Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

KPBS Midday Edition Segments

San Diego Is Now Home To A Michelin-Starred Restaurant

 June 6, 2019 at 10:32 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego has reached a Koan, every milestone. We are finally home to a Michelin Star restaurant. The honor was given to Addison, which is now a one star restaurant. Eight other restaurants were also recognized as affordable hidden gems. Michelle perente covers food and dining for the San Diego Union Tribune and joins us to talk about what this means for fine dining and America's finest city. Michelle, welcome. Thank you so much Jay. How big of a deal is this for San Diego to have a Michelin Star restaurant? I think it's a huge deal. Michelin is probably the most prestigious rating organization in the world and the fact that Michelin has now included San Diego amongst its rated restaurants means that an entire global community of food lovers are going to be aware of San Diego as a dining destination. Until that people really understand this. I mean, tell us more about what the Michelin rating system is all about and what it means to be in the culinary world. Speaker 1: 01:02 Right. Well, it's very secretive. They've got this army of anonymous inspectors that go into restaurants and um, they are, uh, France based organization that started by the Michelin Tire Company as a way to get the French driving around the countryside. So they started rating restaurants and little ins around France to get people to drive more and I guess to buy more tires. So in the years that it's been around, the decades that it's been around, it has really risen to the top of ratings organizations and there are global culinary tourists who will travel hundreds, thousands of miles just to go to a famous Michelin starred restaurant and plunk down hundreds and hundreds of dollars for these meals still, you know, as you wrote in a recent piece, you're surprised Michelin gave Addison a single star. Why is that correct? Well, I've eaten it Addison about 20 times. It is an amazing, delicious experience to eat there. It is not a one star restaurant. Speaker 1: 02:13 I'm very happy it got a Michelin Star, but it is at minimum a two star restaurant, but by Michelin giving Addison just one star. What it was saying to San Diego is that no other restaurant deserved a star. Addison is the best. I believe that Michelin clearly believes that, but then it shut the door to really where the restaurants. So if it had been more generous with Addison, there would have been a whole crop of one star restaurants that would have been in contention. And earlier in the week, eight other local restaurants were recognized by Michelin with a bib Gourmand designation, which, uh, our restaurants they deem more affordable hidden gems. Who made that? Let's see. So that's what I'm calling the Atta boy or Atta girl list. And um, three of the restaurants just made me completely scratch my head. Juniper and Ivy l Hardeen and Ketner exchange, none of them are hidden gems and none of them are relatively affordable. Speaker 1: 03:18 They're pretty expensive. They're not Addison expensive, but there's no way you can go into the, those restaurants and have two courses and a glass of wine for under $40, which is what a Bib Gorman is supposed to signify. In fact, the owner, um, of juniper and ivy, um, even admitted to me, and I put it in the original story when the announcement came out that, you know, he's really honored that juniper and Ivy got Michelin recognition, but people are going to start coming in looking for a $40 bargain and that's just not going to happen there. And why do these guide stars and ratings even matter? Uh, do they really matter? I think what matters is what you personally think about a restaurant. People are always apologizing to me and saying, Oh, I'm sorry. I know this isn't a restaurant that you would like, but I really love x, y, or z restaurant. Speaker 1: 04:16 I was like, never apologize for what you like. Ratings are a tip sheet. There are guide. Um, they're also very insular. They're very political. Um, and so you could completely ignore them and just go out and discover the, your own restaurants that you love. You don't need other people, myself included, telling you what's good. Your Palette will tell you what's good. Where do you see San Diego's food scene at this moment compared to other major cities? Um, well, I really think that San Diego right now is at a critical turning point. I think it is very exciting in, in how it is improving and uh, how chefs are elevating what they're putting out there on the plates. And so while it is still not New York, San Francisco, Chicago or la, which probably is the most exciting dining city in America right now. Um, I think it's improving in a way that it has an in years and I think it's attracting new talent. Speaker 1: 05:18 I'm a new place just opened up in banker's hill called Il Dandy, the, the Dandy, um, in Italian, which, um, has, uh, a father and son, Michelin starred chef team. They have the first Michelin Star in Calabria and they want to make a name for themselves in the US and they decided to do it in San Diego. And, um, Michael Mina who was on the Michelin stage on Monday night, um, he's opening a place called international smoke with Iyisha curry wife of Steph Curry, um, in, um, one Paseo, uh, in July. And, um, so there people are starting to pay attention to San Diego. It's not just a pretty little place to go to the beach and to go to the zoo. San Diego's B is becoming a really grown up dining destination and the world is noticing if Michelin is quite not yet noticing enough. I've been speaking with Michelle Birthday Day who covers food and dining for the San Diego Union Tribune. Michelle, thank you so much. Thank you.

Addison at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar became the first San Diego restaurant to be awarded a prestigious Michelin star.
KPBS Midday Edition Segments