From New York City to Los Angeles, Michelin Aims to Crack Zagat’s Hold on U.S. Restaurant Guides

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  11.06.07 | 8:07 AM ET

imageFor decades, travelers in the United States have favored the Zagat Survey to find restaurants. Like the popular hotel guide TripAdvisor, Zagat rates restaurants based on reviews from frequent diners. But now France’s storied Michelin guides are challenging Zagat in hotel and restaurant recommendations in the U.S., writes Adam Goldman of the AP. “Our star system is the measure against the world,” Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides, told Goldman. “The chefs see us as the only independent benchmark.”

Michelin has produced guides to New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area, and will release guides for Los Angeles and Las Vegas later this month. Boston, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C. are also future candidates for a critical look. Professional food critics, not the masses, write the Michelin Guides, which give one-to-three stars to restaurants. Only 56 restaurants in the world have three Michelin stars. And the name carries serious clout: Chef Christopher Kostow, who runs the kitchen of the Mountain View, California restaurant Chez TJ, told the San Jose Mercury News that he “freaked out” in glee when Michelin awarded him two stars this year—up from one the year before.

But Zagat is still the favorite in sales and the number of titles produced (more than 100). It also doesn’t help matters that in the U.S. the 107-year-old Michelin company is primarily known for its scarily/jovial Michelin tire man, who looks like he favors Ding Dongs over demi-glace.

Related on World Hum:
* Restaurants ‘Nudge Diners’ in Campaign for Zagat Votes
* Zagats on Chinese Cuisine: U.S. Needs ‘Dumpling Diplomacy’

Photo by Zac-attack, via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Tags: Food, North America, United States, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


2 Comments for From New York City to Los Angeles, Michelin Aims to Crack Zagat’s Hold on U.S. Restaurant Guides

TambourineMan 11.06.07 | 2:03 PM ET

I’ll stick with Zagat. I don’t take their ratings seriously (does anyone?) but it’s good for addresses and phone numbers. As for Michelin, I’ll leave that to chefs, foodie elitists and the obnoxious Jean-Luc Naret.

Nice Ding Dong joke, Joanna.

tirerack com 05.06.08 | 4:19 AM ET

very interesting.. this is very cool.

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.