Top Chefs Weep Like Little Girls Upon Hearing News Of Michelin Stars

Eagerly anticipated (eagerly anticipated by . . . chefs, I suppose) Michelin guide rankings that for the first time include American restaurants were released yesterday, making normally salty chefs weep like little girls:

It may have been only one more review among many, but when Michelin announced its first ratings for restaurants in New York City yesterday morning, superstar chefs and proprietors reacted with joyous tears, resignation and, in some cases, dismay.

Four restaurants – Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se – received the top ranking, three stars. But Daniel, long considered to be in the very top rank of New York’s restaurants, had to settle for two, along with Masa, Bouley and Danube.

And in some of the more surprising rankings, the Spotted Pig, a no-frills Greenwich Village pub with an idiosyncratic menu, got a star, putting it up with restaurants like Babbo and Gramercy Tavern, while respected restaurants like Chanterelle, Felidia, the Four Seasons and Union Square Cafe got no stars.

. . .

Michelin rated 507 New York restaurants in all five boroughs for the 2006 New York guide, which will go on sale Friday for $16.95. Two Brooklyn restaurants, the 118-year-old Peter Luger steakhouse and Saul, a cozy contemporary American spot on the Smith Street strip in Boerum Hill, were the only restaurants outside Manhattan to win stars. Thirty-seven other places received stars, making New York second only to Paris, which has 72 starred restaurants, including 10 with three stars. London has 34 restaurants with stars, including one, Gordon Ramsay, with three.

Zagatified version of chefs’ emotional responses (yuck!) to follow:

“I didn’t expect to become emotional,” Eric Ripert, the chef and an owner of Le Bernardin, said, adding that partner “Maguy is getting on a plane to New York, and she’s crying.”

Meanwhile, Jean-Georges Vongerichten said that his three starts “means a lot” to him, putting him on par with his mentors. “Paul Bocuse has had three stars for 45 years. I’ve had mine for two hours.”

Alain Ducasse, greeted with Champagne, saluted his executive chef with “Félicitations.”

And Per Se chef Thomas Keller remarked that his ranking was “mind boggling,” “hard to believe” and “to actually become part of it is extraordinary.”

Meanwhile, no one seemed to mind that Michelin seems to have disregarded the boroughs:

Bonnie Cohen, an interior designer who was interviewed outside Citarella on Third Avenue, said she was not surprised that Michelin had found only two restaurants outside Manhattan worthy of a star. “Michelin is very elite, effete,” Ms. Cohen said, “and they’re probably not selling to the people in the boroughs.” Did she think there were restaurants in Queens and the Bronx and on Staten Island worth visiting? “Probably, but to tell you the truth I never go, either,” she said.

Lester G. Magrill, having lunch at Peter Luger yesterday, said he had never heard of the Michelin guide. “I’ve eaten here every day for 60 years, and there’s no other place with this quality meat,” he said. “I know because my grandfather was a butcher, so it doesn’t matter.”

(I love that guy! Straight out of central casting!)