Chicago on Bibendum Alert

By Andrew Jenkins in Food on Nov 6, 2006 6:30PM

The ratings found in Michelin’s restaurant guidebooks have been the culinary measuring stick for many European countries for something like 100 years. Just last year the guide finally began critiquing restaurants in the good old U. S. of A., starting with NYC and then San Francisco. If the rumors are correct, Chicago may soon be the third U.S. city to be reviewed by Bibendum — who knew the Michelin Man had a real name? The people of Snack, a NYC foodie blog, report that their Michelin sources have named Chicago as its next destination, which would mean that critics could be secretly reviewing our restaurants as we speak.

The famed Michelin Red Guide uses a pretty wacky rating system that assigns well-received restaurants one to three stars while the majority simply get a brief review. Three-star joints can pretty much write their own ticket (only four U.S. restaurants can claim to have three Michelin stars), and gaining even one-star credibility is a pretty big deal. As Snack hears it, Charlie Trotter's and Alinea could be the frontrunners for the three-star category, with a few two-stars and a dozen or so one-stars.

Michelin guides have received a fair share of criticism for their hometown reviews of French restaurants and secret criteria for star assignment, so don’t expect anything different if they visit us. And while a Michelin guide for Chicago would add to our "worldly city" street cred, we're not sure how many three-, two- or even one-star awardees our pocketbook will let us visit — unless Hackney's happens to grab a couple.

Image via michelinmedia.com.