With six stars within six blocks, Yountville in Napa, California is claiming to have the highest concentration of Michelin stars per capita in the world – as revealed in the newly published Michelin Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011.
French Laundry: three stars for fifth year running
Overall, the Napa Valley has cemented its reputation as a culinary hotspot with the award of a third Michelin star to The Restaurant at Meadowood resort in St Helena.
The Yountville haul includes three stars for the French Laundry for the fifth successive year, plus single stars for Bouchon, Redd and Etoile at Domaine Chandon.
Bottega restaurant and Bistro Jeanty, also in Yountville, are two new winners in the Bib Gourmand category – also known as ‘Inspectors’ Favourites for Good Value’.
Describing the area as ‘one of the world’s most diverse culinary regions’, the new guide names 519 restaurants, awarding three stars to French Laundry and Meadowood, and two each to Coi, Cyrus and Manresa.
A total of 39 restaurants win single stars, 11 of them for the first time, but one high-profile venue, Alice Walters’ Chez Panisse, has lost its star.
‘San Francisco is famed for its diversity – its people, its politics, its scenery and of course its food,’ said Jean-Luc Naret, Michelin Guides director.
‘The Bay Area is also a particularly fertile farming region. There is so much to choose from – we spend a full year studying this region to produce our guide and the effort is immensely satisfying.
‘This is quite simply one of the finest culinary regions in the world.’
Publication of the guide follows the launch of The Michelin Guide New York 2011 on 6 October. Michelin’s first ever guide to Chicago will be published on 17 November.
Written by Richard Woodard
