The Northeast Cities edition of the Michelin Guide dropped after months of speculation which restaurants in Greater Boston would earn a coveted star. Gourmands and restaurateurs stood by as the names of the region’s winners were released at a gala in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The drumroll event produced just a single one-star restaurant in the area: 311 Omakase in Boston’s South End, which now is likely to be booked out for months.
The lack of stars was something of a letdown, considering New York City has 72 starred restaurants and Washington, D.C., has 25. Atlanta got eight stars in its first year and just added seven more. For Cambridge, home to dining destinations in each and every square – where was the culinary love?
Cambridge and Somerville did get a wave of kudos in the categories of “Bib Gourmand” (the mark of “excellent food at a good value”) and “Michelin Recommended” (basically “go and enjoy, we did”).
Many of the Bib Gourmand selections come as no surprise, and we at the Day are familiar with all that got flagged – and deservedly so – this side of the Charles, excellent meals at a good value that all have an Asian flair and a preference for the noodle. They start with Jahunger, serving Uyghur cuisine in Cambridgeport (we dig its meefen, or ground chicken over pulled noodles). Then there’s old friend Pagu in Central Square, where you can get killer baos, spicy knife-cut noodles with ground pork and mushrooms and other Spanish-Asian fusion tapas. The surprise entry on the list comes in the inclusion of the chili-infused Hunan cuisine at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen in Kendall Square.
Of the Recommends, many are fine-dining destinations. Making the list are Pammy’s in Central Square, Oleana (with its baked Alaska!) in Inman Square, fine Italian and from-the-sea sibling restaurants Giulia and Moëca on the stretch of Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Porter squares, and boutique bistro Urban Hearth (and its maple miso butter biscuits!) in North Cambridge and soon to relocate to Inman Square. It’s a fine list, one that I would have expected a few others to make, such as Sarma, Puritan & Co., Saigon Babylon and Spoke.
Overall, 26 restaurants in the Boston area made the guide. What’s included or excluded is telling. (Many expected longtime darling O’Ya in Boston’s Leather District to be honored, for instance.) Is it a verdict on Boston’s cuisine? Is Michelin holding back before expanding? Or are its gastronomic arbiters heedless of our lobster rolls, clam chowder and boiled pot roasts? Philly, the other newbie in the guide, got equally scant star recognition – it got three – when compared with Chicago, New York and D.C.
Michelin, the French tire company, got into culinary guides more than 125 years ago to spur tourism – and tire sales. Why it took so long to come to Boston is a matter of dollars and cents; it’s a pay-to-play publication reliant on action by municipalities and their tourism bureaus. Now that it’s here, you can feel the palpable foodie excitement in the air. But did it tell us anything we didn’t already know?
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