The new 3 star Michelin
 

I've just heard it on the radio and I'm sure you'd like to know who they are:
Chameloise (Chagny)
Anne Sophie Pic (Valence)
Pré Catelan (Paris 16°)
Astrance (Paris 16°)
and Hotel Meurice (Paris 1er)

The ones who lost their 3rd star :
Taillevent and Georges V.
Bon appétit! :-)
coco

> Anne Sophie Pic (Valence)

France Info radio was saying this morning she is the 1st female chef who got 3 macarrons in last 40 years. 3 generation of restaurateur family, perhpas her father already had 2 macarrons whose restaurant she succceded after his death.

This has been out for a couple weeks now and was pretty well know before publicly announced.

Helene Darroze 3 star is laughable by most who are food knowledgeable, and Taillevent is still considered the epitome of fine dining.

Michelin has lost their credibility big time this year!

"PARIS (AFP) - Le guide Michelin 2007 consacre Anne-Sophie Pic, à Valence (Drôme), qui devient la seule femme trois étoiles de France, .."

I did not hear about Hélène Darroze on the French radio. I wondered if I missed something but above is what I found on Yahoo news. It says also Anne-Sophie Pic is the only female chef with michelin 3 macarrons.

Taillevent is a very nice restaurant, though we were underwhelmed by it as long as five years ago. The whole star thing is a bit overblown. Not really that important. One's best meals come unexpectedly, sometimes in modest establishments. Name-dropping is a lot of fun but places with "buzz" may not have all that much else to offer, in the way of food or service.

Nevertheless, Coco, it is interesting. Thank you for the report!

>Helene Darroze 3 star is laughable by most
>who are food knowledgeable

I have eaten at Helene Darroze and absolutely loved it. I also recommended it to my brother and sister-in-law, and they absolutely loved it. Helene Darroze is an amazing restaurant! I was fortunate enough to have dined there a number of years ago when the prices were merely "high".

"3 generation of restaurateur family, perhpas her father already had 2 macarrons whose restaurant she succceded after his death."

Kappa : rather churlish. And in fact if a chef retires, dies, or just moves premises, the restaurant/chef loses any existing stars and has to start again. I'd surmise Ms Pic had already built up her own 2 stars prior to this.

Where we used to live, one of our local restaurants had a chef who'd worked at Taillevent & it wasn't great- expensive ingredients but not cooked well.

Caroline I saw you point but what's "churlish"?

Gracejoan,

Would you tell us about your meals on your recent Paris trip? Or maybe you did so already...??

Thanks very much!

e-Gullet is a good site for the real knowledgeable food people..most with far more educated palates than I. That can be part of the problem for many. To really appreciate many of the top restaurants you do need the educated palate. Otherwise you may find it mediocre or may not even care for it. It is just not that simple.

I think you will find from those knowledgeable ones that Taillevent is quite the epitome of excellence. I had lunch there a couple weeks ago..everything was perfection and the food escellent and well worth the end result of $226 US.

My experience with Helene Darroze was several years ago when 1 star. I liked nothing about it. Would never go back.
I thought maybe I just didn't know!

The foodie people don't seem to think much of her either!

Of course, you can have a great meal at a very simple cafe...we all have them and enjoy them. Wouldn't miss going to them. The starred places are an experience. I was not that excited about Astrance after dining there..that was just my experience..I had an experience at Guy Savoy that I thought was outstanding in every way.

There are restaurants for all occasions and for all people to enjoy or not to enjoy, in their own way.

I dined at l'Obelisque in the Crillon Hotel a couple weeks ago. I thought it might be full of Embassy people with it being so nearby. It was not. I enjoyed it. Very nice atmosphere. I will return in October.

Enjoy....

I've never really had time to stop at Valence. But my memory of squabbles on the A6 over where we would stop is that:

- M Pic had 3 stars when he was alive
- Mme Pic then got it back to 2 (in effect, from 0) after his death
- So now Mlle Pic has got the place back to where it was when her dad was running it.

And do I have a memory of the place having one or two stars back when M Pic's mum ran it?

Hi coco,

>The ones who lost their 3rd star :
Taillevent and Georges V.<

Egads!!

Pré Catelan deserves it.

((I))

Gracejoan just for the record, Hélène Darroze do not have 3*. Anne-Sophie Pic is the only one. Last year they had both 2*.

http://cultureetloisirs.france2.fr/c...8469546-fr.php

Two who got one star here in Arles - Jean-Luc Rabanel at l'Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel, and Jerome Laurent at Cilantro and a new one star in St. Remy is Reboul at the Vallon de Valrugues.
I was lucky to celebrate a bit this morning with the first two chefs just after they received their phone calls.

Anne Sophie Pic actually took the restaurant over from her brother, who ran it after Monsieur Pic's death....he had trained for the business, and yet almost ran it into the ground. She earned back the two stars and deserves the third.

Helene Darroze started out really well and somehow I feel she lost her way - and really didn't deserve another star.

I don't feel that Taillevent is still the epitome of fine dining.. it just seems a bit tired to me.

Here's a short article on the news...
http://www.lexpress.fr/mag/saveurs/d...asp?ida=455742

Yes, I did hear that H Darroze did not get the rumored 3rd star.

Pic has had a fine reputation for many years. I was there about 10 years ago.

M. Vrinat will get his star back..Taillevent is just so very well thought of....

For those interested in Cote d'Or restaurants, here are the ones with stars...
Les étoilés de Côte-d'Or
Trois étoiles : Le relais Bernard Loiseau à Saulieu. Une étoile : Le Bénaton (Beaune) ; le Jardin des Remparts (Beaune) ; Hostellerie de Levernois (Levernois) ; le Charlemagne (Pernand-Vergelesses) ; Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin (Bouilland) ; Abbaye de La Bussière (La Bussière-sur-Ouche) ; Hostellerie du Chapeau Rouge (Dijon) ; le Pré aux Clercs (Dijon) ; Stéphane Derbord (Dijon) ; les Gourmets (Marsannay-la-Côte) ; Auberge de la Charme (Prenois).