Robuchon Gets Three Michelin Stars
22.03.2011, 08:49
Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand, one of the most expensive eateries in the U.S., gained three stars in the first Michelin guide to Las Vegas, while not a single restaurant in Los Angeles achieved the top accolade in the first such ratings for that city.
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Three Los Angeles-area restaurants won two stars: Melisse, in Santa Monica, and Spago and Urasawa in Beverly Hills. An additional 15 venues won one star, including Matsuhisa, in Beverly Hills; Ortolan, in Hollywood; and Trattoria Tre Venezie, in Pasadena.
In Las Vegas, Alex, Guy Savoy and Picasso each gained two stars. A total of 12 restaurants achieved a single star, including another Robuchon venue, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, also at the MGM Grand; and Le Cirque, Nobu and Wing Lei.
Los Angeles has ``some very good restaurants,'' while Las Vegas is ``one of the beautiful gastronomic destinations of the world,'' Jean-Luc Naret, president of the Michelin Guides, said in a phone interview.
The guide snubbed Thomas Keller's Las Vegas outpost of Bouchon by giving it no stars. Keller's flagship Bouchon in Yountville, California, holds a star.
Keller is the only American-born chef with two sets of three Michelin stars, for Per Se in New York and French Laundry in Yountville.
Expensive Eateries
Another notable omission was in Los Angeles, where Lucques, run by the James Beard Award-winning Suzanne Goin, did not receive a star.
Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck won two stars for Spago in Beverly Hills.
If I got one or two stars, I would be really happy,'' Franck Savoy, Guy's son and general manager of Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, said in a phone interview before learning his restaurant earned two stars.
Franck added that he hopes to eventually earn three stars for the pricey venue -- a 10-course tasting menu costs $290. Robuchon charges $360 for a 16-course tasting.
Guy Savoy in Las Vegas is the only U.S. restaurant for Savoy, who holds three stars for his namesake Paris eatery.
Savoy and Robuchon appear to offer the second and third most expensive menus in the U.S., after Masa in New York, which regularly charges more than $400 for his sushi omakase. Robuchon also has restaurants in Paris, Macao, Monaco, New York, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong.
The stars will prompt criticism that Michelin favors restaurants that are formal, expensive and, typically, European; both Savoy and Robuchon are French.