The Michelin Guide started in small-town France in 1889 as a way to encourage people to travel by automobile (and buy more tires in the process). More than a century later, the guide has become an international gold standard of fine dining—and on November 3, in an inaugural ceremony in Greenville, South Carolina (home to Michelin’s North American headquarters), it expanded its coverage of the South from Atlanta, Florida, and Texas to include six more states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Ten restaurants earned the coveted one-star distinction, and one establishment, Emeril’s, claimed a rare two-star rating. Emeril Lagasse opened his eponymous spot in the New Orleans Warehouse District in 1990, bringing a fresh and elevated take to Creole cooking via dishes like oyster stew with herbsaint cream, sweetbreads with chanterelles and allium, and a signature canapé—the barbecue shrimp tart. In 2023, E.J. Lagasse, Emeril’s son, took over at the tender age of nineteen.
Two more Crescent City spots received a one-star rating. In the tiny dining room of Saint-Germain in the Bywater neighborhood, chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith serve a tasting menu that blends classic French technique with Gulf Coast ingredients. Across town at Zasu, James Beard Award–winner Sue Zemanick serves up marinated crab claws, lentil and potato pierogies, and red snapper over gnocchi.
Charleston also had a strong showing, with three representatives. Vern’s, a local favorite since it opened in 2022, is an American bistro with European flair, offering dishes like a signature roast spring chicken and a beloved seasonal fruity granita with créme fraiche that hasn’t left the menu since day one. Just a few minutes walk away, Malagón Mercado y Tapería brings an array of Spanish-style small plates. And at Wild Common, executive chef Orlando Pagán lets Lowcountry ingredients like Carolina gold rice and Steamboat Creek oysters from Edisto Island shine.
Nashville boasts a trio, too: Bastion, a twenty-four-seat tasting-menu spot; the Japanese-inspired Locust; and the Catbird Seat, a Music City mainstay, now helmed by husband-and-wife duo Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz, that reopened last spring in a new space on the top floor of the Bill Voorhees Building.
Rounding out the one-star list, Greenville earned a nod for the French spot Scoundrel (think chicory salad, escargot with gruyere, and deviled blue crab), as did Charlotte for chef Sam Hart’s Counter, a restaurant that bases its changing tasting menus on a theme—such as “terroir,” devoted to North Carolina’s bountiful ingredients. Counter also joined Asheville’s Luminosa and Franklin, Tennessee’s January in receiving a green star for sustainability practices.
