The math is simple: Any restaurant that receives a Bib won’t receive a star.
And the big news is that this year The Spotted Pig, a gastropub run by April Bloomfield, one of the country’s most acclaimed chefs, and an institution that has held a star since 2005 when Michelin's anonymous inspectors first came to New York, has been downgraded to the Bibs. It will not receive a star. This is a big, big, big deal.
Some other takeaways from the Bibs: Olmsted in Prospect Heights, run by Alinea-alum Greg Baxtrom and considered by local critics to be one of the year’s most impressive new restaurants, will also be left off the starred list. Oiji, an ambitious Korean spot in the East Village, and Untitled, Michael Anthony and Danny Meyer’s vegetable-friendly restaurant at The Whitney, were both omitted from the Bibs this year, possibly a sign that they’ll receive higher honors next week.
If you like, you can scroll down for a full list of the Bib awards, but I’d appreciate it if you stayed with me for a few minutes to chat about The Spotted Pig because its presence on the list — and now absence from it — is an important point of reference for understanding some of the guide’s highs and lows over the years.
Michelin’s decision to bestow a star on The Pig (just think about how that sounds) in the first place was a controversial one. A guide known for worshipping the fanciest of fancy restaurants came to New York and effectively declared that a bare bones tavern serving bacon wrapped prunes was on par with Babbo, a high-end Italian spot selling intricate pasta tastings. "They're blowing it. They can't put the Spotted on the same level as Babbo," Mario Batali told Florence Fabricant in 2005.
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Olmsted, another restaurant that didn't get a star this year. By Krieger.
Ultimately, Michelin was prescient in honoring The Pig, a venue that, along with David Chang’s Momofuku Ssäm Bar, became the hallmark of a brash new style of American dining, a budget gourmet approach to cuisine that championed ambitious food at not-outrageous prices in stripped-down spaces that were friendly to walk-ins.
The inspectors continued to promote these high-low restaurants over the years, awarding stars to The Breslin, Bloomfield’s beer-stained meatery in the Ace Hotel, Casa Mono, Batali’s creative tapas spot, and Public, an Aussie-leaning hangout in Nolita. These unexpected accolades helped win over Zagat-loving local gourmands, folks who were skeptical of a European guide that simultaneously overlooked some of the city’s most iconic restaurants and foodstuffs (not a single pizzeria or barbecue joint held a star, a fact that remains true today) while it continued to fete bland tasting menu spots like Gordon Ramsay, which held two stars for way too long.
There is, to be fair, no indication that Michelin won’t continue to honor more casual venues. It recently awarded its first star to a ramen joint in Japan, and its first star to a brewery restaurant in Chicago. But the way the Pig was demoted highlights a larger problem with the Michelin Guide, namely: transparency and trust.
The Spotted Pig is one of New York’s most beloved dining institutions. It’s not uncommon to wait an hour for a solo bar seat, something I’ve done recently to partake of Bloomfield’s famous burger, topped enough Roquefort to qualify as a fondue course. And you can’t just shoot a sacred cow like The Pig and expect New Yorkers to acquiesce to that decision. There needs to be an explanation.
Make no mistake: Michelin Guide director Michael Ellis has always been great about discussing, over the phone, why a restaurant is demoted or promoted. And I understand he'll discuss the Pig's demotion next week when the full starred selections come out. Inevitably, he'll talk about the consistency and quality of the cooking at The Pig. We’ll also get a soundbite for why Olmsted was snubbed.
Those statements won’t be enough. When this critic and Pete Wells demoted Thomas Keller’s Per Se to two stars, we both penned thousand word-plus reviews. We made forceful arguments because we knew that our readers, whether Keller loyalists or not, wouldn’t passively accept our judgements on one of the country’s most revered bastions of fine dining. A food critic knows that while readers ultimately come to her for a verdict, it’s her job to build support for that verdict by conveying the minutiae of review-related eating, by opining on the larger state of on dining in America, and through humanizing the ecstasies and ignominies of spending up $1,000 per person on dinner (or more).
Michelin doesn’t muse. It doesn’t make arguments. It is sometimes clear about prices, but it usually is more reticent on value. The guide does not advance ideas about gastronomy in any meaningful way. Michelin publishes blurbs and doles out stars.
