This past winter, I had the pleasure of dining at one of the finest establishments in New York City, Daniel. It was one of but seven restaurants to receive the accolade of a Michelin 3-star rating (well 2 now in 2015). Excellent cuisine and perfect service made for one of the finest dining experiences I had had the pleasure of enjoying. However, I wondered why such a coveted restaurant with such exquisite dishes would lose a Michelin star. Moreover, what exactly grants a restaurant that highest prestige of a Michelin star? What separates a three star from a two star from a one star? So I decided to do the research and share it with all of you so that you don’t have to (hurdur)
The Michelin Tire Company first published a guide book to good eats in 1900 to encourage French tourism and travel. In 1929, they began sending out anonymous reviewers to restaurants. To this day, the rating system depends on anonymous reviewers for their ratings. These reviewers provide an elaborate and detailed explanation of the quality and consistency of the food and only the food. There are no other factors that determine a rating.
The ratings are loosely based off the original rubric as established by the original intention of the Michelin guide, which was meant for travel. This is a rough summary taken from www.foodtravel.com and is probably the best description I’ve found of the rating system:
One star: A good place to stop on your journey, indicating a very good restaurant in its category, offering cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard.
Two stars: A restaurant worth a detour, indicating excellent cuisine and skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality
Three stars: A restaurant worth a special journey, indicating exceptional cuisine where diners eat extremely well, often superbly. Distinctive dishes are precisely executed, using superlative ingredients.
Now that I knew what defined one tier from another, I began to think about the ratings themselves and why Daniel lost a star in this year’s ratings. But before that, a history lesson!
Daniel was established 1993 in the lower east side, then relocated to Park Ave. and 65 St. in 1998. It’s owner, Daniel Bouloud is a world-renown French cuisine chef and has several restaurants not only in Manhattan but also in several other countries. Daniel, his flagship restaurant held the coveted 3 star rating from 2010-2014 but lost its star in 2015’s ratings. So why, oh WHY did Daniel lost it?
The entirety of the experience was exceptional. The service, the food, everything all around was delicious and well executed. I got the three course tasting menu with the smoked paprika cured hamachi, the duo of beef (wagyu beef and braised short ribs), and the tahitian vanilla poached pear with the 75 dollar wine pairing. If I were to do a review of every dish with the wine pairing, this post would be far too long so I’ll just summarize and say it was amazing. There were certain flavors I could do without, and some of the wine pairings were not as precise as I would have wanted them, but still very, very good. So why did they lose a star when it met all of my fine dining AND foodie expectations? And that’s when it hit me. All it did was meet my expectations. Three stars meant the food should have exceeded all of my expectations. It should have revolutionized the way I thought about French cuisine. It should have made me weep uncontrollably with joy and… well maybe not that extreme but you get the picture. Everything was great, but I’ve eaten great at restaurants that have any Michelin stars. Daniel needed to be set apart, but it just wasn’t.
With all of this being said, I am no professional food critic. I am not a sommelier (licensed wine taster). In no way am I fully qualified to know every in and out of every dish I ate or the wine that was paired with it, but I know what tastes good what flavors work and don’t. And if I’m going to pay 500 dollars for a meal, I expect to be thoroughly blown away with every aspect of the meal being completely on point. But that’s just my opinion.
