Like dusk dissolving into darkness to reveal the great constellations above, Michelin has unveiled its New York stars for 2022.
The biggest night of entertainment followed the auto parts manufacturer’s guidebook additions and publishers and their Bib Gourmands (a category that aims to honor particularly affordable destinations), both announced in recent months.
Michelin’s marquee flares finally revealed on Peak viewstaurant on the west side of Manhattan in a ceremony tonight. The awards aim to highlight “the best food” through one star (“high quality cuisine, worth a stop”), two (“excellent cuisine, worth a detour”), or three stars (“exceptional cuisine , it’s worth a special trip”). .
More precisely, stars are awarded when Michelin’s famous anonymous inspectors can identify a combination of “outstanding cuisine”, “mastery of techniques”, quality of ingredients, “the personality of the chef expressed in his kitchen” and “coherence”. However, only “the food on the plate” is being considered. instagrammable a place can be. Inspectors travel the world dining out as many times a year as there are days.
“The mission has been faithful to its methodology for more than a century,” Michelin Guides international director Gwendal Poullennec said in a phone conversation before the ceremony. “The dynamic between the selections reflects, first of all, the evolution of the quality of the local culinary scene, and that is what is exciting.”
“If the ratings are changing, it’s not because the mission, methodology or approach is changing, but because restaurants are upping their game.”
This year’s nods include some of the flashiest places in the business and some less-labeled spots. An anonymous inspector detailed how the cheer is done before the event.
“One of the biggest things for the inspection team to do is understand the local territory and really be in tune with where people are going, what is opening, which chef is moving from which to which. We are following that very, very closely,” the inspector said. “And we use all kinds of information, social networks, local press. The chefs contact us directly, which is great.”
The inspector declined to say who, if anyone, requested Michelin’s consideration for this edition.
“And it is also being with your boots on the ground, being in the field. Knowing our neighborhoods pretty well, being in tune with what might be opening, and just going to the food and experiencing it is the only way to make sure we can be sure it’s or isn’t appropriate to be a Bib or recommended restaurant, or maybe it has the potential to be an award-winning restaurant,” the inspector said.
The stars went to 73 restaurants in 15 culinary categories, including 19 newcomers. First-time star recipients include clover hill, Mari with one each Saga, with two. The trio have previously been named stars for time out new york. Italian restaurant Al Coro also got a shiny new pair. The best plant-based place Dirt Candy and Semma, the follow-up to Dhamaka, our choice for the best restaurant of 2021they are also both newly named with one each.
Not three-star stunners emerged this year, but five restaurants with that uniquely exalted status: Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, La Bernardin, Masa, Per Se and even the embattled eleven madison parkThey were allowed to hold their cheer. Unlike last year, some locations that were still operational lost theirs.
As with the awards, “[W]hen it comes to degradation, this is also taken very, very seriously,” the inspector said.
“It is the result of multiple meals over a period of time that may not have been convincing to the global inspection team that the restaurant is appropriate to continue at its current distinction or star level. So just when we make the decision to award a star, it is after a considerable period of time, and over several meals, that the decision is made to downgrade,” the inspector said.
Three two-star restaurants dropped from the list: Blanca temporarily closed and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon permanently closed Ichimura in Uchū. One-star Benno also left after the lockdown, but his previous peers Ai Fiori, Carbone, The Clocktower, L’Appart, Marea, Meadowsweet, Peter Luger, Wallsé and ZZ’s Clam Bar are still open and now starless.
See the full list of New York’s Michelin-starred restaurants for 2022 here.