Seven Retain Michelin's 3 Stars

Six were on last year's list

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A NEWCOMER has popped up in the 2013 edition of the Michelin red guide for New York City hotels and restaurants:

Atera, the TriBeCa restaurant that opened a little more than six months ago, offering only counter seating for tasting menus by Matthew Lightner, a celebrated chef from Portland, Ore.

The restaurant, which received two of three possible stars, is one of several with changes in the influential star rankings, which were announced Tuesday by Michelin, based in Paris.

There were no shifts in the top category, three stars, a select club with the same seven members in New York as last year: Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, Daniel, Eleven Madison Park, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Masa and Per Se.

Of the seven restaurants that received two stars, six were on last year's list: Corton, Gilt, Gordon Ramsay at the London, Marea, Momofuku Ko and Soto. Two others from the 2012 roster, SHO by Shaun Hergatt and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, closed. A third, Kajitsu, now has only one star.

The new entry, Atera, was awarded three stars (out of a possible four) by Pete Wells in a July review in The New York Times.

In addition to Kajitsu, there are 52 other one-star choices this year, up from 46 last year. Added to the list are Aquavit, Blanca, Cafe China, 15 East, Hakkasan, Jungsik, Lan Sheng, The NoMad and Torrisi Italian Specialties.

Laut, Marc Forgione and Veritas each lost their star.

With the addition of Atera, Blanca and Torrisi Italian Specialties, the Michelin guide appears to be validating the trend toward tasting menus, which it already recognized at Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare.

In total, there are 896 restaurants in the guide, up from 805 last year. The Bib Gourmand citation for menus with good value was given to 126, up from 114. There are 161 restaurants with meals under $25, an increase of 14.

With this edition of the New York guide, Michael Ellis, the new international director of the Michelin red guides, is making his American debut. Mr. Ellis, 52, who is from New York, had a career in international food, beverages and tourism before he joined Michelin in 2007.

He succeeded Jean-Luc Naret, who became head of the guides in 2003, started publishing the red guides for some American cities, and opened the rankings worldwide to more ethnic cuisines and informal restaurants. Mr. Naret also gave the conservative Michelin organization a sometimes flamboyant face.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Ellis said what was most important to him was maintaining the guides’ principles and keeping them consistent from city to city. He supports the changes that Mr. Naret made. "People have moved to more casual dining," he said. "That's reflected in some of our choices. We want to concentrate on the food."

Inspectors visit each restaurant anonymously and confer with a head inspector in each city; together they set the rankings. Mr. Ellis said that inspectors debated how to treat restaurants with only tasting menus, because "our feeling is that people should have a choice when they dine out. But I also understand the economics these days."

He said Michelin, which in the United States also issues guides for Chicago and San Francisco, is always considering adding new cities.

The guide ($18.99) goes on sale Wednesday.

Source: www.nytimes.com