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Most restaurants on these lists these days are just gimmicky places chasing the latest fads. How many of those restaurants actually still have a real menu with a la carte ordering rather than a 'cheat' tasting menu. I say cheat because a restaurant that makes your choice what to eat for you is basically more interested in critics' accolades than having satisfied customers.
They also avoid one of the key traditional tests of a great restaurant - the ability to cook a wide range of things at a high level consistently.
I think the better collection of restaurants is the Bib Gourmand list. I think DC really does well in cheaper food compared to larger cities which can be seen based on Michelin’s list.
(Hasn’t been updated to 2022 numbers for SF, NYC, and Chi)
Quote:
Originally Posted by MDAllstar
To your point, Michelin measures way more than fine dining. Their Bib Gourmand rated restaurants are Michelin quality at an affordable price point. Maybe the Bib Gourmand is a better reflection of the restaurant scene within city proper? The rankings certainly change when looking at the more rounded affordable selection of restaurants. Chicago zooms past DC and San Francisco in the Bib Gourmand rankings:
Does that put San Francisco proper at 27 stars in city limits? It had 31 last year. I know DC has 24 restaurants with stars in city proper now. It would have been 27, but a few closed also.
Well, I just counted 27 for San Francisco proper but I read an article yesterday claiming the city lost 10, perhaps that was about the Bay Area as a whole.
Also, I just read that The Inn at Little Washington is actually not in DC proper. It's in a town called Washington, Virginia, about 70 miles west of DC proper.
I always thought it was in or near DC but it is actually an exquisite hotel and restaurant property way out in the country, like the Napa Valley is from SF) and really looks like it definitely deserves all the awards it has received.
Sheesh, we can't even agree on what to call a strip steak.
On the East Coast, where I live now, it's called a "New York strip"; where I grew up and in most of the Midwest, it was known as a "Kansas City strip."
Wonder what it's called on the West Coast. Does it even get a city name?
Here’s the thing. Most people don’t care. All we want is a meal that is more than artfully arranged carrots on a smear of hummingbird foam for a fair price.
Here’s the thing. Most people don’t care. All we want is a meal that is more than artfully arranged carrots on a smear of hummingbird foam for a fair price.
Isn't that life tho? Not everyone is interested in or care in everything. NASCAR is not very popular where I live, yet it is almost a religion in other areas of the country, and that's fine. Likewise, this is for people who do actually care or are interested in this kind of thing.
Isn't that life tho? Not everyone is interested in or care in everything. NASCAR is not very popular where I live, yet it is almost a religion in other areas of the country, and that's fine. Likewise, this is for people who do actually care or are interested in this kind of thing.
Too many cities are excluded for it to be meaningful, though.
Too many cities are excluded for it to be meaningful, though.
Michelin is a global guide that reviews cities all over the world and they have expanded greatly into North America with guides in NY, Chicago, California, Washington DC, Florida, and Vancouver.
There is nothing remotely "unmeaningful" about people from those places talking about how their cities did in the most recent ratings.
This used to the famous Mobil rating that was the most highly regarded 5-star rating for restaurants in the US. Forbes has taken over and continues the ratings.
This includes the whole country
Forbes list of Five-Star Restaurants, 2022:
: Midwestern US: 1
Alinea, Chicago
Northeastern US: 13
Cara, Newport
Daniel, New York
Eleven Madison Park, New York
The Inn at Little Washington, Washington
Jean-Georges, New York
Lautrec at Nemacolin, Laurel Highlands
Le Bernardin, New York
Masa, New York
Menton, Boston
Per Se, New York
The Portico, Lenox
Twenty-Eight Atlantic, Cape Cod
The White Barn Inn Restaurant, Kennebukport
Southern US: 4
Carte Blanche, Dallas
Herons, Cary
NAOE, Miami
Victoria & Albert's, Orlando
Western US: 17
Addison, San Diego
Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
Aubergine at L'Auberge, Carmel
Benu, San Francisco
The French Laundry, Yountville
Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas
Kai Restaurant, Phoenix
Le Cirque, Las Vegas
La Mer, Honolulu
Manresa, Los Gatos
Mugen, Honolulu
Picasso, Las Vegas
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St Helena
The Restaurant Guy Savoy, Las Vegas
Saison, San Francisco
SingleThread Farms Restaurant, Healdsburg
Wing Wei at Wynn, Las Vegas
Michelin is a global guide that reviews cities all over the world and they have expanded greatly into North America with guides in NY, Chicago, California, Washington DC, Florida, and Vancouver.
There is nothing remotely "unmeaningful" about people from those places talking about how their cities did in the most recent ratings.
No, there's not.
But if it comes to assessing the quality of fine dining establishments or restaurants in general across the country, then the relative paucity of US cities the Michelin inspectors visit does matter, for it means that a bunch — and at least as of now, the majority — of US cities can't be compared because they aren't reviewed by Michelin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair
This used to the famous Mobil rating that was the most highly regarded 5-star rating for restaurants in the US. Forbes has taken over and continues the ratings.
This includes the whole country
Forbes list of Five-Star Restaurants, 2022:
: Midwestern US: 1
Alinea, Chicago
Northeastern US: 13
Cara, Newport
Daniel, New York
Eleven Madison Park, New York
The Inn at Little Washington, Washington
Jean-Georges, New York
Lautrec at Nemacolin, Laurel Highlands
Le Bernardin, New York
Masa, New York
Menton, Boston
Per Se, New York
The Portico, Lenox
Twenty-Eight Atlantic, Cape Cod
The White Barn Inn Restaurant, Kennebukport
Southern US: 4
Carte Blanche, Dallas
Herons, Cary
NAOE, Miami
Victoria & Albert's, Orlando
Western US: 17
Addison, San Diego
Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
Aubergine at L'Auberge, Carmel
Benu, San Francisco
The French Laundry, Yountville
Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas
Kai Restaurant, Phoenix
Le Cirque, Las Vegas
La Mer, Honolulu
Manresa, Los Gatos
Mugen, Honolulu
Picasso, Las Vegas
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St Helena
The Restaurant Guy Savoy, Las Vegas
Saison, San Francisco
SingleThread Farms Restaurant, Healdsburg
Wing Wei at Wynn, Las Vegas
If all we're interested in is luxe dining, then the Forbes guide is an acceptable substitute for the Michelin Guide.
But I thought we were talking about great restaurants in general, which — as Michelin itself notes in various ways — are not necessarily luxe. The Mobil Travel Guide rated American restaurants up and down the price scale; it even had a separate three-star rating system for cafeterias, a restaurant category that used to be overrepresented in the nation's midsection (fast food has pretty much done this category of restaurant in). All that went away when Forbes bought the Mobil Travel Guide. The crowdsourced Zagat Survey is the closest thing we have to the Mobil guide in comprehensiveness, both of places and of restaurants.
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