Michelin Guide... those restaurants etoile...

For years I've associated great restaurants with France, and the best of the best racked and stacked in the Guide Michelin.  Anything awarded one to three stars was promising to be spectacular.  Three starred eateries are supposed to provide the most incredible dining experiences in the world.

Except...

Over the years I've heard of chefs committing suicide.  I've heard of chefs handing back their stars.  I've heard of skullduggery and other mauvaises actions.

After awhile it seemed as if the rating system was, perhaps, rigged like a good ice skating competition.  Not knowing the system like the French (it's likely built into their DNA, right?) I decided to canvas some of our friends to see what their opinions and thoughts might be on the topic.

In very unexpected and atypically non-French-agreeing kind of way everyone I talked to said pretty much the same thing: The Guide Michelin system is rigged.  To a point.

I asked for clarification.  Here are the underlying assumptions -

• Anything starred is for tourists.  
• The starred restaurant facilities are likely at least as good looking as the food.  
• The staff will be trained in certain ways that appeal to the Guide. 
• Shockingly, the food might not be as good as the other parts of the dining experience.

Mais (and there is _always_ a mais), the famous rouge Guide Michelin also contains a very long list of non-starred places to chow-down.  It is these places, I have been assured, on which the rouge Guide Michelin can be trusted.


Across social, class, and economic status the French agreement on these points was, dare I say, ridiculously consistent.  Our friends tell me the only thing they consider when consulting the famous Guide is what the occasion is.

If it's something "special" and meant to impress others they will select a starred restaurant that fits their budget.  For the occasional eating-out they simply look through the list of non-starred lieu.

Sometime I'll have to tell you about a restaurant out in a bled somewhere in France where Ministers of the Republic will helicopter for lunch.  It must be something really special.