ILikeTacos said:
Tecolote said:
ILikeTacos said:
Tecolote said:
YouBet said:
Tecolote said:
YouBet said:
BTW, don't sleep on the queso at Gabriel's. It's fantastic.
And their service is slower than Christmas because they don't know how to staff and allocate the waitstaff. Been there 3 times now over the last few years and it's the same every time. Not that big of a deal if you aren't in a hurry.
Still highly recommend.
It's NM - you think there's any restaurants that know how to do that!
Lol. Yes, Santa Fe is an elite restaurant town. Gabriels is the outlier that I've seen.
Lol - please don't get into an "elite restaurant town" pissing match. Wife worked for the Michelin red guide (includes inspections) and has countless three star chefs as close friends. I'm also a native New Mexican.
Cocktails for us with Gordon Ramsey in London or Thomas Keller in CA or NYC are commonplace.
Your lane is F16 - stay in it.
We got ourselves a culinary MFBarnes over here…
Yeah, but this is real lol - I love how restaurant or cuisine threads always turn into a pissing match. Especially the out of town/tourists looking for a restaurant recommendation. It is something that I believe is human nature to make sure the people go to where they went to affirm that they "did it right" in a way. They hate the thought that someone found a different restaurant that they enjoyed the food and atmosphere. People are scared to think someone "had a better experience" - when I find that in traveling (which we love to do) if you had a great experience and enjoy it that's all that mattered - I don't feel the need to push hard to have a stranger eat at the same place(s). This town is elite, best per capita in the world, this restaurant you have to eat or you missed the best in town, etc. are funny. So, I find a thread like this one and have fun by joining in.
I get that. I also will gladly disagree on Michelin ratings after hearing personally from restaurant owner friends in Denver and Dallas what political bull**** goes on behind the scenes just to try and get a recommendation.
So just know that your opinion, just like that of everyone else in this thread is tainted by experience. I am not saying Michelin guide is all ****, some of my best meals have been because I went to a Michelin rated place, one two and three stars, here in the US and in Europe, but that I also have seen well deserving places get completely snubbed because they didn't want to "play the game" so to speak.
Agree completely on issues with the Michelin Guide. Had better meals at one stars than a three star. Their category Bib Gourmand are some of the better places to head. Also, been to restaurants that had no business having a star in my opinion.
And, the Michelin Guide of today is nothing like it was thirty or even twenty years ago. Their very best inspectors and department heads have all left because of internal politics (including my wife). All of the good inspectors are now consultants and many chefs use them to improve their restaurant (but they do it for real improvement and not playing the how to get more stars game). The current group of inspectors are **** - they don't know what they are doing.
They have expanded in the US too fast with insufficient resources and Michelin in the US went to a pay to play model (not from restaurants but from state and local tourist boards) which in my opinion destroys their credibility. Some cities and states have paid to get Michelin to do a guide for their region when other regions have much more high caliber places (especially per capita (used that just for you YouBet)). And then the region gets mad when they don't get as many stars overall as they think they should. But, with the crappy set of current inspectors they may not have gotten as many as they deserved or they may have gotten more than they deserved.
I don't consult the Michelin Guide near as much as I did in the past.
