brownbear

@LycanGTV curious about your take on Michelin starred restaurants and the Michelin system overall. After a few years of trying them it feels like it's about ambience and service, not necessarily food.

The system, like many, has flaws. But it's still a good gauge for innovative, high performance, high quality dining establishments. Especially for those who don't go out of their way to find the gems that won't make it to the guide for this reason or that.

Michelin stars come from all those factors. Food: creativity, presentation, innovation, etc. Experience: atmosphere, service, etc. My personal experience has been that a Michelin star joint that makes me smile during the whole meal was worth it.

I went to Le Bernardin and a few weeks later Momofuku CCDC. Dining at the former, all food was amazing. You could check off a list and say why it makes 3 stars. But then I went to one of David Chang's non-Michelin joints and had a blast. The food was exciting.

I talked about the meal with anyone who would listen for weeks. So my take away is that Michelin can be a mind blowing experience, but the juice isn't always worth the squeeze. A little more research needs to be done beyond star count and chef name.

Very interesting... so it's a good starting point to great places, but requires a bit more research beyond that. How do you go about vetting the places you pick?

Read old reviews, look at the story behind the place/chef. For example, The French Laundry and Alinea are on my list. Thomas Keller is a God and Grant Achatz is in a close second with David Chang for Jesus (Grant almost died for his craft, but that's another story).