Washington’s food scene gets Michelin star
Now, the city’s foodscape will be recognised by one of the world’s highest arbiters of culinary taste: The Michelin Guide.
WASHINGTON: The Washington food scene’s decade of dramatic transformation has brought us artisanal toast, US$ 22 ( RM86) cocktails and numerous accolades. Now, the city’s foodscape will be recognised by one of the world’s highest arbiters of culinary taste: The Michelin Guide.
Michelin announced last Tuesday that it has already deployed its famously anonymous inspectors throughout Washington restaurants – news sure to strike fear in the hearts of chefs and servers – in anticipation of the city’s fi rst Michelin Guide, which will go on sale Oct 13. Once it does, Washington will join the ranks of such culinary destinations around the world as Paris, London and Tokyo.
It will be only the fourth American city to be the subject of a current Michelin Guide, after New York, San Francisco and Chicago. ( Michelin previously published guides in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but it ceased evaluating both cities in 2010 for economic and geographical reasons, a Michelin spokesman said.)
“D.C. was a logical choice. It’s a very cosmopolitan city. It has a growing and thriving food scene,” said Michael Ellis, international director for the Michelin Guides. Other criteria that contributed to the decision were the diversity of cuisines and the city’s stature – which Ellis said makes it “of interest to the Michelin group.”
To local chefs and restaurateurs, the move is a vote of confidence that could spark even more growth.
“I’m delighted about it,” said Ashok Bajaj, who owns Rasika, the Oval Room and other toprated fi ne dining restaurants. “I think it puts us on the map. The worldwide name recognition, I think it helps the city.”
The tyre manufacturer introduced its guide in 1900 as a way to encourage people to take road trips (and wear down their Michelin tyres). The company catalogued hotels, mechanics, gas stations and restaurants, introducing the star system in 1926. The guides cover 27 countries, and there are only nine individual city guides, with Washington, Shanghai and Seoul to come. Restaurants are evaluated for their creativity, personality, ingredient quality, value and consistency, among other factors, to determine their star rating.
Ellis said the District has been on his list of cities to expand into for several years, though he declined to say which other cities were considered. As for the L. A. and Las Vegas snubs, “I do think that those cities remain very interesting,” he said. “Los Angeles and Las Vegas remain on our radar.”
Michelin inspectors, who are trained in France, have been surreptitiously dining in Washington restaurants since the autumn of 2015.
And restaurants in the city will be on high alert, because reviewers still have more eating to do - they will continue making visits throughout the summer, so the newest buzzed-about additions to the city’s fi ne- dining scene, like Aaron Silverman’s Pineapple and Pearls and Eric Ziebold’s Metier, still can be included.
Inspectors are “kind of like undercover agents,” Ellis said. Most are trained chefs. The bulk of the inspectors in the District have been Americans, though Ellis says he has flown in inspectors from around the world, too.
To maintain their anonymity and objectivity, all of them pay for their meals and never eat at a restaurant more than once in the same year.
For restaurants that are being considered for stars, Michelin sends multiple inspectors throughout the year to test a restaurant’s consistency and creativity.
Ellis says that the inspectors are conservative in their approach and can be reluctant to give stars to brand-new restaurants from untested chefs. He would not say whether or not any restaurants in Washington have achieved the coveted threestar rating.
Fewer than 120 restaurants in the world have that designation, and most of them are expensive and exclusive. Michelin also rates “Bib Gourmands,” or affordable restaurants.