Illustration: Vidhya Nagarajan
An Oscar, a Grammy, a Pulitzer—whichever field you’re in, there’s an award for the best of the best. In dining and hospitality, receiving a coveted Michelin star (or two or three) is considered by many to be the top achievement.
“It’s every chef’s dream to get a Michelin star,” says New Jersey chef Robbie Felice, owner of the highly regarded and buzzworthy restaurants Viaggio Ristorante, Osteria Crescendo, pastaRAMEN and the newly opened Bar Mutz.
Every year, the Michelin Guide (owned by the French tire manufacturer) awards stars to some of the top restaurants in the world. In addition to exceptional cooking and superior hospitality supporting boundary-pushing ideas, each restaurant must also be located in a geographical area where a Michelin Guide is published, such as New York, Paris, Chicago and Los Angeles. But if the best restaurant in America is located, say, in a tiny, remote corner of Iowa, Michelin stars will prove elusive.
But New Jersey isn’t Iowa (no shade to the Hawkeye State!), and there are restaurants within the Garden State’s borders that are ready for the Michelin test. So how does a state, city or region prompt the “famously anonymous inspectors” (as a press representative of the Michelin Guide North America described them) to visit its top dining destinations to see if they’re up to snuff?
Michelin decides whether to send its inspectors out to conduct a “destination assessment,” says the spokesperson, who asked not to be named. If there are enough restaurants offering “high-quality cuisine” in that area, a new guide will be introduced. “Once all the conditions are present to highlight the quality of the culinary scene in a given city, region or country, the Michelin Guide begins its process,” the spokesperson explains. When asked what the necessary conditions are, the rep declined to elaborate on the inspectors’ methods, nor would they disclose whether New Jersey is currently under consideration for its own guide.
In recent years, Michelin has expanded its footprint in North America to places like Colorado and Atlanta, among others. In each of these ventures, Michelin partnered with local destination-marketing organizations to “cover some costs to support the new guide,” according to the Michelin rep.
For Felice, while the idea of a Michelin Guide for New Jersey is exciting, it feels far-fetched. “Michelin coming to Jersey, it’s the craziest thought to me,” he says. “I’m more of a realist…Who’s paying for this?”
Indeed, the New York Times reported that the Colorado Tourism Board paid $100,000 for Michelin to expand there, which was supplemented by thousands more dollars from the tourism boards for Denver, Boulder, Aspen and Vail, plus two resorts. When Michelin started a guide there, just five restaurants in Colorado won stars. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas guide was scrapped in 2009 after just two years.
New Jersey, for its part, would welcome a Michelin Guide. Amanda Stone is the director of government affairs at the advocacy nonprofit New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association, which works closely with state tourism and other stakeholders. She isn’t aware of any discussions to bring a guide to New Jersey but says, “Recognition from Michelin would further cement our reputation as a top-tier dining destination.”
But will it happen? Neilly Robinson, managing director of Heirloom Hospitality (which runs top restaurants Lita, Heirloom Kitchen, and the newly opened Judy & Harry’s), says a Michelin star is chef David Viana’s “dream,” but also doubts the possibility of a guide in New Jersey.
She says that the state’s “antiquated liquor laws” have “stunted the growth” of the dining scene here and prevented many chefs from opening up restaurants because they can’t sell alcohol. “The opportunity is immense if the government could figure out a way to do liquor-license reform,” she says. “Then we could approach [Michelin] and ask them to come.”
Reform is something many in the industry have argued about for years, but change has proven elusive.
Karen Schloss Diaz, a longtime restaurant consultant in New Jersey, says she doesn’t see Michelin coming to the state anytime soon. “I always felt New Jersey doesn’t get the respect it deserves from people who have influence in those ways,” she says, adding: “Would anyone under 35 even care about Michelin? Would it make a difference?”
Perhaps Felice framed it best: “I love my state. I love New Jersey. I love everything about it. I just don’t think it’s something I could ever even imagine happening.”
Georgia Kral is a professor of journalism and communications at Saint Peter’s University and a regular contributor to New Jersey Monthly.
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