What's the real difference

[KrazyHorse]

Between one and two michelin stars?

I ate at a 2 star last night, and while it was quite good, I didn't notice much difference in the food from any of the one stars I've been to. The ambience was slightly nicer, but that's about it.

[regexcellent]

I would say the difference is probably on the order of somewhere between $30-$100, depending on what you get and how many people are eating.

The difference may be larger than that but fancy for me is like, Ruby Tuesdays, so I really have no idea about these things.

[Tupac Shakur]

Who the **** cares about Michelin stars? Jesus, you apparently can't take the French out of a French-Canadian...

In other words, I don't know.

[KrazyHorse]

Going to paris next weekend, should try to collect more some more stars while there. Dorsia's been murder to get into lately...

[Tuberski]

All the food in a two michelin restaurant got it from the front and back tires?

Kumho's are better.

ACK!

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

They stop using conventional oils for cooking, because they have to start using the chef's own semen instead.

[snoopy369]

A lot of the time the difference is either a) name, or b) being in the current style (like now, having a small tasting menu offered at the chef's table). One star restaurants are often newer chefs who haven't made their name yet, coupled with big name chefs' smaller restaurants, from what I've seen. I think I've eaten at a handful of 1 star restaurants and none above that, though my wife ate at Grant Achatz' (Alinea) which was pre-Chicago being rated, but is now its only 3 star restaurant... apparently very good, if you don't mind the taste of liquid nitrogen in everything

My preference though is the Bib Gourmand restaurants... I can actually afford to eat there semi-regularly, and the food usually has something quite nice about it (better composition, better ingredients, interesting takes, etc.)

[Alexander's Horse]

and you will find out, in the end, there really is no difference (INXS)

[Dinner]

• One star: A very good restaurant in its category.
• Two stars: Excellent cooking and worth a detour. First class cuisine of its type.
• Three stars: Exceptional cuisine and worth a special journey. Often extremely expensive, and with an extensive wine list.

Personally, I like Zagat's rating system better as Michelin tends to be overly concerned with just French cuisine or French style cuisine. They've got better in recent years (especially wrt Asian food) but they're still mostly pigeon holed at least in the US. Oh, and 1-3 really doesn't give us enough differentiation either even if you are in one of the three North American cities Michelin bothers with (NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco).

[Hauldren Collider]

Fancy = Five Guys instead of Burger King.

[Dinner]

Five Guys sucks ass. Dry ass burger on an overly inflated bun which instantly squishes down to the thickness of a tortilla the second you touch it. Oh, and they know their burgers are dry as a bone and that's why they put so many condiments on it they all slime out the back. Worse they won't even let you order a burger rare if that's what you want because they use such low quality meat the ONLY way they'll cook it is extra well done yet they still want to charge twice the price of what actual good burger places charge. Even their fries are a nasty oily mess without any crispness to them because they don't keep their oil hot enough. Just horrible in every way imaginable.

[Dinner]

Personally, I think the Michelin guys are stupid for not doing a guide to Los Angeles too though I guess they're so distant and detached from the US market in general they figure "we already have one city on the west coast so two would be too much". Which just goes to show the weakness and bias of the whole Michelin guide.

[regexcellent]

You are completely wrong aboug Five Guys. Five Guys is amazing and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[notyoueither]

Five Guys sucks ass. Dry ass burger on an overly inflated bun which instantly squishes down to the thickness of a tortilla the second you touch it. Oh, and they know their burgers are dry as a bone and that's why they put so many condiments on it they all slime out the back. Worse they won't even let you order a burger rare if that's what you want because they use such low quality meat the ONLY way they'll cook it is extra well done yet they still want to charge twice the price of what actual good burger places charge. Even their fries are a nasty oily mess without any crispness to them because they don't keep their oil hot enough. Just horrible in every way imaginable.

Only morons eat ground meat rare.

[Tupac Shakur]

You are completely wrong aboug Five Guys. Five Guys is amazing and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Oerdin is wrong about everything. It's kind of his thing.