Acclaimed French Chef to Michelin: Take My Stars, Please
It also unsettled Mr. Bras’s three-starred peers and rattled the keepers
and loyal adherents of the guide itself, whose coveted three-star ranking is considered, fairly or not, the highest accolade in the industry "The joy one gets out of three stars cannot be measured — it’s like winning the gold medal in the Olympics," said Maxime Meilleur, the chef of the three-star La Bouitte, located in a small village in the Alps.
" she said, "it’s made for clients, and we have our own freedom of criticism, our own editorial freedom." In 2005, Alain Senderens, a founder of the nouvelle cuisine movement, decided to close Lucas Carton, his Art Nouveau restaurant on the Place de la Madeleine in Paris
and abandon his three stars. that The guide isn’t made for chefs,
that One must be passionate, a genius, but mostly a workaholic,
because you have to be working in your restaurant from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day, nonstop.
Nearly two decades ago, Mr. Bras’s father, Michel Bras, helped raise vegetables to an art form in
France, winning three Michelin stars at his restaurant Le Suquet in southern France in 1999.
He says he is seeking nothing less than culinary "liberation." Mr. Bras said he wanted to be removed from next year’s Michelin guide, arbiter of French culinary excellence for more than a century,
and had the blessing of his father, who is now 70 and wanted him to be happy.
Calling the quest for the stars "a dream and a game," he added, "I don’t understand Mr. Bras’s decision,
but I respect it." While the stars confer cachet and financial security, Mr. Bras’s audacious move is also reflective of a new generation of chefs, some of whom are eager to escape from the punishing strain of unpredictable rankings and malicious food critics.