Michelin Gives Fine Dining Honors

The bible of fine dining is awarding two of its treasured stars to Alain Senderens, a chef who grew so tired of the rigors of the Michelin rating system that he closed his top-rated Paris restaurant to be free of them. He opened a simpler, cheaper eatery - and discovered Wednesday that it is recommended in the new 2006 edition.

"I left this shallot race. I wanted to make another style of restaurant," Senderens told The Associated Press after learning of the honor. "I didn't want the stars anymore, but I can't do anything. Michelin says they give stars to whomever they want."

The Michelin guide - whose stars can make or break careers as well as restaurants - stopped short of granting his new restaurant, Senderens, the top prize of three stars, which its predecessor enjoyed.

But in scoring two stars just months after opening, Senderens moved faster up the Michelin hierarchy than any restaurant in the book's history, said guide director Jean-Luc Naret.

Michelin promoted just one locale to three-star status, Maisons de Bricourt, in Cancale in western France. That brought to 26 the number of three-star restaurants in this year's venerable "red book" of French restaurants, which appears in bookstores around the world next week.

Maisons de Bricourt chef Olivier Roellinger called his new star "a very, very intense joy" and a victory for seafood, his restaurant's specialty. "I had the impression that Michelin was more the cuisine of meat lovers," he said.

Roellinger earned his last star 18 years ago, and had long yearned for the third. He insisted he would not use the new honor to raise prices at the small guest house, which run about $119 per person without wine.

No restaurant dropped off the esteemed three-star list, which guarantees international celebrity for a chef and makes reservations a must, often months in advance. In its rather understated description of the top honor, the guide says a three-star restaurant is "worth the trip. One always eats very well, sometimes marvelously."

Six restaurants were added to the two-star list, and 50 restaurants were honored with one star for the first time.

For each annual edition, a team of anonymous inspectors tastes food, visits kitchens and checks plates, cutlery, glasses and even bathrooms.

Last May, Senderens said that after 27 years of being listed in the guide, he wanted to break away from competition in the kitchen and make dining cheaper for customers by cutting costs. He shuttered Lucas Carton and reopened in the fall with a new menu and image.

Though surprised by Michelin's insistence on honoring him, he said Wednesday: "We're proud to have two stars, even if I didn't want them."

Senderens pledged not to touch prices at his new restaurant, which run about $83 per person without wine - well below the $238 average at many Michelin establishments.

He also insisted the restaurant's attitude and cuisine wouldn't change. Specialties include Asian-inspired dishes such as pigeon with crab and vermicelli, and Javanese lamb curry with citronella and mango.

Several chefs have jettisoned their stars in recent years, saying the personal and financial investment needed to maintain Michelin standards only pay off for restaurants with a large and fast turnover.

Michelin insists the stars are merely a quality indicator for readers, and that is not up to the chefs to give up their honors.

Started in 1900 as a guide for French motorists, the Michelin guide crossed the Atlantic last year, releasing its first book for New York. It plans a San Francisco edition in 2007.

The guide has been plagued by scandal in recent years. Michelin recalled an edition of its guide after it recommended a restaurant that hadn't yet opened. It has also been hit by allegations by a former inspector that it checks restaurants only sporadically - which Michelin denies.

In 2003, acclaimed chef Bernard Loiseau fatally shot himself amid rumors that he might lose one of his three stars after being downgraded by another food guide. Fellow chefs accused food critics of having pushed Loiseau to despair.