Some Chefs Say Non to Michelin

Business was slow, competition stiff and operating costs sky high, so chef Philippe Gaertner decided he had to act to keep his Michelin-starred restaurant afloat.

The step he took this year was one most chefs would consider unthinkable: He ditched the Michelin star that had adorned his Aux Armes de France restaurant since 1938.

“We’d be dead by the end of the year if I hadn’t done it,” Gaertner said in an interview on the terrace of the traditional Alsatian restaurant in this picturesque village in the vine-covered hills of eastern France.

The authoritative Michelin Guide, known as the “Red Book,” can make or break a restaurant, with stars bringing overnight celebrity status. In France, the 105-year-old guide is a food-lover’s bible and has been considered the ultimate judge of a chef’s talents.

But some chefs find it hard to cope with the fuss and the pressure Michelin stars bring. They say the personal and financial investment needed to maintain Michelin standards only pay off for restaurants with a large number of guests and fast turnover.

That has prompted some to hang up their stars.

In May, chef Alain Senderens announced he was giving up the three stars awarded to his Lucas Carton restaurant in Paris and closing it to reopen in the fall with a new menu and image.

Other restaurants that publicly renounced their Michelin rating include the Sainte Victoire in Provence, which gave up its honors before the publication of this year’s edition and is no longer listed, and two establishments in Antwerp, Belgium.

Chef Joel Robuchon asked Michelin not to rate his two restaurants in Paris and one in Monaco in its next edition.

“These are difficult times for gourmet cuisine,” said Gaertner, who runs Aux Armes de France with his wife, Simone. “Nowadays, when people have some money, they go maybe to Tunisia or the Dominican Republic, but fewer and fewer spend big money on gourmet dining.”

Senderens said that after 28 years of being listed in the guide, he wanted to break away from competition in the kitchen and make dining cheaper for customers by cutting costs.

Michelin said the stars were merely a quality indicator for readers and there was nothing for a chef to give back.

“The chefs can’t say, ‘We don’t want your stars,’ ” Michelin spokeswoman Fabienne de Brebisson said.

“You can’t get rid of them just like that. The stars are printed in the guide. All restaurants can do is change the way they operate and lower their standards, which means they then don’t get a star in the next issue of the guide.”

For each annual edition, a team of anonymous inspectors travels around France and other countries, tasting food, visiting kitchens and checking plates, cutlery, glasses and even bathrooms. Among the culinary criteria are the quality of ingredients, creativity and consistency.

The guide says a three-star restaurant is “worth a special journey” and “one always eats extremely well here, sometimes superbly.” A two-star restaurant means “excellent cooking, worth a detour,” and one star denotes “a very good restaurant in its category.”

In France, there are 402 restaurants with one star, 70 with two and 26 with three. There are “Red Book” guides to 20 other countries, and a New York edition is set to be published in November.

The venerable guide has been shaken by scandal in recent years.

In January, Michelin for the first time recalled an edition of its guide after it recommended a restaurant that hadn’t yet opened. It has been hit by allegations by a former inspector that it checks restaurants only sporadically.

Many people believe acclaimed chef Bernard Loiseau was driven to suicide two years ago by rumors that he might lose one of his three stars.

Losing the rating has pushed others into despair.

But Gaertner -- whose specialties include local trout with almonds and veal slices with baked mushrooms -- said his decision to ignore the guide had allowed him to cut prices by as much as 40% while maintaining quality.

The food he now serves is simpler and uses fewer luxury ingredients like truffles, making it technically not up to the standards of a Michelin star. He said the guide’s strict criteria didn’t accurately reflect what diners were looking for.

“There are 33 Michelin-starred restaurants in Alsace,” Gaertner said.

“The competition is huge. Over here, restaurants with a staff of 18 to 20, brilliant dinner sets and waiters in black are up against restaurants employing four people and still offering great cuisine. Nothing against Michelin, we don’t want to start a war with them. We just think we need to reach out to the customer.”