Wednesday, January 9, 2002
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Wednesday, January 9, 2002 |
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Michelin's Red Guide rates restaurants By SALLIE
SATTERTHWAITE
Le Guide Rouge, The Red Guide, was established in 1900 by the Michelin brothers to encourage French auto touring, which, of course, sells "tyres." It has, over the years, become the ultimate reference for fine dining in all of Europe and the United Kingdom. The Guide states: "Certain establishments deserve to be brought to your attention for the particularly fine quality of their cooking. Michelin stars are awarded for the standard of meals served." The Michelin star system appeared in 1931 for the first time in the French edition, and has changed little if at all since that time. Just being mentioned in the Guide is heady praise. There are about 50,000 eateries in France alone, for example, and only 479 less than one percent merited stars in Le Guide Rouge in 1999. The 1999 Guide listed 402 one-star restaurants in France, each of which is considered "a very good restaurant in its category. The star indicates a good place to stop on your journey." The 74 two-star restaurants are held up as having "excellent cooking, worth a detour. Specialties and wines of first class quality. This will be reflected in the price." Finally, the crème de la crème, the 21 three-star restaurants: "exceptional cuisine, worth a journey. One always eats here extremely well, sometimes superbly. Fine wines, faultless service, elegant surroundings. One will pay accordingly!" The same standards are applied to other European countries. Anonymous inspectors rate restaurants using an unpublished set of criteria. An inspector reveals his identity to the chef only after his meal so that he may inspect the kitchen and the other facilities not normally visited by diners. To what criteria is a restaurant held to obtain one or more stars? No one but the inspectors know for sure. General agreement is that the first star is based on a restaurant's food quality, with additional stars awarded for incremental increases in quality of service; dining room decoration; linen, cutlery and china; expense of ingredients; a more extensive selection of cheese, and the size and quality of the wine cellar. The stars are awarded as much to the chef as to the restaurant. On the Michelin Web site www.michelin-travel.com/eng/gr2000/indexgr.html an anonymous commentator remarks that after receiving his or her first star, a restaurateur must decide whether achieving the second star is worth the risk and the stress. "Having one star provides the chef with distinction and prestige," he continues. "There is additional honor in making the jump from one to two stars, but there is also then the possible dishonor that comes with going from two to one star. "The same is true for the chef that gains or loses a third star. Additional stars imply an increase in overhead that may not be compensated by an increase in revenue. A restaurant must make a considerable investment to obtain a second or third star. The chef must decide whether to stay in the relative safety and security of a single star or take the risk of going for the next star." One French chef described how the initial euphoria of getting the first star lasted only a couple of weeks before the stress of deciding whether to go for other stars overtook it.
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