Michelin Guide could be eyeing Charlotte. How do restaurants qualify for the famous Stars?
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Does Michelin have its starry eyes on North Carolina for a Guide?
The Michelin Guide is a review of the best restaurants in the world.
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As speculation builds about Charlotte joining the ranks of cities with a Michelin Guide, there’s a lot of information for diners to wade through about what to know — and we’re here to break down the basics for you.
Many Michelin Guides in the United States are relatively new, with some covering cities and others covering states or groupings of cities.
New York first joined the guide in 2005, kicking off a new focus on fine dining in America. Now, there are also guides to San Francisco, Los Angeles and California as a whole; Chicago and Illinois; Las Vegas; Colorado; Washington, D.C.; and Tampa, Orlando and Miami in Florida. Atlanta joined the guide in 2023, and Texas followed in 2024.
Right now, there are no Michelin-starred restaurants in Charlotte. However, there are two hotels listed for Charlotte on the Michelin website: Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel and The Ivey’s Hotel. The Ivey’s is rated One Key, which means visitors can expect “a very special stay.”
Here’s what to know as Charlotte begins the Michelin Star process:
How the Michelin Guide started
French tire makers Andre and Edouard Michelin built a small guide in the early 1900s to assist budding travelers on where to eat and stay in Europe when they took to the road. In the decades after Michelin was founded, few cars were on the road.
In 1920, the initial concept transformed into the modern-day, red Michelin Guide, and stars for fine dining began in 1926. Now, the guide rates more than 30,000 establishments in over 30 territories across three continents. But its expansion has been relatively slow and deliberate.
In April, Michelin announced plans for Michelin Guide American South, covering Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee while incorporating its pre-existing Atlanta Guide.
Partnerships with tourism offices — most often funded via local food and beverage taxes — entice Michelin to start a Guide in certain areas. Axios Charlotte reported that Visit North Carolina has agreed to pay $170,000 per year to draw in Michelin recognition, while Explore Asheville, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, Discover Durham and Visit Raleigh are pitching in $45,000 a year each.
What’s the Michelin process like?
Any restaurant can request to be considered for inclusion in a Michelin Guide. Each year, the process begins with adding new establishments to the guide’s list of recommended restaurants. But not all of them end up with stars — and those are awarded later in a second announcement.
For example, in January, 10 new Florida restaurants were added to the Michelin Guide as recommendations — six in Miami and four in Orlando. Stars are expected to be announced April 17.
The 2025 Florida guide will also add restaurants in Greater Fort Lauderdale, The Palm Beaches and St. Pete-Clearwater, a step toward a state-wide guide beginning in 2026.
The guide also says it “continually reassess existing Star restaurants to ensure the same high standard of cooking is being offered to guests.”
What are the Michelin Inspectors looking for?
Anonymous, full-time judges who travel the world — called “Michelin Inspectors” — visit restaurants under consideration separately and then make their decisions as a team.
“All we are saying is ‘these are the restaurants with the best food, where you will enjoy the most outstanding culinary experiences,’” the guide’s website says.
Here’s what the inspectors look for:
“Five universal criteria: the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavours, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine and, just as importantly, consistency both across the entire menu and over time.”
- Any type of food and style of service is eligible for consideration, and a restaurant’s decor and attention to service doesn’t affect the process.
- As dependability is key, inspectors will stop in for lunch one day and dinner another, on both weekdays and weekends, to ensure the food remains top notch in all situations over the course of a year.
The “food on the plate — nothing else” is the determining factor on a restaurant’s rating. However, separate special awards often recognize outstanding service or an exceptional sommelier.
What does each Michelin Star mean?
Here’s how the Michelin Guide describes its ranking system:
- “One Michelin Star is awarded to restaurants using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavours are prepared to a consistently high standard.”
- “Two Michelin Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired.”
- “Three Michelin Stars is our highest award, given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics.”
Charlotte-area diners may be familiar with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who opened a location of Gordon Ramsay Food Market at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee and is working on opening a Ramsay Kitchen there, too. The British chef’s European restaurants have multiple Michelin stars, including the three-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London and the two-starred Le Pressoir d’Argent in France.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which serves French cuisine, was praised in its three-star rating for “the ‘Carte Blanche’ surprise menu, which allows the chef to fully express himself; and the à la carte, where you will find signature dishes like the lobster ravioli and the roast veal sweetbread. The latter is a perfect embodiment of the kitchen’s perfectly judged contrasts of flavour and texture, with a pleasing lightness of touch.”
What’s a Michelin Green Star?
Michelin Green Star is yet another designation, awarded to restaurants that are “role models when it comes to sustainable gastronomy.” There are fewer than 300 across the world, and the award began showing up in guides in 2021.
These restaurants pay heed to ethical and environmental standards, work with sustainable producers and suppliers, and seek to reduce waste.
Inspectors recognize there are a variety of ways to embody this work, but consider seasonal produce and where ingredients were sourced and the restaurant’s environmental footprint concerning food waste, recycling and how guests are informed about the restaurant’s efforts.
For example, Bacchanalia in Atlanta — a one-star restaurant — also has a Michelin Green Star. Its guide page includes a quote from chef and co-owner Clifford Harrison, explaining: “Our seasonal menu relies entirely on organic ingredients; many sourced from our own farm where we also harvest most of our eggs, compost, and feed chickens with vegetable scraps.”
Other levels of Michelin recognition
Another level of recommendation, Bib Gourmand, is named after Michelin’s mascot, Bibendum — known in America as the Michelin Man. A Bib Gourmand notation recognizes restaurants with a simpler cooking style where you can get a good meal for a reasonable price.
These more casual restaurants include places in Atlanta like Little Bear and Superica (which has two Charlotte locations) and The Polite Pig in Orlando. Additional symbols may note the restaurant has a notable wine, cocktail or beer list, or even an interesting view or terrace dining.
In 2018, Michelin added yet one more level of recognition: the Michelin Plate. Elite Traveler describes the Plate notation as “good food that is not quite of the same caliber as that served in Michelin-starred or Bib Gourmand restaurants but is still worthy of recognition,” adding: “The title is awarded using the same criteria by the same judges; establishments will often enter the guide at this level before moving up based on a later inspection.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 6:15 AM.
