Michelin is ready for pizza

We’re back commenting the Michelin Guide due to the impact of its choices. As worldwide director Michael Ellis said on the eve of the presentation, during a dinner at Antonio Guida’s Seta inside the Mandarin Oriental: “I’m not worried about criticism, I’ll be worried when our choices won’t raise comments”. There’s nothing worse than indifference, especially if you’re used to set the rules as in the case of Michelin. And the more powerful you are, the more severe the interlocutors will be. Stars are hard to manage even for those who give and remove them, not just for those who get or loose them.

Max Bergami, professor at Università di Bologna, was the one to make the most beautiful comment to edition number 61, presented in Milan on Thursday 10th December: “On the 2016 Michelin there’s surely a typo in the Combal0 entry”. Many think so, unfortunately not Michael Ellis and Italian editor in chief Sergio Lovrinovich, those who, on page 967, placed one star only instead of two next to the name of Davide Scabin’s restaurant. In a publication that has 8 3-stars, 38 2-stars and 288 1-star, a total record of 324 (plus two compared to 2015), the failure of the chef from Torino created a bigger uproar than everything else.

Lovrinovich, whom we interviewed, said that Michelin has, with regards to Scabin, “a very rich report, the result of various visits”. All of which were negative, because you wouldn’t fail one of the greatest talents in Italian cuisine just for one bad night. No one doubts this, I do not in the first place, having lived and breathed stars. The question is different and is not exclusively linked to the palate of the inspectors as those who assess failings also assess promotions. There’s no such thing, as in movies and in reality, as the good and the bad cop.

There are places that are forgiven for everything, and others where nothing is tolerated. Scabin is never a bore, while other starred chefs guarantee yawning. It is also true that the trattoria in New York and the one in Ivrea, handed to his sister Barbara, increased pressure and commitment, just like the problems connected with the argument with the owners of the place, Castello di Rivoli. Yet it’s not enough. Many tiny things probably added up, sand grains that in the end jammed the mechanism. And the Michelin people perhaps couldn’t believe their eyes: they could demonstrate their power with a sure echo. However, you need to be convincing when you fail too, not just when you award, and in this case the surprise is widespread.

Then moving the attention to another chef, Giancarlo Perbellini, who in Verona moved from 0 to 2 stars with Casa Perbellini, three with the new establishment in Venice, Dopolavoro, was enough for everyone at the Red Guide to become good. The problem is that everyone is looking for his taste to be confirmed in those pages. In the 2016 edition, among those awarded with a star, ten are under 35. Martina Caruso of Signum in the island of Salina is in fact 25, very likely the youngest starred chef in Italy.

Lombardy is as usual the leading region with 58 top restaurants, while in the second place Campania moves up to 37, and the third place goes to Piedmont and this year Veneto too with 36. There is news in terms of provinces, though: Naples becomes the leader with 20 starred restaurants, one more than Rome and Bolzano, four more than Milan.

How about the future? It will also include pizza, though Sergio Lovrinovich doesn’t think so. In this case Ellis’svision has a greater impact, embracing the world and having among his goals that of promoting the most Italian dish of all: "There’s a new relationship between food and consumers and we need to adapt and update ourselves. I have my favourite pizzeria in the industrial area of Naples, I’ve been keeping an eye on it for quite some time, long before I was working with guides, I worked in the tyre division. Every time I go to Naples, I look for traditional pizzerias".

Something new is to come at last. This after giving stars to various gastropubs in the UK and to Asian street food like with the ramen shop deserving a star in Tokyo or the street food spot in Hong Kong, places that are light years from every stereotype of starred restaurant that is so dear to the Michelin Guide. It’s a question of culture and goals. Enhancing poor food, as long as it is them, the French, who decide this, without being forced by others, dusting off, renewing themselves, in contrast with the explosion of the web and of other guides as the 50Best and Tripadvisor. Ellis himself said very realistically “People no longer open the Michelin Germany guide to find out when the ferry from Rostock to Gedser departs, why should we still write it?”. The problem is that these novelties have caught the king off guard and now he needs to chase them.