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Dear Shaun,
I was just reading that The Michelin Guide awarded their first star in the Boston region. 311 Omakase was awarded a star for their excellence in cooking. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on what it would take to have Michelin acknowledge Worcester as a culinary hub? I know we don’t have a ton of high-end restaurants, but the food itself is delicious. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a Michelin star in Worcester?
-Curious for Culinary
Dear Curious for Culinary,
Ah yes, The Michelin Guide. The odd bible to great food around the world provided to us by a tire company based out of France. If there was ever going to be a tire company that would let folks know where only the best food is it would be based in France. The French are so rigid about their culture that Champagne can only be from that region, certain types of cheese can only be from the region it is named after (or the types of goats they come from), and to be a Fashion House that produces unwearable “haute couture” clothing you must go through a rigorous vetting and licensing process and is ultimately approved by the Ministry of Industry in Paris. Imagine having a bureaucratic job wherein you judge and regulate whether Versace gets to be officially a haute couture fashion house? Meanwhile America continues to rot.
What would it take to get The Michelin Guide to even come through Worcester to even consider giving one of our restaurants a star? This is a great thought exercise. Truly, I think the first step is for the voters to finally agree we put fluoride in our drinking water. I cannot confirm this, but I am convinced that an off-the-books rule is that every municipality provide this no-brainer of a service. The last time that Worcester voted on fluoridation was in 2001. The city soundly rejected it with 56% of the population voting against. Now, this was the November after 9/11, so maybe there was more than your average paranoia involved. In fact, the jingoism and self-flagellating patriotism mirrors that of MAGA today. You throw in RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement and add a dash of social media and I think Worcester would reject it even harder 25 years later. But I digress.
A positive for Worcester getting a Michelin or even a James Beard would be that we, on the whole, reject chain restaurants. And the ones we don’t reject are local establishments, i.e. Papa Gino’s and Dunkin’. There are a lot of locally owned, locally sourced restaurants in this city. But they also, for the most part, know where their bread is buttered (wink). And by that I mean that they make affordable and comfortable meals. They are very tasty, don’t get me wrong, but most Michelin winners aren’t winning with a menu of Golden BBQ Chicken Tenders or even Surf and Turf. I order those things! I am not knocking them! I just want you all to know that that is not what the Michelin Guide is looking for.
In fact you could have those two things on the menu, you just have make sure they are the best ones that a person has ever tried and that those two things, plus your oysters and wine pairings tell a story for the taster. Most times, and this is a completely reasonable thing, restaurants exist to feed people and pay their employees. Most menus are there to allow folks in their area to go out and enjoy themselves. I love going out to eat and those last two things are typically why I do that.
To go for James Beard Awards and vie for Michelin stars is to push yourself, your workers and the audience. There also needs to be a lot of good things going at the same exact time. One, the money has to be there: restaurants are hard to keep open, they’ve got have someone or someones in their corner to help them push forward. You’ve also got to have the vision and talent to feed people like they’ve never been fed before. And finally and this is important, you’ve got to have a city that has an open mind. Unfortunately, Worcester just voted Etel out of office, made other previous progressive candidates feel uncomfortable while serving, still go on and on about a new bike lane, and DON’T HAVE FLUORIDE IN THE DRINKING WATER.
NEWS
Tonight I am headlining at Providence Comedy Underground at the Hide Speakeasy in The George. You can find tickets here. Then on Saturday I am on a show in Pawtucket with Don’t Tell. With this show, you’ll buy a ticket and then find out where the show is on the day of. Typically it is in some place that normally wouldn’t have a comedy show. You can buy tickets here.
Don’t forget we have The 1st Annual Spelling Bee at Hunchback Gallery Saturday 11/29 at 7PM. There are a few spots left to sign up. But you should come and watch people spell and Bryan and I make fun of them. It’s all for a great cause, The Worcester County Food Bank and the Worcester Free Fridges.
Hi Shaun, Loved this one! Yeah, fluoride - imagine trying to take care of kid's teeth - those kids who don't get to a dentist for fluoridation treatments - that is the poor kids. This city is based in fear. I've lived in Wor. since 1983 and bemoan that it is the most racist city I have ever lived in even though we have so many people from a multitude of backgrounds. Nearly every venue I go to, the audience is 95% white. I'm white yet I am saddened by the lack of diversity at events even free events. Carry on, eve