Decoding Michelin

What does the guide’s arrival in Toronto and Vancouver mean for Canadian restaurants?

BY ELIZABETH CHORNEY-BOOTH

Michelin. It’s a word that is alternatively spoken in whispered reverence and boisterous braggadocio in serious international culinary circles. The name also causes a lot of confusion for more casual diners, especially those of us in Canada who, until very recently, have had to travel internationally to experience Michelin dining first-hand. But with Toronto and Vancouver receiving Canada’s first Michelin Guides last fall, Michelin fever has hit Canada in a big way.

First, a short primer for those who haven’t delved into the world of Michelinstarred restaurants: The Michelin company, the same French corporation that makes Michelin tires and boasts the cheerful Michelin Man as its mascot, has been publishing travel guides to encourage people to head out on road trips and, assumably, buy their tires since 1900. The guides have evolved to become the gold standard in restaurant evaluation, with a system that ranks a city or region’s best restaurants on a scale of one to three stars.

Even being awarded one star is a hugely prestigious and game-changing proposition for a restaurant, potentially bringing in customers from around the world, including globe-trotting gourmands who make a hobby out of “collecting” stars. In addition to the star system, Michelin guides include “recommended” restaurants, which also puts a feather in a business’s metaphorical cap, and “Bib Gourmand” designations for restaurants that offer great food at an affordable price.

Until 2022, Canada did not have any Michelin-starred restaurants, not because our restaurants aren’t good enough, but because Michelin simply did not produce guides here. Guide production is a costly proposition — the company needs to unleash its top-secret “inspectors” out into a region to assess hundreds of restaurants, visiting the best of the best multiple times. It takes some wooing and, very likely, some kind of financial dealings, but again, Michelin is fairly tight-lipped on these things. What is clear though, is that Canada’s restaurant industry has matured considerably over the last decade and it was time that at least some portions of the country be evaluated alongside restaurants in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Much of the world is still undocumented by Michelin, which is why the Vancouver and Toronto guides are indeed a big deal for Canadian cuisine.

“We are always evaluating exciting new destinations for the guide, around the world,” says Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides. “Once all the conditions are present to highlight the quality of the culinary scene in a given city, region or country, the Michelin Guide begins its process. We look forward to expanding coverage and discovering restaurants in new areas. Our core mission is to highlight attractive and remarkable tables to the gourmets who rely on our recommendations.”

Part of what makes Michelin so wellrespected is there are always surprises as far as which restaurants receive stars. Over the years, some restaurant watchers have balked that the starred restaurants tend to

Michelin group, courtesy Visionphoto.ca

be too classically European when it comes to cuisine (though, there’s been a notable preference for Japanese food in recent guides), that the highlighted restaurants are too expensive and often only offer cost-prohibitive tasting menus, and that they don’t always reflect restaurants’ local cultural impact or importance within the community.

Toronto ended up with 13 stars being awarded to its restaurants (including a two-star ranking for the very exclusive Sushi Masaki Saito) with eight restaurants in Vancouver receiving stars. There were definitely a few unexpected trends: smaller independent restaurants like Toronto’s Edulis and Vancouver’s Barbara won out over bigger, glitzier, and more famous dining rooms such as Canoe and Hawksworth (though both of those grand restaurants did get nods in the “recommended” category). What’s interesting here is that the stars can be much more of a game-changer for these smaller restaurants that may not be as known outside of their respective cities. Now the challenge is for the chefs and restaurateurs to avoid the distraction of the stars and remain focused on the intangibles that won them accolades in the first place.

“Receiving a Michelin star just solidifies what we have already been doing in the room since we opened in 2015” says Jeff Parr, general manager at the one-starred AnnaLena in Vancouver. “The phone is definitely ringing a bit more and it’s a little harder to get a booking, but aside from that it’s business as usual for us. Making sure we live up to the new expectations from our guests is a big driving force. Our plan is

Andrea Carlson, courtesy Janice Nicolay to just continue on the path that brought us to this place.”

Chef Andrea Carlson of Vancouver’s Burdock and Co., which was also awarded a star, agrees that the only path forward is to stick to the vision that has always guided her. “We’ve had the most heartfelt congratulations from regulars and guests who have generously supported us over the years,” she says. “We have very solid core values that define our trajectory: supporting local organic food producers and cultivating relationships around food security in our region. We will continue to draw our inspiration from nature and create menus based on seasonal availability.”

It’s not just the regulars who benefit — there’s plenty of evidence that the Michelin stamp of approval does exactly what the guides were designed to do when they first came out in the 1900s, which is to encourage travel. Destination Vancouver President and CEO Royce Chwin notes that Vancouver’s guide “further elevates our reputation as a global dining destination,” and there’s plenty of evidence that the advent of stars

TESTAMATTA:

in Italian means “Crazy Head”

“It has an incredible freshness, this is the real beauty of Testamatta 2020. This is the highest level of perfection ever reached”

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DECANTER 2022

really does get people out on the road (or in the air).

“It puts a destination on the culinary map – literally and figuratively,” Poullennec says. “Being home to a Michelin Guide boosts tourism, as we highlight these travel destinations and their selected restaurants on all our platforms, consulted by more than four million gourmets and travellers. According to a 2019 study by Ernst and Young, twothirds of frequent travellers would choose to visit a destination with a Michelin Guide presence over a comparable location without one.”

Even though Vancouver is closer to Albertans than any other city with a Michelin Guide, Albertans still aren’t in a position where we can just pop out for a Michelin-approved meal on a Tuesday night, and we shouldn’t hold our breath in the hopes that will change anytime soon. As wonderful as our local restaurants are, Alberta’s restaurant industry arguably isn’t seasoned enough to receive Michelin inspectors yet. If Vancouver and Toronto are any indication, it takes ultra-creative chef’s tasting menus, be it omakase sushi or five courses of seasonal farm-to-table wonders, to win those stars and neither Calgary nor Edmonton have quite enough of those to make a Michelin bid worth our while.

But that doesn’t mean that we Albertans won’t get to feel some of that Michelin glow. Both of Canada’s Michelin cities are a short plane ride away and as our local chefs and restaurateurs travel to those cities themselves, they’re bound to be inspired. Whether that results in Michelin stars down the road or not, it will make for better culinary experiences right here at home.

Little Bird Dim Sum, courtesy Anthony Pratico

COLORE:

in Italian means “Dream”

“Colore is my first love, my love for the old vines which produce incredible and world class wines.

I think that this year, we made the best Colore we’ve ever made.”

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DECANTER & JAMES SUCKLING 2022