Benoit Violie: A star is borne

The Michelin stars

In 1936, the criteria for the rankings were published:

1 star: A very good restaurant in its category (“Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie”)

2 stars: Excellent cooking, worth a detour (“Table excellente, mérite un détour”)

3 stars: Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey (“Une des meilleures tables, vaut le voyage”). Violier was chef at a establishment that got 3 stars.

The other Michelin awards

In 1995, Michelin introduced bib gourmand, which denotes “exceptional good food at moderate prices”. The menu prices must be below a maximum determined by local economic standards. Bib (Bibendum) is the company’s nickname for the Michelin Man.

Michelin introduced “espoir” or “rising star” in 2006 for a restaurant with the potential to qualify for a star, or an additional star.

A crossed knife-and-fork symbol refers to comfort, decor and service. Black is basic, red superior, and each venue can have between 1 and 5 such symbols.

The secrecy

The stars are awarded based on visits by inspectors who are kept anonymous. Many of the company’s top executives never meet an inspector, while inspectors themselves are reportedly advised not to tell even their parents what they do, and are forbidden from speaking to the media. The meals and expenses of the inspectors are paid for by the Michelin company. The inspectors write reports that form the basis of the rankings, following annual “stars meetings” at the guide’s various national offices.

The inspections, repeat visits

Michelin does not say anything about them. But in 2004, Pascal Rémy, a veteran France-based Michelin inspector, wrote L’Inspecteur se met à table, describing an inspector’s life as lonely and underpaid, involving driving around France for weeks on end, dining alone, under intense pressure to file detailed reports on strict deadlines. He also claimed that contrary to Michelin claims of inspectors visiting reviewed restaurants in France every 18 months, and all starred restaurants several times a year, only about one visit was possible every 3½ years. He put the total number of inspectors in France at five by the time he was fired in 2003, when he revealed his plans to write a book. Rémy later said all of America had only seven inspectors. The inspectors, as per one estimate, eat two restaurant meals a day almost every day of the week except weekends.

The coverage

Michelin does not cover most countries. In fact, till 2006, it only covered Europe. There are currently 24 guides for 24 different countries. Plus, there are guides for cities. Some European countries are covered partially through the Main Cities of Europe guide.

Uniformity in standards?

Rémy claimed Michelin treated influential chefs, such as Paul Bocuse and Alain Ducasse, as “untouchable” and didn’t subject them to the rigorous standards of lesser-known ones. Ducasse incidentally lost a star for his opulent Le Meurice hotel in Paris in the 2016 guide, while picking up the highest rating for another restaurant in Plaza Athenee Hotel in the French capital.

In 2010, when Michelin ranked Japan as the country with the most starred restaurants, questions were raised whether the guide was too generous so as to get acceptance in the country for itself and, by default, for its parent tyre-selling company.

Others have criticised Michelin as being biased towards French cuisine, and towards a formal dining style rather than a casual atmosphere. Its US-born international editor Michael Ellis says in the 2016 guide for France, “Of the 380 tables that have entered the guide for the first time, 100 are in Paris. It is proof that the city is more than ever a place where chefs want to cook,” he said. If a restaurant falls within a city that is reviewed, Michelin decides whether to visit or not depending on local bloggers and food writers.

The pressure of having a star

Some restaurateurs have asked Michelin to revoke a star, complaining it creates too high customer expectations or pressure to spend more on service and décor. According to Fortune, in 2013, chef Julio Biosca returned the Michelin star held by his restaurant in Valencia, Spain, because he felt he could no longer innovate. “Lack of consistency” is one of the common reasons for taking away a star, and many three-star restaurants never dare change their menu as a result.

Anthony Bourdain, the former chef, best-selling author and host of CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, told The Vanity Fair, “There’s no other profession where it’s all about consistency. It’s one thing to do the greatest plate of the greatest piece of fish in New York, but that’s not enough. You have to do it exactly the same, and do it forever.”

However, the star matters…

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay revealed he broke down when his New York restaurant, The London, was stripped of both its Michelin stars in 2013, for being “erratic”. The 2016 guide now has downgraded Ramsay’s Trianon restaurant at Versailles to just one. At one time, his restaurants worldwide held over a dozen stars.

Several of France’s greatest chefs have pulled out of Michelin ratings in the past, saying the pressure it put on them and their staff was too great.

The 2016 guide, incidentally, stripped of a star another restaurant whose founder killed himself in 2003, to bring it down to 2. Bernard Loiseau, an inspiration for the chef Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille, had shot himself after another guide, the GaultMillau, had lowered the rating of his establishment, Relais Bernard Loiseau, in the Burgundy region. An article in Le Figaro at the time suggested that Michelin was also going to take away his restaurant’s third star. Incidentally, at the time, it didn’t.