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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."

Not all chefs tip their toques at the French invader. Mario Batali, ubiquitous TV chef, was openly critical when his Manhattan flagship Babbo garnered a single star, placing it on par with the Spotted Pig, a noisy Greenwich Village pub. "They're blowing it," he told The New York Times. "They can't put the Spotted Pig on the same level as Babbo."

Apparently, they can. Both restaurants garnered the same rating again in the newly released 2008 New York guide.

Founded in 1900 as a sideline of the Michelin tire company, the red-covered hospitality guides - as opposed to the ubiquitous green tourist guides - began with a single book for France and quickly expanded to such countries as Belgium and Switzerland. Today there are 22 covering 22 countries.

Michelin Guide director Jean-Luc Naret won't say which cities are next. Those rumoured to be in the works include Boston, Miami, Washington and Chicago, as well as more in Asia.

He also said Canada is on the radar. "Toronto has very good numbers of restaurants, which need to be recognized as well," he said. "I'm not saying tomorrow, but maybe the day after tomorrow," he added, figuratively.

The star system was introduced in 1926, ushering in the familiar Michelin manifesto: One star means good in its category; two means worth a detour; three warrants a special journey.

That third category also unwittingly anticipated today's global explosion in international foodie tourism.

"We just had somebody who flew from Australia specifically to come and eat at the restaurant," said Heston Blumenthal, proprietor of England's three-star Fat Duck restaurant. "I'm not saying they need four stars, but it's almost as if they need another category besides 'worthy of a detour' or 'worthy of a journey.' Maybe now we should do 'worthy of jet lag' or something."

Michelin's oceanic crossings mirror not only the globetrotting trend among French chefs such as Mr. Robuchon, who has six restaurants in Tokyo alone. It also affirms nothing less than the end of French hegemony in the world of fine dining. As Ferran Adria, famed chef of El Bulli in Spain, colourfully put it in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail: "The tortilla has flipped."

Michelin's Tokyo guide, unveiled two days ago, may be the most conspicuous case in point. It awarded 191 stars to 150 restaurants, the most of any city in the world, significantly more than 98 for Paris.

Mr. Robuchon said the Tokyo guide will be the litmus test for the guide's continued success because Japanese cuisine is a world apart from that of France.

"This is a new era for Michelin. I think it will be an interesting chapter."

*****

Michelin's men - and women

Michelin Guide reviews are based on anonymous visits by full-time inspectors.

The clichéd image of a Michelin inspector as an old man shaped like the puffy Michelin Man character is a myth, says Marie-Bénédicte Chevet, spokeswoman for the guides. The average age is about 40, many are women and most are slim, have hotel school diplomas and five to 10 years' experience in the hospitality business.

Inspectors are not all French. Each country has a dedicated team for its region with knowledge of dozens of cuisines.

It's a tough life, but 85 people have to it. On average, each inspector (70 in Europe, 10 in the United States and five in Japan) eats 250 meals and sleeps in 150 hotels a year, all on Michelin's dime. Sound like bliss? About 3,500 hopefuls applied for fewer than 10 positions before the launch of the first New York guide in 2005.

Only a small fraction of recommended restaurants - roughly 5 per cent - receive stars.

Michelin Guide's star rankings pertain purely to food, not ambience or service. It's where the rubber meets the plate.

Source: Michelin