I love reporting on Michelin and analyzing the yearly selections. The guide, first published in 1900 to benefit chauffeurs and their discriminating clients, has become one of the most respected worldwide resources on where to eat, largely thanks to its employment of anonymous inspectors (who pay for their meals). And there’s surely no other worldwide organization that’s so dedicated to tracking the progress of so many venues year after year; Michelin’s decision to gradually up the number of three starred venues in the San Francisco Bay Area from one to six over the past decade is proof of that.
But if these inspectors eat out so much, if they’re so diligent about filing detailed reports on every meal (I’ve heard they take about two hours to fill out), Michelin needs to find a more reliable way to make its knowledge base and the inspectors’ day-to-day meals more apparent to the readers. I don’t have any illusions about Michelin turning itself into a cadre of critics, but if the Red Guide expects our trust when downgrading institutions like The Spotted Pig (or really, when awarding or withholding any stars) we’ll need more transparency to go along.
Now, without further ado, here is this year’s full list of Bib Gourmands:
Achilles Heel
al Bustan
Angkor
Arharn Thai
Atoboy
Baker & Co.
Bar Primi
Basil Brick Oven Pizza
Beyoglu
biáng!
bún-ker
Buttermilk Channel
Casa del Chef Bistro
Chavela's
Cho Dang Gol
Chomp Chomp
Ciccio
Congee Village
Coppelia
Cotenna
Dim Sum Go Go
DOMODOMO
Don Antonio by Starita
Donostia
East Harbor Seafood Palace
Egg
El Atoradero
El Parador
Enoteca Maria
Falansai
Frankies 457 Spuntino
Freek’s Mill
Ganso Ramen
Gastronomia Culinaria
Gladys
Glasserie
Good Fork (The)
Gran Eléctrica
Gregory's 26 Corner Taverna
Hahm Ji Bach
HanGawi
Havana Café
Hecho en Dumbo
Hide-Chan Ramen
High Street on Hudson
Hill Country Chicken
HinoMaru Ramen
Hometown Bar-B-Que
Hunan Bistro
Hunan House
Hunan Kitchen
Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria
Il Poeta
J.G. Melon
Jin Ramen
John Brown Smokehouse
J. Restaurant Chez Asta
Katz's
Khe-Yo
Kiin Thai
Kiki’s
Kings County Imperial
Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen
La Morada
Land of Plenty
Larb Ubol
Laut
Lea
Lil' Frankie's
Little Pepper
Llama Inn
Lulu & Po
Lupa
MáLà Project
Manila Social Club
Mapo Tofu
Mexicosina
Mile End
Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too
Momofuku Noodle Bar
Momofuku Ssäm Bar
Momokawa
Mu Ramen
New Malaysia
Nyonya
Olmsted
Oso
Paet Rio
Paulie Gee's
Pearl & Ash
Phoenix Garden
Pippali
Porsena
Prime Meats
Prune
Purple Yam
Ribalta
Rider
Roberta's
Rubirosa
Runner & Stone
Russ & Daughters Cafe
Rye
Salt & Fat
San Matteo
San Rasa
Shalom Japan
Shanghai Café
Sip Sak
Soba-Ya
Somtum Der
Sottocasa
Speedy Romeo
THE SPOTTED PIG
Streetbird Rotisserie
Supper
Sweet Yummy House
Szechuan Gourmet
Tanoreen
Tertulia
Thelma on Clinton
Tong Sam Gyup Goo Yi
Tra Di Noi
Turkish Kitchen
Uncle Zhou
Uva
Vida
Vinegar Hill House
Xixa
zero otto nove
00+Co
Zoma
Restaurants That Dropped Off The Bibs List in 2017:
ABC Cocina
Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar
Baci & Abbracci
Bread & Tulips
Bianca
Boqueria
Crispo
Cotenna
Diner
DBGB
Ed’s Lobster Bar
Elberta
Faro
The General Greene
Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan
Keste Pizza
La Morada
Marlow & Sons
Nom Wah Tea Parlor
Oiji
Prova (closed)
Snack
Traif
Venturo Osteria & Wine Bar
Wild Edibles
Umi Nom
Untitled
Yunnan Kitchen (closed)
Zabb Ellee
Zizi Limona
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