The Arizona restaurant world could get its first Michelin star. Here's how the process works

LAUREN GILGER: Arizona could get its first-ever Michelin star tonight. And for anyone who’s watched “The Bear,” you know what a massive deal this is in the restaurant world. And spoiler alert here for anyone who hasn’t seen Season 5 yet.

[CLIP FROM “THE BEAR” PLAYS]

CARMY BERZATTO: He said a lot. Sorry. He said the food overall was truly exceptional and creative. He said the talent here is undeniable.

SYDNEY ADAMU: But …

CARMY BERZATTO: That there’s a scallop dish he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about, and the hospitality was beautiful. He said the room felt alive without being precious or try-hard.

SYDNEY ADAMU: Did we get a star?

CARMY BERZATTO: You got two.

[END OF CLIP]

LAUREN GILGER: Tonight in Las Vegas, the Michelin Guide will host the first-ever Southwest ceremony and name the restaurants here who will receive a star or two, as well as other lesser recognitions that our next guest this morning says are even more interesting.

Dominic Armato is a longtime dining critic here in the Valley, including at the Arizona Republic and Phoenix New Times.

And Dominic, this means that there have been Michelin inspectors throughout the Valley, the region, for an undisclosed amount of time —

DOMINIC ARMATO: They are among us.

LAUREN GILGER: Eating at these restaurants, right? Are they doing this secretly? How does this work?

DOMINIC ARMATO: They absolutely are. Part of the mystique of Michelin is that we know almost nothing about the Michelin inspectors. We don’t know how many there are, we don’t know how long they’ve been here, we don’t know which restaurants they’re going to.

They are extremely tight-lipped about their process. They’re pretty open about their criteria, but in terms of who’s doing the judging, we should not know. And if we find out, that’s a problem for them.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. OK, so the secrecy is the point.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Absolutely.

LAUREN GILGER: What is the criteria, though? They publish that.

DOMINIC ARMATO: They do, yeah. And this is interesting because I think the general public tends to have a misconception about what Michelin’s criteria are because they think, “Oh, it’s got to be some beautiful fine-dining restaurant, white tablecloth and fantastic service,” and all that kind of thing.

LAUREN GILGER: Definitely.

DOMINIC ARMATO: But when you look at the actual criteria that they use for judging, there are five points on the criteria list. That is:

• The quality of the products they use to make the food.
• The mastery of flavor and cooking technique.
• The personality of the chef expressed in the dining experience.
• The harmony of flavors.
• The consistency between the inspectors’ visits.

And that’s it.

LAUREN GILGER: Consistency. So they’re going to go more than once.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Oh, absolutely.

LAUREN GILGER: Many, many times, probably.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Yes. Well, we don’t know for sure. It’s interesting. I did read a review from a Michelin inspector once, sort of a secret interview, and he mentioned at one point that some of these restaurants might be revisited up to three times, which would imply that four would sort of be where they top out, which is not — it’s not a huge sample.

I mean, that’s pretty typical for like a newspaper review, but it’s not as much as you might think. But they do they mention that, and they mention, of course they want to spread it around among a bunch of different inspectors to try to get a sense of making it a team effort rather than one person’s opinion.

LAUREN GILGER: It’s not one person. OK, got it. And we have no idea who these inspectors are. Are they chefs?

DOMINIC ARMATO: No. They are reportedly very experienced and knowledgeable experts in the field of restaurants and hospitality. But we’re just going to have to take their word for it.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so let’s talk about likely contenders. I mean, a Michelin star is a huge deal to get in the restaurant world, still today — and very, very hard to get for all of these reasons that we’re talking about.

Who might be on the list here in the Valley?

DOMINIC ARMATO: So first of all, you’ve got what people think of as sort of the traditional Michelin places, which are those fine-dining temples. And I think everyone has their eyes on places like Christopher’s at Wrigley Mansion and Kai and Cafe Monarch, maybe to a lesser extent, maybe people seem to think that maybe Course has a shot at it.

And so those are sort of those more traditional fine-dining restaurants. And if you ask me to handicap, I’d probably put them roughly in that order. But stars are tough, man. It’s like It’s one of those things where if you do all your eating in Phoenix, you think, “Wow, these are amazing restaurants,” and they are, and these folks do tremendous work.

But then you start visiting some of these restaurants in other cities, and you start visiting these restaurants in other countries, and it’s like, these are some pretty good restaurants. They’re really, you know, it is an extremely high standard that the Michelin inspectors hold these restaurants to. They don’t just hand these things out.

LAUREN GILGER: Any underdogs that you think should be on the Michelin radar that probably are not, in the Valley?

DOMINIC ARMATO: So I definitely wouldn’t call it an underdog. F&B is one of the most beloved and appreciated restaurants in town, for good reasons. But I’m very curious, because of how Michelin is, to see how they handle F&B.

