This could be just my own experience, something obvious for some of you, or perhaps other factors involved here.
The thesis: Michelin is good for smart proprietors, very bad for consumers overall.
Notice the transformation of a restaurant after receiving a Michelin star. 73 of them currently in NYC, and just as many hopefuls. Jeju Noodle Bar used to have a great deal. 6 course meal for $45. Now after a Michelin star, one of the dishes alone (granted with caviar now) from the old deal is $55, and the fried chicken app also now priced like a main after adding caviar. Its still good, but you are paying a hefty Michelin tax
Rezdora, another hot ticket didn’t seem to increase prices but reduced the size of the pastas. Before the star, we were surrounded by locals, after the star it’s nothing but tourists, and the pastas are about half to 2/3 of a regular size. They even warn you if you only get one pasta per.
And have you seen Tuome’s menu these days!
On the flip side, if you do nothing and simply remain a neighborhood joint, you may be at risk of losing the star. It happened to Danji, Faro, Somtum Der and many others. Some of them changed nothing and fairly consistent with their menu staples that helped them get the star. If Michelin is simply confused on how to award its stars, that makes matters even worse and they should be much less relevant
But the whole thing just feels like organized crime, with a lose lose situation for NYC consumers. I do get the benefits of the stars but the cons are just too big in my view. They help create an environment of pricy corporate dining crushing the mom and pops. Manhattan essentially is down to two neighborhoods where mom and pops can open shop at this point. Not all Michelin’s fault of course.
Is it a tax or what often happens when you have the hordes that follow reviews? Whether its Michelin or NY Times stars, once a restaurant breaks out into the inter webs and becomes a destination the followers descend like the proverbial swarm of locusts. They are looking to add another notch in the belt/lipstick case of places they have dined and likely will never be back. It takes an owner of a lot of fortitude to not take advantage of the limelight. Can’t say I would blame them. The business operates on thin margins and if you can mark it up and still draw the crowds why wouldn’t they? But it’s hard on the early adopters.
Anyone remember when the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare started? That might be the most extreme example I can think of. It was supposedly a cooking class that Cesar ran. It was $85 a person I recall when it started. Pain in the ass process for getting a reservation. Then the progression of stars happened. One, two and now three stars from Michelin along with a move to Manhattan though with the same name and now the prix fixe is around $450. Not ever going to go there now.
Agree. Hard to blame the owners. But we are talking about the highest form of accolades from a secretive foreign entity that is arguably confused about the NYC food scene and what kind of establishments should be awarded stars.
I imagine if NY Times stars were the highest form, distributed in France, and disrupting their industry the same way Michelin does here, the French would not be happy.
Tax or not, if you eat out at those establishments and the many Michelin wannabes, you are probably paying more than before or should.
I reject the idea of stars in the first place. Why shouldn’t ridiculous people pay more for a stupid idea? Same for local critics. It is an ego trip for the publication/writer that then transfers to the participant.
I wasn’t trying to slam local critics in general, just when anyone, a foreign entity or not, uses a star system.
If a critic or publication can’t give out the highest rating to a sublime pizza place, then they are showing a bias to a European fine dining paradigm that I do not want to be a part of.
Oh, I agree with half of that. I have no respect for food critics who won’t give their highest ratings to less expensive places. But not many of those left. I think Jonathan Gold, the late LA Times food critic, was very influential in that regard.
But star systems seem worthwhile to me. You can’t eat everywhere and any information about which places are the best is helpful, to me at least.
