
The story behind Michelin stars - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181024-the-ingenious-story-behind-michelin-stars
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leiroigh
FWIW, the Gault Millau is imho vastly preferable to the Guide Michelin. Cares
more about food quality than decor, and is actually reliable on its lower
spectrum (< 1 star Guide Michelin recommendations are worthless, and 1 star is
already very expensive; if Gault Millau recommends something, then it is
always good; and the ratings and descriptions are relatively meaningful).

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pasta
In The Netherlands a restaurant owner want's to get rid of it's three stars
because he feel it lays too much preasure on him.

Unfortunately Michelin doesn't want to drop them.

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gumby
It's pretty tough to get that third star; by simply changing the decor, laying
off some staff, or closing the cloakroom the third star would go.

But this does remind me of a restaurant in Palo Alto (chef trained in a 3-star
restaurant in Burgundy) whose owner asks people to leave bad yelp reviews.
Basically the customer base is almost entirely regulars and that's enough to
make it a good business. They don't want so much business that the regulars
couldn't get a table.

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simonebrunozzi
Well, at this point, I'm really curious to know what the restaurant is!

I promise I will keep the secret, and if needed, happy to leave a bad Yelp
review :)

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gumby
It's Bistro Elan which moved to Birch St. No big secret, but they have only a
few tables.

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lisper
Seems improbable to me. They have a very nice web site which includes their
(very favorable) Zagat and Michelin reviews. Why would they do that if they
don't want to drum up more business?

More likely this is an urban myth. Or a shrewd marketing ploy.

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brandall10
I can see the owner trying to discourage those who use Yelp to find places to
eat - it's probably a different kind of patron than those who are aware of the
restaurant and looking for information on it.

To that end, it's 3.5 stars on Yelp (137 reviews), but Google reviews shows it
as 4.5 (52 reviews). That difference alone seems that Yelp could be
specifically targeted.

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aldoushuxley001
Yelp is probably just holding his positive reviews hostage until he pays up.

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secfirstmd
Is this a joke? Or is there something I missed?

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gumby
Yelp has that reputation though I believe it to be false. Certainly they have
put their finger on the pan for paid customers, but they have to be careful
about it.

IN BE's case (and that of several other restauranteurs I've spoken with) she
is unhappy with the general behavior of "yelpers" (obviously the nice ones
she'd never notice :-))...I won't go into that. If the restaurant is always
full you don't need new customers. This restaurant doesn't have the room for
it, but I've seen yelper gatherings at larger restaurants and asked the
waitstaff and they never seem happy with it.

I've used Yelp successfully when passing through an unfamiliar place (on the
west coast of the US...less success elsewhere). It's a shame because the idea
of Yelp/Tripadvisor/etc seems like it ought to be a useful one, but human
nature seems to $^* it up.

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JoeAltmaier
I used to think restaurant guides were invented in America, with the
publishing by a salesman named Duncan Hines of his favorite stops across the
country. But his guide started with a Christmas card list in 1935, while the
Michelin guide goes back to 1900!

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robertAngst
Had a ~20 minute conversation about this yesterday.

I find it fascinating to ask what makes food taste good. We agreed it was a
combination of texture, flavor(pairings, aromas, and basic taste like salt,
sweet, acid, etc..), atmosphere/presentation.

What the conversation boiled down-to- are foods that use 'all the cheat
codes', ie, adding sugar, salts, fats, acid; going to taste better than foods
that are traditional?

I contest that American-Italian will taste better than Italian because it wins
the Pepsi Taste Challenge. Where tradition doesnt allow you to use sugar in
traditional Italian culture, American food has no rules.

From a biological point of view, the food with a sugar in it will win a
comparison.

The goal I was looking to understand- If I can make American Thai Food that
causes friends to eat until they have a stomach ache, does that beat
traditional thai food that tastes good, but not addicting?

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maxerickson
Of course, "traditional" Italian cuisine gets much of its sweetness from
tomatoes introduced from the Americas.

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JoeAltmaier
Right! I often marvel at what Old-world cuisine was like before American
influences. No tomatoes. No potatoes. No chocolate OR vanilla. Heck, no
tobacco or coffee! What did they do after dinner?

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ginko
Coffee is from the old world. It's native to Ethiopia.

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JoeAltmaier
Wow! That's news to me, thanks. I wonder if Ethiopia still has any old
lineages of coffee growing...

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_hardwaregeek
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is a pretty famous coffee.
[http://www.blackpowderroasting.com/all-about-ethiopian-
yirga...](http://www.blackpowderroasting.com/all-about-ethiopian-yirgacheffe/)

