Michelin Chooses Chicago as Latest Guide Destination

Chicago is to become the first Midwestern US city to be given the Michelin Guide treatment. Jean-Luc Naret, the guide’s worldwide director, has announced the November release of the Michelin Guide Chicago 2011, a publication covering the city’s restaurants and hotels in a “reader-friendly layout made especially for the American market.”

“The diversity, breadth and depth of Chicago’s restaurant and hotel scene, coupled with its rich gastronomic history, clearly mark the city and surrounding areas as the logical choice for the next North American title in the Michelin guide series,” commented Naret. “As with our recently updated guides to New York City and San Francisco, we are making every effort to produce a comprehensive selection that does full justice to the region’s exciting restaurant and hotel culture and also meets our readers’ expectations.” Naret also described Chicago as unique among American cities, citing its reputation as a world-class tourism destination and stressing the importance of its treasured culinary traditions.

As part of their evaluation process, Michelin inspectors – both European and American – are currently conducting anonymous inspections of Chicago restaurants and hotels. This process has been underway for two years now, and as with all Michelin guide inspections, the process involves test meals or overnight stays at each establishment, in order to assess the level and the consistency of the establishment. And as for all the other guides and all the other countries, the inspectors pay all their bills in restaurants and hotels. “The Michelin inspectors are the eyes and ears of the customers, and thus the anonymity of our inspectors is key to ensure they are treated the same as any guest would be treated,” commented Naret.