In our continuing coverage of the release of the Michelin Red Book NYC, be bring you the early word on winners and losers. The books start to circulate this evening, after which time we hope to be bringing you further analysis. If it is straight coverage you're looking for, you can find it here and just about every which way you turn as well.
Winner: La Goulue chef Antoine Camin, who, if he has any sense, has already resigned his post on Madison to open a place of his own.
Loser: Residents of the West Village, who will now have to wait even longer -- alongside French and Japanese tourists -- for The Spotted Pig's very few tables.
Winner: Kenneth A. Himmel, the restaurant czar at The Mall, who made the right choice when he sent Michelin a check for $5 mil last February.
Loser: Daniel Boulud, the only French chef whose Zagat 28 and four Times stars did not translate into three Michelins.
Winner: Mario Batali. Because he hedged his bet ahead of time by telling NYM that it didn't mater that much to him, he can keep his head high today. But more importantly, now that Michelin has fired at the Times, calling into question the legitimacy of two Times 4-starers (Daniel and Masa), what better a place for the Times to fire back with than Babbo and/or Del Posto? Eater odds makers say it's 2-1 that Molto Mario gets four stars from the Times before this time next year.
Loser: Michelin, for lacking the foresight and diplomacy to 3-star a venue like WD-50 or Masa, if only to keep people from saying the books skews too French to matter.
Winner: Alain Ducasse, Mr. Nine Stars himself. In his social circles, 9 Michelins is something to write home about and for this we congratulate him.
Loser: Alain Ducasse, who now has to spend '06 in NY. While his new chef Tony Esnault started in April, with plenty of time for Team Michelin to review Tony's cuisine, there is a question as to whether those Michelin stars are Tony's or his predecessor Christian Delouvrier's. You can be sure AD himself will be spending a good amount of time in the ADNY kitchen, watching his new chef's every knife stroke and keeping close guard of his Michelin stars.
Winner: Tim and Nina Zagat, whose guide was used as an authority today in the Times alongside Michelin and the Times itself. This does more to legitimize their system than anything that's been written about the survey in the last five years.
Winner: Jean Georges, who, with 5 stars (just under 10% of all NY Michelin stars), has more than anyone else in the city.
Loser: Danny Meyer, whose lock on American fare in NY translated into a mere two stars, one for The Modern and one for Grammercy Tavern.
Winner: Michelin three-star chefs Gordan Ramsay and Joel Robuchon, who were both smart enough to wait on their NY venues, ensuring zero high profile disappointment in Michelin NYC year one.
