In a break from tradition, the Michelin Guide announced three of its 2023 city guides—for New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago—at a single Manhattan ceremony on November 7. This year eight new restaurants in New York celebrated a single star, and two more garnered two stars.
The guide’s coveted one-, two-, and three-star award designations are regarded as the restaurant world’s highest honor, conferring status and fame on the restaurants that receive them. This year there are some noteworthy additions—and star promotions. Odo and Sushi Noz, both featuring tasting menus, received two stars, joining the likes of Jean-Georges, Atomix, and Daniel, among other NYC mainstays. After Major Food Group celebrity magnet Carbone lost its star in 2022, the group’s new (and ever-buzzy) hot spot Torrisi received one star at this year’s ceremony. Restaurants like Don Angie and the River Café were among those that lost their stars. After a messy, sudden closure—and an eventual reopening with new chefs—the previously three-starred Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare did not receive a single star this year.
Michelin also awards a series of special recognitions each year. This year's New York City winners include the bar team at Cosme for Exceptional Cocktails, Madalyn Summers of Café Mars for Outstanding Service, Yannick Benjamin at Contento received the Sommelier Award, and Telly Justice of HAGS got the Young Chef award. Emma Bengtsson of Aquavit scored this year's Mentor Award, while Dirt Candy and Family Meal at Blue Hill took home Michelin's Green Stars, honoring sustainability in the kitchen.
Along with the stars, Michelin annually releases a list of Bib Gourmands, which are “not quite a star,” per the guide but still recognize high-level cooking at an affordable price—in New York that means under $49 pre-tax. This year's Bib Gourmand list features 102 restaurants, with 11 new additions, including chef Brooks Headley’s much-hyped and newly reopened Superiority Burger, and Eastern European-inspired Brooklyn spot Agi’s Counter.
Last year’s awards saw some notable upsets and surprises. The much-lauded Peter Luger, the Brooklyn steakhouse that’s been open since the late 19th century, was left starless. After a spate of bad reviews for its new vegan menu, the famed Eleven Madison Park retained its three stars last year and did the same in 2023. Last year Semma, one of Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants of 2022, became the first and only South Indian restaurant in New York City with a Michelin star. This year it retained its star and remains the lone South Indian restaurant on New York’s starred restaurant list.
In the past, awards for each city were announced separately throughout the year, but as Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides reasoned in a September press release, a joint ceremony brings culinary innovators together. “We are excited to unveil this new format to unite chefs from these great locations in one place for such an exciting evening,” Poullennec wrote. “This event is an opportunity for these communities to gather together to share, celebrate, support and encourage one another.”
Anonymous inspectors have been doling out stars for the Michelin Guide throughout Europe since the early 20th century. Its North American arm, though, is newer. The first North American Michelin guide was published as recently as 2005 when 39 New York restaurants received stars. Since then the guide has expanded across the continent to San Francisco in 2008, Chicago in 2011, and Washington, DC in 2017. Recent years have seen a broad expansion of the guide’s territory as it has grown to include Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Toronto, and Vancouver in 2022, and most recently, Atlanta and Colorado in 2023.
The guide's recent rapid growth hasn’t come without controversy. As the New York Times reported, Visit California, the Californian tourism office, paid Michelin $600,000 in 2019 to support the organization in evaluating and starring restaurants in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state. More recently, the guide came to Colorado—after tourism offices there paid Michelin a hefty sum—where five restaurants were awarded stars in 2023.
Below find a full list of 2023’s Michelin-starred restaurants in New York.
Three-Starred Restaurants
- Eleven Madison park
- Le Bernardin
- Masa
- Per Se
Two-Starred Restaurants
- Al Coro
- Aquavit
- Aska
- Atera
- Atomix
- Blue Hill at Stone Barns
- Daniel
- Gabriel Kreuther
- Jean-Georges
- Jungsik
- The Modern
- Odo (new)
- Saga
- Sushi Noz (new)
One-Starred Restaurants
- Sixty Three Clinton
- Bōm (new)
- Casa Mono
- Caviar Russe
- Clover Hill
- Cote
- Crown Shy
- Dirt Candy
- Essential by Christophe (new)
- Estela
- Family Hill at Blue Hill
- The Four Horseman
- Francie
- Frevo
- Gramercy Tavern
- Hirohisa
- Icca
- Jeju Noodle Bar
- Jōji (new)
- Joomak Banjum
- Jua
- Kochi
- Kosaka
- L'Abeille
- Le Coucou
- Le Jardinier
- Le Pavillon
- Mari
- Meju (new)
- The Musket Room
- Noda
- Noz 17
- Oiji Mi
- One White Street
- Oxalis
- Oxomoco
- Red paper Clip
- Restaurant Yuu (new)
- Rezdôra
- Semma
- Shion 69 Leonard Street
- Shmoné (new)
- Sushi Amane
- Sushi Ichimura (new)
- Sushi Nakazawa
- Sushi Yasuda
- Tempura Matsui
- Torien
- Torrisi (new)
- Tsukimi
- Tuome
- Vestry
- Yoshino