The 2011 Michelin Guide was released this week, much to the relief of many restaurants in the Bay Area – including San Francisco, Santa Clara, Berkeley, the Wine Country, and Los Gatos – that had been holding their collective breath to see what their star status would be.
Michelin Guides began in Europe in the first part of the 20th century. The first US guide was published in 2005, for New York restaurants. The first San Francisco and Bay Area version was published in 2006. Restaurants that make it to the guide either get one star (“A very good restaurant in its category”), two stars (“Excellent cuisine, worth a detour”) or three stars (“Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”).
Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret commented on this year’s guide: “The Bay Area is a particularly fertile farming region. There is so much to choose from – we spend a full year studying this region to produce our guide and the effort is immensely satisfying. This is quite simply one of the finest culinary regions in the world.”
One of the biggest pieces of news? St. Helena’s The Restaurant at Meadowood, a first-timer to the guide, received three stars. Now The French Laundry and Meadowood are the only Bay Area three-star venues. Also, Berkeley’s Chez Panisse has lost its star (!) while San Francisco’s Spruce gained a star, appearing in the guide for the first time (I had the opportunity to taste Chef Sullivan’s cuisine at the 2009 SF Chefs Food Wine festival and it was definitely delicious). Our local South Bay/Peninsula region made it with several newcomers. Besides Spruce, the 11 additions to the one-star section are, in alphabetical order: Alexander’s Steakhouse (Cupertino), Applewood (Guerneville), Baumé (Palo Alto), Campton Place (San Francisco), Dio Deka (Los Gatos), Frances (SF), Madera (Menlo Park), Mirepoix (Windsor), Saison (SF), and Wakuriya (San Mateo). Other one-star restaurants include Saratoga’s Plumed Horse and Oakland’s Commis which is run by James Syhabout, former Chef de Cuisine of Los Gatos restaurant Manresa.
Our local Manresa still has two stars, along with Coi (SF) and Cyrus (Healdsburg). The heads of Manresa and Coi, extraordinary chefs David Kinch and Daniel Patterson, actually joined forces in February at Coi for a special benefit dinner for Bocuse d’Or. Read my interview with David Kinch. Chef Kinch, as you may recall, won a James Beard Award earlier this year.
Here is the full list of Michelin star-winners:
Three stars:
French Laundry (The)
Restaurant at Meadowood (The) (New)
Two stars:
Coi
Cyrus
Manresa
One star:
Acquerello
Alexander’s Steakhouse (New)
Ame
Applewood (New)
Auberge de Soleil
Aziza
Baumé (New)
Bouchon
Boulevard
Campton Place (New)
Chez TJ
Commis
Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton (The)
Dio Deka (New)
étoile
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant
Fleur de Lys
Frances (New)
Gary Danko
La Folie
La Toque
Luce
Madera (New)
Madrona Manor
Masa’s
Mirepoix (New)
Murray Circle
One Market
Plumed Horse
Quince
Redd
Saison (New)
Santé
Solbar
Spruce (New)
Terra
Ubuntu
Village Pub (The)
Wakuriya (New)
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