Why are there no Michelin 3-Star restaurants in North Carolina?
The biggest surprise from the recent Michelin Guide American South announcement was not that the list was leaked early, or that many worthy restaurants were left without a Star or Bib Gourmand, if they were even recommended at all.
No, the biggest surprise for many was that Michelin’s top honor — three Stars — was nowhere to be found in the region.
The next highest honor, two Stars, went to but one restaurant, chef Emeril Lagasse’s acclaimed Emeril’s in New Orleans. I had written previously that it was inevitable no Charlotte restaurant would claim the top prize, but I was nevertheless surprised not to have seen it go to any restaurants in New Orleans, Charleston, Atlanta or Nashville.
The Stars, it should be said, do have meaning. One-Star restaurants, of which Charlotte now has a singular representative, are “very good restaurant[s] in [their] category.” Two-Star restaurants offer “exceptional cooking, worth a detour.” A three-Star designation means a restaurant puts up “exceptional cuisine, worthy of a special journey,” to where guests travel for hours or even days, across state lines or continents, just to experience it.
I, myself, have logged many a frequent flier mile on such journeys. As a “professional foodie,” I have dined at starred restaurants all throughout the US, Europe and Asia. I once took a five-hour flight from Singapore to Shanghai just to eat at one three-star restaurant there before flying back home, via Hong Kong, to visit another three-star restaurant or two the next day. I know this screams of privilege, and I own that, but journeys like this are what three-stars are meant to represent.
So, in that context, let me attempt to explain why no restaurants were ultimately awarded three stars in North Carolina — or the rest of the South.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s take that special journey to New York City.
3 Michelin Stars at Eleven Madison Park
Eleven Madison Park has received three stars from the Michelin Guide every year for the past 14 years. In 2017, it was voted the No. 1 restaurant in the world on San Pellegrino’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Chef-owner Daniel Humm is a legend for his style of cooking: hyperseasonal and hyperlocal with a clean Swiss aesthetic. The restaurant even has its own Wikipedia page.
What’s more, Eleven Madison Park switched to an entirely plant-based menu in 2021 and only recently again started serving select animal proteins, such as lobster and duck.
I arrived a little early for my 5:45 p.m. reservation to have a drink at the bar. Sumac with tequila — autumn in a glass — called my name, and I made myself comfortable while I waited for my friend to arrive.
We were shown to our table, and then came a bread course unlike any I have ever had, due in no small part to it being entirely vegan.
How to make buttery, flaky bread without any animal products? It starts with being clever: aquafaba to bind the dough, baked yeast for a nutty, savory flavor. Layered with onion, the bread came with a side of onion butter and a cup of roasted onion broth that had hints of lemongrass. The entire course was a celebration of onion, cleverly constructed for maximum enjoyment.
It’s this thoughtful execution that makes the food at Eleven Madison Park stand out; the degrees to which the kitchen staff go to make it seem as though they are doing nothing — the effortless presentation of a humble ingredient, almost naked in its simplicity.
Leeks, precisely cut and tiled on the plate, awash in green chili and coriander, served with a steamed collard green dumpling. The leeks were elevating heavenward, but made sure to remind us they’re of the earth with the thoughtful dumpling pairing.
Scallops with golden beet and grapefruit: acidic and sweet, with earth, fire and water in every bite.
The soba noodles were firm yet pliant, nutty without being heavy, refreshing without being bland. Great soba is about texture and restraint, accompanied in this case by merely a few leaves of bok choy and a few slivers of luxe white truffle. The expensive ingredient was not there for show, but simply to incantate the taste buds into understanding what “earthy” really means.
All the while, we had been drinking wine selected under the guidance of the sommelier: a 2011 Léon Beyer Gewurztraminer from Alsace. This wasn’t the usual floral, lychee-forward Gewurztraminer, but one of age that drank almost like a sherry. It paired well so far with all the courses but especially so with the more substantial courses left to come.
Like the red kuri squash. A toothsome cut of squash was confited with lemongrass and Thai chili, both of which elevated its sweetness without detracting from it as the star attraction.
Or the simple potato, smoked, hassleback and breathtaking. Served with tonburi seeds as “land caviar” that had been combined with seaweed and salt water to mimic the real thing.
Or maitake mushroom, a herald of autumn in Japan, grilled with seitan and spinach. Barely noticeable on the plate, a swipe of cheeky yuzu kosho cream accentuated the flavor of the mushroom, making it scream.
The meal ended with chocolate and sesame pretzels, which were as smooth as a velvet blanket, as well as a bottle of vermouth and apple brandy that warmed our throats and bellies. In other words, we would sleep well that night.
Michelin-level restaurant service
The Michelin Guide may say that service does not play a part in awarding restaurants with Stars — that it really is just all about the food. But I hardly believe that. Front of house and back of house operations go hand in hand, and it’s not the chef who gets the stars; it’s the restaurant.
The service at Eleven Madison Park is world renowned, thanks to incredible attention to details. Josiah, our main server for the evening, regaled us with his wit and good humor, and told tales of the restaurant’s private upstate New York farm, from which all the vegetables are sourced. He even arranged a surprise kitchen and wine cellar tour for my friend, who had never been to a Michelin-starred restaurant before.
Another example during the bread course: My friend made a small but noticeable mess on the table. Without a word, someone swooped in to lift up his plate, and someone else arrived with a napkin to set down on the table to cover the stain. As quickly as they arrived, they disappeared, and my friend and I were back to our meal.
Exceptional food with consistency
All of these details make a point: It’s not enough to have good food or even delicious food. For a restaurant to earn three Michelin stars, the food must be — like the bread, like the soba, like the squash and maitake — transcendent. And consistently so.
Service at restaurants with three Michelin Stars must anticipate what diners need before they even know, make diners feel comfortable while also making them feel special.
After all, dining at restaurants of this caliber is a rare occasion for most, and it’s up to front and back of house service to come together effortlessly to make that occasion a memorable one. At a three-Star restaurant, one cannot have food that is transcendent without service that is transcendent.
Consistency, you might have noticed, is key. Consistency is why three famous American restaurant institutions recently failed to re-earn their three Stars, and were demoted to two. And consistent transcendence is why, I argue, there are no restaurants with three Stars in the American South region.
This isn’t a dig by any means. It’s merely my way of putting my restaurant experiences in the Carolinas and the rest of the South and my experience at Eleven Madison Park into perspective.
Charlotte diners, ask yourself if you’ve ever been to a local restaurant that would tempt you to book a flight and a hotel room just to experience? That the food is such that you would cross time zones? Or that you would use PTO to visit?
Or when was the last time a server made you feel like the only person in the world and gave you all of his or her attention accordingly? Even some of those restaurants won’t make the three-Star cut.
When you’re able to answer those questions with conviction, then you’ll have happened upon a restaurant worthy of three Michelin Stars.
