One would think Joël Robuchon might be above it all.
The man widely considered to be the world's greatest chef, with dining shrines in Paris, London, New York, Monaco, Macau, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Las Vegas, was indulging a Canadian reporter last week with praise for the Great White North.
Canadians, he said over the phone in French, have been huge supporters of his flagship restaurant in the U.S. gambling capital. Most of all, he wanted to single out the priceless publicity generated by a certain Quebecker, a big fan, apparently, of the $350 (U.S.), 16-course tasting menu.
"No one has done more to bring fame to my restaurant than Céline Dion," he said. "She always says, and her husband, too, that it's their preferred restaurant in the world."
Mr. Robuchon won't need the singer's endorsement any more. As of last week, his two-year-old location has three more important stars to sing its praises.
Michelin, the French publisher of annual restaurant and hotel guides, just doubled its U.S. coverage with two new books, adding Las Vegas and Los Angeles to a list that includes New York and San Francisco.
Mr. Robuchon's eponymous restaurant in the MGM Grand hotel received the only top-tier, three-star rating in either city.
"It's exciting," said Mr. Robuchon, 62, now with a world-leading 17 stars in total, ahead of fellow Frenchman Alain Ducasse with 15 and famed British potty-mouth Gordon Ramsay with 12. "Getting three Michelin stars in the United States is exciting. It's my first time."
Michelin's three-city rollout over the past week - which included Tokyo as its first guide in Asia, where Mr. Robuchon Monday picked up six stars for three restaurants - ushers in a new era in the company's 107-year history.
After testing U.S. waters two years ago with New York, the formerly Eurocentric publisher is intent on becoming the global arbiter of who's haute and who's not in the world of fine cuisine.
In so doing, it could rearrange a few fortunes - the way powerful American wine critic Robert Parker changed the European wine landscape after marching into Bordeaux in the late 1970s.
Celebrated New York chefs Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin and Jean-Georges Vongerichten of Jean-Georges have seen 30-per-cent jumps in revenue since earning their three-star ratings two years ago.
At the Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley, phone inquiries tripled since it received its first two stars in the San Francisco guide last month, said Nathaniel Dorn, the restaurant's director. "To see it make such a big impact the day after makes you more aware of Michelin," he said.
Deep-pocketed Michelin is determined to succeed in a market from which rival European guide Gault Millau retreated years ago. But it has a way to go before catching up to U.S.-based Zagat, the dominant guide in North America, which also publishes handbooks around the world. Zagat sells about 650,000 copies of its New York survey annually, for example, while Michelin expects to move 150,000 copies of its latest New York guide this year.
A major asset going for Michelin, chefs say, is the authoritativeness of its 85 full-time, professional inspectors. Zagat, which branched into Canada several years ago with guides for Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, relies instead on voluntary public surveys.
"From the beginning, I've been totally keen to the Michelin system," said David Myers, chef-owner of Sona, a hot spot in West Hollywood, who trained in France and worked for the three-star Les Crayeres in Reims in the heart of the Champagne region. Mr. Myers, 33, described receiving a one-star rating from last week's Los Angeles guide as "unbelievable."
