.

When Sedefdjian opened her Michelin-starred Baieta in Paris in 2018, she deliberately invested in beautiful items and stocked her wine cellar accordingly, even opening the restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Itinéraires with Michelin stars.

Sedefdjian's pursuit of stardom began much earlier, when she was just 14 years old. She was attending culinary school and interning at l'Aphrodite restaurant when she won her first star.

"I saw what it was like to have a chef who waited for his star for years, to be successful," she recalls. "It's something magical. I remember it like it was yesterday, and it wasn't even mine."

Restaurant insiders may have suspected Emily in Paris season four's revelation of "inspector" Marianne as a fraud, seeing as when it comes to a Michelin review, chefs are always kept in the dark.

"We are never aware of the inspectors' visit," Sedefdjian said. "If they introduce themselves, it's only after they've eaten. And they never introduce themselves." That said, some clues are portrayed almost perfectly in the 2015 film Burned , when the manager relays some strange behavior to the chef: two customers, one ordering the tasting menu, the other à la carte, have ordered a half bottle wine and most importantly put a fork on the floor.

"We used to say they put silverware on the floor to see if the waiter would pick it up right away," Sedefdjian said.

How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

After inspection, most learn of their star status at a ceremony. But for new restaurants, Sedefdjian said, "Someone from Guide calls you to let you know." However, as the ceremony approached, "I started saying to myself, 'This is not possible. They won't call. They'll never call." And then, the day before the ceremony, someone called her. "My heart started racing," she said. "It was someone from Guide, who called to say, 'I wanted to let you know. that your star will shine again."

Bouttier, too, began his path to stardom at age 14 when, after sharing his passion for cooking, his mother pushed him to attend school.

"It's a lot of theory, sitting in a chair," he said. "If I wanted to be in the kitchen, it's because I'm sick of sitting in a chair!" They agreed to a compromise: for Bouttier to seek an internship at a star restaurant.

Fifteen years later, Bouttier opened Géosmine knowing he wanted a star – but on his own terms. "We don't have tablecloths," he said. "Our waiters are in Doc Martens. Our soundtrack is '80s rap. It's nothing like what we had to do to get a star."

However, Bouttier won one less than a year after opening in April 2023.

How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

Experience is not an anomaly, according to trained chef, culinary instructor and gastronomic guide Allison Zinder.

"What I've noticed in the last 10 years is a much greater focus on ingredients and techniques and what's on the plate than the dishes themselves," she said. "It's become much more streamlined. It's less about tablecloths."

Earning a star can change things overnight for restaurants. L'Aphrodite closed temporarily to renovate its galley-style kitchen into a grand kitchen, and Bouttier streamlined its offerings into a single prix fixe menu.

The most obvious changes were beyond his control.

"We have an all-star clientele now, and that clientele is a lot more annoying," she said, citing guests horrified to learn they can't bring "dogs the size of cows" to dinner.

How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

For Sedefdjian, the main difference is in mentality: "It brings a different kind of rigor. You have to make many, many, sacrifices," Bouttier said. She admitted that her meticulous nature has made her "not easy to "I'm only 32, but my management style is old," she said.

The pressure is only magnified by Bouttier's next goal: a second star. To get there, he believes he will need to hire more staff and renovate the kitchen.

"All the places I've had fun dining in, in my life, were two-star places," she said, noting that as a chef, two stars leave room for growth. "If you have three stars," she said, "you can lose them all."

How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?

"I've always been motivated by pressure," Sedefdjian said. "But I can understand that there are chefs out there who say there are too many obstacles."

"The star rewards a rigor and a quality of work, and that's what's important," Bouttier said. "It's the road to the star. It's not really the star. We cook the way we want to cook," Sedefdjian added. "We have to like it, our customers have to like it. And then, if Michelin likes it, that's even better."/ Adapted from CNA