Blue Hill at Stone Barns Could Finally Get a Michelin Star This Year

Blue Hill at Stone Barns may finally get a Michelin star — restaurants in Westchester are joining the guide this year, the famed tire company restaurant guide announced today.

Michelin has expanded its 2020 New York City listing to include restaurants outside of the five boroughs by adding Westchester County. The suburban Hudson Valley area includes Yonkers, White Plains, Dobbs Ferry, and Tarrytown.

In a press release, the international director for the guides says that they’re expanding this year because they’ve been “particularly impressed” by the quality during visits and that it’s “a natural progression” of the guide.

But most notably, this development means chef Dan Barber’s famed Blue Hill location at Stone Barns will now be up for consideration. The chef’s Greenwich Village outpost already has one star, but the idyllic restaurant by the Stone Barns farm has long been considered one of the country’s best restaurants. Its omission from the guide has been a point of curiosity.

This is the latest expansion for Michelin, which relaunched a California guide earlier this year with money from the Visit California tourism board. Eater has reached out on who was involved with the Westchester growth.

With New York City so nearby, Westchester County has never been the dining destination that Manhattan has been. But over the years, particularly as the cost of doing business has gone up, well-known chefs have been moving out of the city. This news also follows a switch in the James Beard Awards, which recently changed its formatting to include upstate restaurants with NYC ones.

How this shakes out will be revealed soon. Michelin’s New York and Westchester Bib Gourmand list is released on Monday, while the stars come out on October 21.