![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/92BEE9A8-EE31-42F8-BC9E-6012C2BC31DC.jpeg?fit=730%2C486\")
by\u00a0Monica Burton<\/a>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Once again<\/a>, a chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant is asking to cut ties with the fine dining guide, the Guardian<\/em> reports<\/a>. This time, it\u2019s not exhaustion<\/a>, pressure<\/a>, or lack of funds<\/a> that\u2019s prompting the chef to shun Michelin\u2019s attention \u2014 Marc Veyrat, chef of La Maison des Bois in Manigod, France, has doubts that Michelin inspectors properly judged his restaurant, and he wants to give back his restaurant\u2019s two Michelin stars. Michelin is declining the demand.<\/p>\n In the 2019 Michelin guide to France<\/a>, La Maison des Bois was demoted from three stars to two. In a letter first reported by French publication Le Point<\/a>, Veyrat spoke out against the decision, expressing skepticism that Michelin inspectors visited the restaurant multiple times, as the guide claims to do for all its rankings<\/a>. One bit of evidence, according to Veyrat: Michelin falsely claimed that La Maison des Bois put cheddar in its souffle. \u201cThey dared to say that we put cheddar in our souffle of reblochon<\/em>, beaufort<\/em>, and tomme<\/em>!,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThey have insulted our region; my employees were furious.\u201d (There is, however, no mention of cheddar cheese in the restaurant\u2019s online Michelin listing<\/a>.)<\/p>\n But the supposed factual error is just the half of it. Veyrat is opposed to the \u201cprofound incompetence\u201d of the inspectors who he says \u201cknow absolutely nothing about cooking\u201d and \u201ccouldn\u2019t cook a decent dish\u201d if they tried. Michelin\u2019s restaurant inspectors, of course, are not chefs, and cooking ability is not a prerequisite for restaurant criticism.<\/p>\n In a response to Veyrat, Michelin refuted claims that inspectors never ate at La Maison des Bois, noting that Veyrat wouldn\u2019t have known when inspectors visited the restaurant because the inspectors are, by design, anonymous. The guide\u2019s international director Gwendal Poullennec also confirmed that for as long as the restaurant exists, it will remain eligible for the guide despite Veyrat\u2019s preferences. \u201cWe are sorry to hear of the pain he is going through, but we will continue to recommend his restaurant,\u201d he said in Le Monde<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Michelin typically refuses to grant requests to give back stars, but in January 2018, the guide allowed French chef S\u00e9bastien Bras to give back the three-star rating<\/a> at his restaurant, Le Suquet \u00e0 Laguiole. At the time, Michelin spokesperson Claire Dorland Clauzel said, \u201cIt is difficult for us to have a restaurant in the guide which does not wish to be in it. It is the first time we have had a public withdrawal of this sort.\u201d However, the decision didn\u2019t stick: Bras\u2019s restaurant appeared in the 2019 guide<\/a> with two stars. Not including it, Michelin said in a statement<\/a>, would go \u201cagainst the rapport and trust\u201d the guides have built with readers.<\/p>\n For Veyrat, and all the future chefs who will inevitably disavow their Michelin stars, there are just a few ways to disengage from Michelin-star pressure: serve food that\u2019s less appealing to Michelin\u2019s inspectors, close a restaurant entirely, or try not to get quite so worked up about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once again, a chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant is asking to cut ties with the fine dining guide, the Guardian reports. This time, it\u2019s not exhaustion, pressure, or lack of funds that\u2019s prompting the chef to shun Michelin\u2019s attention \u2014 Marc Veyrat, chef of La Maison des Bois in Manigod, France, has doubts that Michelin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[5,38,25],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/92BEE9A8-EE31-42F8-BC9E-6012C2BC31DC.jpeg?fit=1820%2C1213","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82DZ0-x1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2049,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions\/2049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmyschmidt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}