Michelin Removes and Restores Stars in France

No every year can the guillotine be paraded without risking a mutiny. While there are editions where the fearsome French Michelin guide bares its teeth and prunes the high dignitaries of French cuisine, forcing the profession to step up, other times it decides to be generous with the promise that a fall can also be followed by a swift recovery. This is the case for Christopher Coutanceau, who has played a prominent role in recent years for very different reasons. In 2023, he did not attend the ceremony held in Strasbourg, but he was on everyone's lips as his was one of the two restaurants that the red guide had demoted from the top category. This time, however, he has been the great winner of a gala in which a record number of 68 new stars were awarded, the highest in the last five editions.

Coutanceau should be accustomed to the ups and downs of the publication, which has been making him climb and descend steps for five years. His namesake restaurant in La Rochelle—focused on sustainable fishing and respect for marine seasons—achieved the third star in 2020, but the joy was short-lived. After a couple of seasons marked by the pandemic, he lost it in 2023 while Michelin elevated his neighbor Alexandre Couillon. Now he regains it. Whether these changes are due to inspector whims or a certain irregularity in the chef that has been quickly corrected, only time will tell. For now, Coutanceau can breathe a sigh of relief. His rehabilitation coincided with the triumph of another maritime restaurant, Le Coquillage, led by chef Hugo Roellinger and located in a charming mansion on the Breton coast, a stone's throw from Mont Saint Michel.

The photo of both alongside the international director of the guides, Gwendall Poullenec, shows the two ways the French gastronomic guide exercises its power. On one hand, Roellinger, dressed informally with long hair carelessly tied in a ponytail, exudes an air of a cursed poet or an environmental activist with means. On the other hand, Coutanceau—shaved head, perfectly uniformed, and with an almost military gesture—represents the discipline of the old school, the meticulous plating, and luxury service. Both are scions of highly respected culinary dynasties in the neighboring country, have had top-notch training, and share a vision of gastronomy responsible to the environment, but they reach the top category by opposite paths. While one has been shaken by Michelin and forced to follow the manual to regain the star, the other is embraced by connoisseurs until the third 'macaron' delicately falls into his hands.

The award ceremony was held this time in Metz, in the Moselle region, after passing through Tours last year, following an itinerant formula that was initiated by the Spanish subsidiary. The extensive list of guests at a gala that also celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first edition of the guide already suggested that the harvest of stars would be abundant. Nine restaurants receive the second star, and six of them—emphasizes the tire company—do so one, two, or three years after obtaining the first. Among them stand out the Basque-French Ekaitza, located in the port of Ciboure and led by sommelier and chef Guillaume Roget, the Bordeaux-based Maison Nouvelle, by chef Philippe Etchebest, and the iconic Le Gabriel, since 2023 under the direction of Bertrand Noeureuil, or Rozó, by Diego Delbecq, on the border with Belgium. A fact to consider, three of the ten restaurants elevated in category—Sushi Yoshinaga, Blanc, and L'Abysse Monte Carlo—are not French cuisine, but of Japanese inspiration, confirming a trend observed in recent years. With the additions of Baumanière 1850, in the luxurious alpine resort of Courchevel, and L'Auberge de Saint Remy, there are now 81 restaurants in France with two stars.

Among those receiving the first—57 in this edition—predominate, unsurprisingly, those located on the French Riviera, the Alps, and the city of Paris. The guide also awards 10 new green stars and four special prizes, two of them ex aequo, to three men and three women, perhaps trying to mitigate in some way the overwhelming gender disparity that the French guide still shows. The awards for best service go to Coralie Semery, from the restaurant Ébullition, in Montpellier, and Valentin Cavalade, from the two-starred Parisian Le Jules Verne, while the best sommelier awards go to Maéva Rougeoreille, from the restaurant Jean Suplice, and Jean Dumontet, from the starred Frédéric Doucet. The young talent award goes to Valentina Giacobbe, from the newly starred Ginko, in Lille, and the mentor chef award to Bernard Pacaud, who started at 14 in the mythical Mere Brazier and since 1981 has run L'Ambroisie with his wife Danièle.

However, this historic display of generosity also hides a blow among the old guard of haute cuisine. This time it was a legendary figure like George Blanc, who at 82 and after 44 years perched at the top category, saw the guide deliver an "unexpected" kick. Although he acted surprised, good old Blanc had been rumored for years as a candidate for defenestration, and Michelin had the delicacy to do it in an edition where the headlines would go in other directions. He took it with resignation, "perhaps now we are less elitist and more accessible." His case, however, opens a debate that can be applied to the Spanish reality, where some seem to yearn for the moment when the red guide starts cutting heads among totemic figures to make room for rising talents. This year the rumors were printed in black and white, but finally, Michelin decided to continue fattening a list of three-starred—16 in all of Spain—that is still far from the 31 French.