Because if you ask me, Charleen Badman, her work absolutely nails all five of these criteria. She gets incredible product, has this way of extracting flavors out of things and blending things in unexpected ways. Her personality is right there on the plate. And unlike so many chefs, she’s back there in the kitchen every day doing it herself. The place is incredibly consistent.

But here’s the thing, is that her style is not sort of what you tend to think of as that traditional Michelin style. Her style is a little, it’s a little rustic, it’s a little homey, it’s kind of sort of comforting. It’s not like that really sleek, refined sort of Michelin style.

So in that way, what’s interesting to me is I think that it’s less that a Michelin inspection is a test for F&B. I think F&B is a test for Michelin inspectors.

LAUREN GILGER: Oh, he’s laying it down! OK.

DOMINIC ARMATO: No, I hope they pass. I really do. I hope they see that. I think they should.

LAUREN GILGER: She’s not using the tiny tweezers.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Exactly. It’s not tweezers cuisine. And and and to be fair to Michelin, you know, they do recognize restaurants that are not — but it’s less common.

LAUREN GILGER: Less common. OK, so what about sleepers?

DOMINIC ARMATO: If we’re talking about total sleepers, I’ve got two of them. There’s one I think people are maybe sleeping a little bit on — ShinBay. But ever since Shinji Kurita retired a few years ago, I feel like no one’s talked about that place. But the the chef who they brought in, Ken Tanaka, he’s doing spectacular work there. And I don’t see them mentioned an awful lot, so I’ll be a little curious to see if they pick something up.

And the other one that I think is a real deep sleeper that, frankly, I think Phoenix is sleeping on in general, is Hush Public House. I think I feel like Phoenix sometimes doesn’t appreciate the way that kitchen ticks like a Swiss watch. I mean, they just get great stuff, and it is super consistent, and everything is executed perfectly, and they slay it every night.

And that’s the kind of place that Michelin does like. So I almost wonder in that case if that’s something where the Michelin bias, so to speak, might work in favor of a place that’s being overlooked in its own city. We’ll see. I don’t know. It’s a bit of a long shot, but I just have a hunch about that one.

LAUREN GILGER: That’s interesting. But there’s not just the stars, right, with Michelin? There are some other levels here. So if you don’t get a star, you still might get recognized in some way.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Absolutely. So there are the stars first and foremost, and those are very, very hard to come by. And I think the stars generally are not a surprise. It’s not often that a place comes out of nowhere to suddenly snag a star. What’s interesting is when you start getting into the Bib Gourmands.

The Bib Gourmands to me, honestly, is the more interesting part of the of the conversation here, because that’s where Michelin goes out and says, “OK, well, maybe these guys don’t have the kind of money to do this crazy high-end fine-dining cuisine and bring in these incredibly expensive ingredients …”

LAUREN GILGER: Sure.

DOMINIC ARMATO: “... but they make great food day in, day out for a reasonable price that the average person can afford.”

And that, I think first of all, I think that’s just as noble as high-end fine dining. And secondly, I think it’s a whole lot more interesting because there’s so much out there. Handicapping that? Forget it. There’s no way. There’s so many possibilities.

I think for some places, the Bib Gourmand might be like a consolation prize. I think about some absolutely spectacular restaurants like Bacanora and Lom Wong, who have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation. They do tremendous food.

I worry sometimes: Are they going to have the kind of consistency that, that Michelin is looking for? And if they don’t, if these guys are only going to visit three or four times, if they catch a few off things, maybe that ends up being a consolation prize for them, they get a Bib Gourmand instead of a star.

But then there are so many little places, you look through the other Michelin Guides in other cities, and they will pluck some stuff out of obscurity. So that’s where the interesting stuff starts to happen. And of course I’ve got a wish list of stuff I would love to see them recognize, but there’s so much.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. Whoever gets a star or a recognition of some kind from Michelin this week, though, I mean, they’re going to be inundated after this, right? Like it’s going to be nuts for them.

DOMINIC ARMATO: Oh, it’s a big deal. Yeah. Absolutely. Michelin these days is a little polarizing, you know. But whether one is into it or not, I mean, you can’t deny that there are large numbers of people who will look at those lists and will say, “OK, well, this is how I’m going to scout out my vacation. This is how I’m going to figure out where to eat when I’m on my trip.” I mean, it’s a tremendous honor.

And particularly when you get into the stars, these people know what they’re talking about. I mean, whether or not you agree with any specific choice, you know, they’re not random schmoes. They’re people who know good food, and I think they’ve demonstrated that over the years.

It’s an honor, I think more than anything. I mean, that’s one of those things that a lot of a lot of places dream about. And those who say they don’t — maybe they do, maybe they don’t. We’ll see. I think they might not be totally honest about that.

LAUREN GILGER: All right. Well, we’ll see what happens. Dominic Armato, a longtime dining critic here in the Valley, now writes the Something to Doux newsletter — that’s D-O-U-X, we should say. Dominic, thanks so much for coming on The Show. We really appreciate it.

DOMINIC ARMATO: No problem.