New York Michelin Starred Restaurants

[itsstillmatt]



I'd say EMP/Blue Hill probably should get two stars each; Jean Georges and Le Bernadin three. And that is about it.
And for cities with more than 2-3 - Tokyo is probably it. Better French than Paris (better everything than everywhere)

Sorry, but this makes no sense. I mean, I agree NY food is generally overrated, but you wouldn't be able to limit Paris to 2-3 3 star restaurants right now without using some awfully strange criteria. Nor would you want to. Tokyo may have better French food than Paris, but that opinion doesn't have any bearing on the individual restaurants in Paris, which are what are ranked.

 

[akatsuki]



Sorry, but this makes no sense. I mean, I agree NY food is generally overrated, but you wouldn't be able to limit Paris to 2-3 3 star restaurants right now without using some awfully strange criteria. Nor would you want to. Tokyo may have better French food than Paris, but that opinion doesn't have any bearing on the individual restaurants in Paris, which are what are ranked.

I think that there are a couple of great restaurants, a few good restaurants and a ton of overrated restaurants that shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

The other comment about Tokyo was to address an earlier statement about there only being 2-3 good places to eat in a city. There are definitely more than that in Tokyo at the high end.

 

[itsstillmatt]



I think that there are a couple of great restaurants, a few good restaurants and a ton of overrated restaurants that shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath..

I am assuming you mean in New York. I haven't eaten enough in New York to judge.

 

[impolyt_one]

matt, have you eaten at Le Bernadin?

 

[itsstillmatt]



matt, have you eaten at Le Bernadin?

Yes.

 

[ChicagoRon]

OK - when we started this thread I was railing against how opaque and arbitrary these ratings are. My major complaint is that they are of little value to me in selecting a restaurant. There are no surprises, and I have little understanding of what differentiates a 2 star from a 3 star or a 1 star.

But putting FEWER restaurants on the list would make it even less useful. If you showed me a list that said "Le Bernardin, Per Se, EMP", I'd say.. No **** dumbass - I didn't just fall off a turnip truck.

Remember. .... these things are published to sell guide books. There's gotta be a little discussion, controversy, etc. or it's worthless.

 

[akatsuki]



OK - when we started this thread I was railing against how opaque and arbitrary these ratings are. My major complaint is that they are of little value to me in selecting a restaurant. There are no surprises, and I have little understanding of what differentiates a 2 star from a 3 star or a 1 star.
But putting FEWER restaurants on the list would make it even less useful. If you showed me a list that said "Le Bernardin, Per Se, EMP", I'd say.. No **** dumbass - I didn't just fall off a turnip truck.
Remember. .... these things are published to sell guide books. There's gotta be a little discussion, controversy, etc. or it's worthless.

I guess it is just the lack of granularity with three stars since even within those rankings there is a ton of variation. Frankly I wish they would just have the balls to out and out rank the top 100 restaurants in order in every city and then globally.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Those lists of top 50, 100 whatever are ridiculous. You can't successfully rank that way, but you can group, and if your audience has some familiarity with the levels they generally understand what they are getting. So it isn't balls, but sense that keeps most publications from making silly lists like that.

 

[impolyt_one]

Of the small handful of 3* places I ate at this year in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and New York so far, only EMP really fell short of expectations; the rest were well made, nice food that was reasonably connectable to their restaurant's identity, served well with hospitality, and the ingredients and service were of quality. I include Sukiyabashi Jiro in that, because he did technically qualify for all of those facets despite being the Flash and one of the most expensive per minute meals I'll ever have at something like $800 for 20 minutes of dining. I liked the service at Le Bernadin, did not like the couple wait staff I had at EMP, though we were given a tour of the kitchen and Humm schmoozed with us momentarily.

 

[itsstillmatt]



Of the small handful of 3* places I ate at this year in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and New York so far, only EMP really fell short of expectations; the rest were well made, nice food that was reasonably connectable to their restaurant's identity, served well with hospitality, and the ingredients and service were of quality. I include Sukiyabashi Jiro in that, because he did technically qualify for all of those facets despite being the Flash and one of the most expensive per minute meals I'll ever have at something like $800 for 20 minutes of dining. I liked the service at Le Bernadin, did not like the couple wait staff I had at EMP, though we were given a tour of the kitchen and Humm schmoozed with us momentarily.

Did you get the carrot tartare?

 

[impolyt_one]

I got the slightly chubby passive aggressive sommelier

 

[itsstillmatt]

How did he taste?

 

[impolyt_one]

LIke a lovechild of kyle and Manton

 

[akatsuki]



Of the small handful of 3* places I ate at this year in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and New York so far, only EMP really fell short of expectations; the rest were well made, nice food that was reasonably connectable to their restaurant's identity, served well with hospitality, and the ingredients and service were of quality. I include Sukiyabashi Jiro in that, because he did technically qualify for all of those facets despite being the Flash and one of the most expensive per minute meals I'll ever have at something like $800 for 20 minutes of dining. I liked the service at Le Bernadin, did not like the couple wait staff I had at EMP, though we were given a tour of the kitchen and Humm schmoozed with us momentarily.

To be honest, EMP has been declining... Maybe it is the focus on NoMad.

 

[gomestar]

I've heard some good things about NoMad.