The Michelin Guide only includes New York, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, and LA when it comes to American cities. Yes, it’s a tragedy that Miami, Dallas, Kansas City, and multiple other cities with amazing cuisine are left off the list. If it included New Orleans, would any restaurants make the list?
Antoines is certainly emblematic of all things Crescent City and its attendant cuisine, although its interior and its menu both seem (to me anyway) to be stuck in 1848. I don’t know enough about cuisine to know if the chef there is doing anything innovative or extraordinary there.
Commander’s Palace is equally emblematic, its baby-blue-and-white color scheme is certainly striking from its exterior. But again, is what’s going on inside up to snuff Michelin-star-wise?
Galatoire’s certainly seems to hit the right notes – IF the Michelin Guide were stuck in Paris in 1910. Again, I don’t know if what goes on inside its doors would be good enough to catch the attention of the Guide.
You’d think that the home and source of Oysters Rockefeller and Boef Robespierre and Pompano en Papillote would be a shoo-in for a Michelin rating, but I have no idea how these things are ultimately decided.
I just got back from the Big Easy. Establishments like Antoine’s are nice, but I prefer to eat at the dingy local places. Some of the best meals of my life have been in such holes in the wall.
Well, I know that it considers cities first and the restaurants within them second, so Thomas Keller could open up the Best Restaurant in the World in Oklahoma City and it’s not going to get any stars because the Guide doesn’t include Oklahoma City. And its definition of cities is rather fluid – the French Laundry is considered to be in San Francisco (one of the few US cities in the Guide) for the purposes of the Guide, but Yountville is a solid 60 miles from San Francisco. Similarly, San Diego restaurants are included in the L.A. listings.
I also think that the people behind the Guide consider the U.S. to be an afterthought and they figured that Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, LA and New York are enough American places because Fuck America.
My impression is that the fine folks at the Michelin Guide are largely paid by the featured city. When they came to Toronto two years ago it was touted as a partnership between MG and Tourism Toronto. When New Orleans coughs up the cash, they will feature NO restaurants.
If what I know about New Orleans is true, then every man, woman and child in the city could happily live their entire lives without a word about the city being mentioned in the Michelin Guide.
It was a couple of decades ago, but when I dined at Antoune’s it did not impress me as at all in the same clas as the sevearal starred restaraunts I’ve eaten at.
One of the things that annoys me about the Michelin guides, aside from restaurants, is that they consider art museums far, far above any other sort of museum. You can tell where their heart and interests lie.
The best meal I ever had in Louisiana wasn’t even in New Orleans. It was in New Iberia, at the Pelican on the Bayou. Sitting at a picnic table on the bayou eating fresh broiled catfish and shrimp.
The Guide Michelin recently expanded their reviews to encompass Texas, and from what I’ve read, that was after a LOT of lobbying and nearly a million bucks annually five Texas cities (Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin) and the state’s travel office pay annually for the Guide to cover the state.
The dish apparently comes from the restaurant “Antoine’s” in New Orleans, invented by its founder Antoine Alciatore . He is said to have invented the fillet in France, and to have said that Robespierre’s face looked like raw beef when he was executed in 1794.
Commanders, Brennan’s, August, and R’evolution would certainly have stars, of the places I’ve been. There are probably 100 places that deserve a Bib Gourmand.
I went to Galatoire’s a year ago after a three year break and it was horrible! I was astounded at what a dump it had turned into. No dress code (It was the day of an NFL game, and half the crowd had football jerseys on) and they food was bad. I was taking some friends there after talking it up and I was beyond embarrassed. Never again.
This about right. I’m not sure Commanders and Brennan’s would be hammerlocks (vs strong contenders) for Michelin stars in 2024, but August and R’evolution would likely be.
Back when Emeril Lagasse was running Commanders Palace’s kitchen in the 1980s and his namesake restaurant in the 1990s, both were easily Michelin-star level restaurants. I’m not sure whether Michelin stars need to be updated periodically, or if they remain with an establishment “for life”.
Lagasse’s mentor Paul Prudhomme – who preceded Lagasse at Commanders – himself founded a Michelin-level restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. During its 1980s-90s prime, it would have been a good bet for a star. However, K-Paul’s closed in 2020.
There are some more places in New Orleans that would be good bets for Michelin stars, but are not nationally-known names. To rattle off a few names from this list of local James Beard winners, I’d nominate Bayona, Domenica, Compère Lapin, Herbsaint, Gautreau’s, and the aforementioned Brigtens’s. I could see Clancy’s and Arnaud’s, which a few others have called out. Two more French Quarter establishments I’ll throw in are the Pelican Club and Broussard’s – though the latter was sold over a decade ago and I’m not sure it’s quite at the same level today.
Dakar NOLA is a very new place (IIRC opened in 2022) that’s racking up industry awards left and right. Have to think they’d be worthy of a star.
One more not yet mentioned would be Middendorf’s original location in Manchac, LA – though it’s an hour outside of New Orleans. If I can shoe-horn in another place on the outskirts of the metro area that would be a credible candidate, it would be Dakota in Covington, LA.
And there’s no doubt DoctorJ is correct about the glut of Bib Gourmand places tucked away all over the New Orleans metro.
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To rattle off a few names from this list of local James Beard winners, I’d nominate Bayona, Domenica, Compère Lapin, Herbsaint, Gautreau’s, and the aforementioned Brigtens’s. I could see Clancy’s and Arnaud’s, which a few others have called out. Two more French Quarter establishments I’ll throw in are the Pelican Club and Broussard’s – though the latter was sold over a decade ago and I’m not sure it’s quite at the same level today.[/quote]
Good list. Definitely on Bayona and Herbsaint and Compere Lapin. The big question, I guess, is are you more likely to get a star for keeping yourself fresh, or for standing the test of time? A place like Arnaud’s mostly cooks the same things they’ve been cooking for 100 years–is that a plus because it still works or a minus because it’s a relic? I don’t know. When I ate at Commander’s a few years ago I thought they had done a fairly good job of straddling that line, keeping it fresh while holding on to the classics.
It might be that the better question is: who deserves one star, and who (if anybody) deserves 2-3 stars? Keeping in mind that they didn’t find a single 2- or 3-star joint in all of Texas, and there are only four 3-star restaurants in all of NYC.
NOLA’s restaurant culture is such that it would almost need its own set of criteria.
We had one of the best dinners of our life there not long after they opened in 2022, when it was still BYOB.