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Three Stars and a
Kingdom?
A Star Can Make Them Happy, But Not Necessarily
Wealthy
By André Gayot
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Anne-Sophie Pic
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Although
the French are all ears for the many
candidates for the Presidency of
their Republic and passionate about
the upcoming elections next March,
the
food establishment is abuzz with
another question: who is in and who
is out of the club of triple-starred
ones as proclaimed by the
undisclosed jury selected by the
famous tire maker?
This year, five new members are
admitted, among them a woman, which
is not that common in a rather macho
world: Anne-Sophie Pic
from Maison Pic in Valence
(near Lyon) is only the fourth
French woman ever to be receive
three stars. She is also the only
female Chef in Michelin's 2007 edition.
The other lucky recipients are
Jacques Lameloise
at
Lameloise in Chagny (Burgundy);
and in Paris: Yannick Alléno
at
Le Meurice (GAYOT
Rising
Chefs of France); Pascal
Barbot (L'Astrance);
and Frédéric Anton
(Le
Pré Catelan), while two others
get an F and return to the lower
grades: Both Alain Solivérès (Taillevent)
and Philippe Legendre (Le
Cinq) lost a star this year.
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Yannick Alléno |
At the end of the day, will it
really matter? It used to, but
probably not as much today—not only
because the world has changed and
maybe France is no longer the
culinary centre of universe, but
also because there’s a silent but
rising rebellion against the tire
makers’ dictates—although the
Michelin Guide’s boss was all
smiles among a slew of über-Chefs
from all over at the late Bocuse’s
birthday party when he turned 81
earlier this month.
But others still ponder over
Bernard Loiseau’s death and
still question whether his suicide
was caused by the pressures exerted
on him, the fear of the potential
loss of a star. That would mean that
maybe the stakes are too high, that
not everyone can play that game and
that the rules should be better
defined. The so called "revelations"
of a former inspector with
allegations that all establishments
were not visited every year, even if
that was not clearly proven nor
denied caused some interrogations.
This is probably only bad-mouthing,
trifle and negligible.
Reality is cruder: a star would in
the past boost business by twenty
percent. Not anymore. Explanation:
it’s the economy, stupid! That was
true also for Bernard Loiseau, who
had invested left and right, above
his reasonable capacities. Food
writer Jean-Claude Ribaut explains:
Remember what
Alain Senderens of Lucas Carton
did a couple years ago. Stating the
amount of investment necessitated to
reach and mostly to stay at the
three-star level versus the monetary
return, he and his accountants
decided to write to Michelin: “Thank
you, but no thank you. Keep your
stars, I don’t want them.” (Senderens
Renounces Michelin Laurels) He
probably also had in mind that
Pierre Gagnaire, who in Saint
Etienne had bent backwards to get
his stars, spent so much money in
the wrong place at the wrong time to
only succeed in going belly up.
Fortunately, he was able to recover
in Paris.
The
other sad story is that of Marc
Meneau at L’Espérance in Vézelay.
When he lost his third star in 1999,
he told us: “It’s like losing a
child.” Meneau retrieved his
three-star status in 2004, but that
did not help much. He is now in
bankruptcy, awaiting court decision.
The world has changed for sure.
Ferran Adrià in Spain is a
well-known
cook promoting so-called
molecular cuisine and doing his best
to destroy—or
deconstruct if you prefer—the
product. Meanwhile, Philippe Rochat
in Crissier near Lausanne does
everything to preserve the
quintessential nature of the
ingredients. What do these two have
in common and what can one, two, or
three stars tell us about the value
for our palates of such extremely
opposite foods?
Whether we like it or not, the world
is global. Tire manufacturing can
adjust to these new borders or
rather, lack of borders, with a
little—or not so little—bit of
“delocalization.”
It might very well be trickier for
gastronomy. What does a star or the
absence of a star mean for an
arrow’s nest or a shark’s fin in our
bowl?
And what about Senderens?
He is fine, thank you. He is now
booked solid and has never made so
much money. They were so vexed that
despite his refusal to accept their
stars, they gave him two of them,
compliments of Michelin, no hard
feelings. 
© 2007 GAYOT. Used
by Permission. All Rights Reserved. See
GAYOT for frank and witty reviews of restaurants, hotels, nightlife,
and shopping around the world.
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