Do restaurant stars still matter?
Thomas Keller sure hopes not
As one of the world’s most celebrated, revered chefs, Thomas Keller probably isn’t accustomed to hearing his culinary creations described as “rubbery and flavorless,” “gluey” or “a swampy mess.”
But that’s how New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells evoked dishes at Keller’s famed Manhattan temple to gastronomy, Per Se, in a January 12 review that sent snickers and shock through the gourmet universe.
Wells’ sharp words aside, the really big zinger came with the Times’ removal of two of the restaurant’s four stars, demoting the restaurant from “extraordinary” to just “very good.” Only five restaurants now have all four of those coveted stars. (Wells also demoted the restaurant, Daniel, from four to three stars in 2013.)
Worse, perhaps, was the dark shadow the loss cast over the restaurant’s other accolades. In comments on Wells’ piece, some Times readers predicted that Per Se might soon lose one of its three, even more prestigious, Michelin stars.
But what, a prospective diner might ask, is in a star? And, in the age of Yelp, do we care what uber-critics and Michelin have to say anyway?
“Customers have more information than ever before,” explained Michael Luca, a professor at the Harvard Business School, who has researched the impact of star ratings on restaurant success. “The wisdom of the crowd means that businesses can thrive even without the approval of a professional critic.”
The Michelin guides began bestowing stars on restaurants in 1900, 87 years after a Frenchman named A. B. L. Grimod de La Reynière published what’s considered the first-ever restaurant review in his annual Almanach des Gourmands.
Since the Michelin system first debuted, it’s become the most coveted — and elusive — badge of a restaurant’s greatness. Getting one star is a massive accomplishment, two is even greater, and three is the holy grail of culinary achievement. The prospect of losing a star gives chefs nightmares or worse. French chef Bernard Loiseau committed suicide in 2003 when a newspaper reported his restaurant was primed to lose a star. (It didn’t.)
For chefs, a Michelin star is an honor that rewards grueling work and relentless striving for perfection and consistency. But it also has economic repercussions. One study found that losing a star can drive down business by as much as 50%. Another study found that a star often prompts price increases.
Some chefs, however, have felt so constrained by their Michelin stars that they made the unthinkable move of giving them back — which might be seen as strategic.
“Once you give it up, it can no longer be taken away. It’s like if you quit, you can no longer be fired,” said Gary Pisano, of the Harvard Business School, in an interview with Fortune. “There’s value to that in the marketplace. You say, ‘I gave up my star,’ and you let the customers assume you would have a star. And then you’re not subject to the vagaries of the reviewers.”
But Michelin, which uses a notoriously secretive review process, isn’t the only accolade that moves the needle on a restaurant’s success.
The star-rating system popularized by Michelin at the turn of the last century has since been co-opted by sites like Yelp and Open Table, where diners, rather than experts, rate restaurants. One study found that even a half-star increase on Yelp boosted bookings by as much as 49%.
The rising power of consumer-generated reviews probably won’t make the removal of a star or a scathing review sting any less for a perfectionist chef. But an average food-obsessed middle class person can’t afford to eat at those restaurants anyway, so reviews from their dining peers on less rarified restaurants end up being more relevant, if less fun to read.
Wells’ vivid skewering of New York restaurants has earned him fans and foes — and his latest will probably earn him more of both.
“I don’t know what could have saved limp, dispiriting yam dumplings,” Wells wrote, “but it definitely wasn’t a lukewarm matsutake mushroom bouillon as murky and appealing as bong water.”
Ouch.
Wells spent $3,000 on his meal at Per Se, prompting hundreds of comments conveying outright resentment at the review and raising the notion that the high-end restaurant review is merely an elitist form of entertainment.
“At a time when so many neighborhoods are losing their beloved eateries because of a relentless increase in rents, and people like me — retired seniors, working families, struggling New Yorkers — find it almost impossible to eat out, this review is almost insulting as the 1%’s dismissal of the 99%,” wrote a New Yorker named Alfredo.
Others made calls to action, if tongue-in-cheek ones.
“So sad that the epicureans were disappointed with their meal,” wrote Montaukman. “After reading this review I am inspired to revive the Bolshevik Party.”
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