2012 list of 3 Star Michelin restaurants in France

Every year every 2 star chef prays to the Michelin Gods and hopes they will be able to join this elite group of restaurateurs.  They also pray they will not be demoted from 3 to 2.

This year only one was promoted to the ranks of the best on earth.  The number in parenthesis represents the department (county) that the restaurant is located in. i.e. the last entry is Georges Blanc in the town of Vonnas which is in the department of l’Ain which starts with the letter A or 1st letter in the alphabet. If you are driving through France you can also see the department number as the last 2 digits on each license plate.

MICHELIN guide France 2012

N : new stars in 2012

26 o of which 1 new

Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey

Town (departement)	Establishement
Baerenthal / Untermuhlthal (57)	L’Arnsbourg
Chagny (71)	Maison Lameloise
Eugénie-les-Bains (40)	Michel Guérard
Fontjoncouse (11)	Auberge du Vieux Puits
Illhaeusern (68)	Auberge de l’Ill
Joigny (89)	La Côte St-Jacques
Laguiole (12)	Bras
Lyon (69)	Paul Bocuse
Marseille (13)	Le Petit Nice
Megève (74)	Flocons de Sel N
Monte-Carlo (Principauté de Monaco)	Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse
Paris 1er	Le Meurice
Paris 4e	L’Ambroisie
Paris 7e	Arpège
Paris 8e	Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée
Paris 8e	Epicure
Paris 8e	Ledoyen
Paris 8e	Pierre Gagnaire
Paris 16e	Astrance
Paris 16e	Le Pré Catelan
Paris 17e	Guy Savoy
Roanne (42)	Troisgros
Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (43)	Régis et Jacques Marcon
Saulieu (21)	Le Relais Bernard Loiseau
Valence (26)	Pic
Vonnas (01)	Georges Blanc

Leafing through the Modernist Cuisine Collection

I’m hardly the first person to write about receiving the Modernist Cuisine Cookbook Collection and I am sure all of you that have been coveting this collection have already heard all the stats about the book (lbs. of ink, 2,438 pages etc.).

Using my new CVap oven

The CVap in its home

The past two months have been crazy at the Kitchen Table.  In December we set new records for class sales and gift cards.  January has brought tons of eager cooks and wine enthusiasts to our Table.  All this has meant the time I wanted to spend experimenting with the CVap oven I won during the 2011 Starchefs ICC has been trimmed.

The oven arrived at my back dock all wrapped in black plastic and on a palette.  The delivery guy dropped it off and took off. 

Choosing the right wine for Thanksgiving

The selection for my upcoming class on Thanksgiving Wines

The great annual celebration of Thanksgiving brings all our families together over a table with more food than any of us could possibly eat.  So much thought and effort goes into producing the food, but very little thought goes into which wines to pair with this abundant meal.  Beaujolais Nouveau often makes its debut as the first wine of the season and can bless our tables with a snapshot of the French vintage. Beaujolais Nouveau is rarely more than a bubble gum style wine and though very quaffable is hardly deign of gracing the table for the whole meal.

There are no hard and set rules to pairing the right wine with this traditional meal, but I will try to offer you some good tips on choosing the wine style appropriate to the celebration.  

2011 Starchefs – International Chefs Congress – Day 3

Ground Zero

This morning we were able to catch up on sleep as I wasn’t expected to be at the Congress until 12:30pm.  We took the opportunity to head down to ground zero. 

2011 Starchefs – International Chefs Congress – Day 2

Chris Young one of the authors of Modernist Cuisine and his lab set up

Heading out into the street on Monday had a very different feel to it than Sunday.  The city was bustling with workers.  Wherever I went on the subway, I was fighting the tide of the working masses. 

2011 Starchefs – International Chef Congress – Day 1

Day one of the Somm Slam

It was hard getting up by 9am to prepare for the “Blood and Curds” Spanish Wine and Cheese seminar and the calm along 6 Ave. on a Sunday morning made it even harder to get out of the comfortable bed.

In previous years at the ICC the lines to get in were overwhelming and the registration seemed disorganized.