Michelin Guide awards 19 NYC locations—a deeper look at the hunt for a Michelin Star

A whopping 73 New York City restaurants were awarded Michelin Stars in the 2022 Michelin Guide, and it was 19 of those selected that were brand new to that list, thus scoring for themselves the ultimate prize in any chef’s culinary endeavor. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the recipients and a much-needed deeper look at the hunt for a Michelin Star.

Just who made the list in the highly regarded New York culinary scene?

The hunt for a Michelin star

If you think of the Michelin tire man whenever you hear the term Michelin Star uttered, you’re not far off from the mark it turns out. It is in fact the French-based tire company that has published the Michelin Guide since 1900. To say that it is the most sought after prize in the culinary industry would be a grave understatement.

If a chef or rather his or her restaurant scores a selection in this guide, his or her career is made, and keeping that star (or those stars)—perhaps even being awarded more if a particular chef owns more than one location—is an endeavor many of these chefs and restaurateurs take head on, and they take it extremely seriously.

You can be bumped off the list and lose your stars, thus being taken off of future lists published, which means that location is no longer in the guide.

It was in fact Eleven Madison Park that many were worried would be bumped from the list, and all because they changed their menu drastically over the last year or so, going vegan, but the restaurant did in fact retain its 3-Star status, as per Food and Wine. It’s had that 3-Star status since 2012.

Foodie fans out there will remember the earliest appearance of Chef Gordon Ramsey on TV was in a docu-series developed in England and it followed Ramsey on his hunt for the illustrious Michelin Star. The aforementioned journey was documented in Ramsey’s Boiling Point and of course the follow-up, Beyond Boiling Point.

Of course the success of Ramsey as a chef led to his successful television and cookbook empire, but those stars didn’t hurt either. He won multiple. According to Escoffier.edu, he has earned 17 of them and currently has 7, he having lost ten.

It was actually the French chef, Joël Robuchon, who has been awarded the most Michelin Stars—a total of 32. He passed away in 2018 and still holds that record it seems.

The Michelin rulebook

Restaurants can be awarded 1, 2 or 3 stars. As per Wikipedia, the number of stars awarded are indicative of the following:

1 Star: “A very good restaurant in its category”

2 Stars: “Excellent cooking, worth a detour”

3 Stars:  “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”

The New York Scene

As for the New York culinary scene, the expression goes, “You go to New York, have dinner, see a show,” and there’s a huge reason for that. Most cities have a culinary epicenter of course, but there are few continental capitals of the culinary scene. New York in North America has got to be that epicenter, or rather that capital.

Of course that is arguable, and that would vary from person to person, but perhaps we can all agree that the New York scene itself is full of inspiring cuisine and restaurants that are pushing the envelope and always have.

Every chef worth his or her salt is in New York in one capacity or another, and they don’t all survive the temperate climate either.

The 19 restaurants awarded for the 2022 Michelin Guide

Gwendal Poullennec, who is the international director of the Michelin Guides said:

"“New York’s culinary landscape is definitely back on its feet, growing bigger and bigger, proposing more and more innovative offers, ready to achieve new challenges and to reach higher success…We’re also pleased to honor all restaurant teams for their hard work, resilience and unfailing creativity. With 465 restaurants in this 2022 selection, including no less than 62 different cuisine types, from Bib Gourmand to Starred eateries, we have absolutely no doubt that every food lover will find their own tailor-made gem and will experience not only a thrilling, fascinating and dynamic Big Apple, but also, a fabulously tasty one!”via Food & Wine"

That’s a heap full of praise indeed and from the international director of the publication, and if that doesn’t speak of the reputation the culinary scene in New York has, I don’t know what will, dear readers.

The 19 new locations in New York to score their first stars are: Le Pavillon, Mari, Noz 17, Oiji Mi, One White Street, Red Paper Clip, Semma, Shion 69 Leonard Street, Torien, Yoshino, 63 Clinton, Clover Hill, Dirt Candy, Frevo, Icca, Joomak Banjum, L’Abeille

Al Coro in Chelsea and Saga in the Financial district were also new to the list, but both were awarded 2 Stars their first time in. We here at Guilty Eats congratulate them all.

Have you been to any of these locations? What would you rate their service, food and execution?