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Brooklyn Restaurants Got No Love From Michelin This Year
Six New York restaurants were given new stars by Michelin on Tuesday night, all of them, suspiciously, in Manhattan
When it comes to the list of restaurants Michelin will occasionally bless with new stars, it appears the great KRS-One had it right—Manhattan does, in fact, keep on making it.
On Tuesday night, the French tire company’s flagship and authoritative Michelin Guide rolled out all of the new winners (and a few losers—sorry, Masa) for 2025 at an awards ceremony in Philadelphia. As was to be expected, a grip of kitchens and dining rooms (all impossible reservations), already deemed elite by pros, pedestrians, critics, and casual diners, were granted either their first or latest honors. This year, there were six in total, according to Michelin: Keiji Nakazawa’s Sushi Sho by Bryant Park earned its third star, Chang-ho Shin’s Joo Ok in Koreatown got its second, while inaugural stars were awarded to Sam Lawrence’s Bridges and Isao Yamada’s Yamada in Chinatown, and Chef Buddaha Lo’s Huso and Manabu Asanuma’s Muku in Tribeca.
Sadly, there was no love for any non-Manhattan restaurants this year. And that’s fine. I mean, who are we to request a good look at all of the brilliance you can find in other boroughs? It is hard, however, not to feel a little slighted. After all, we fill these pages with the stories of chefs and restaurateurs who, from personal accounts, run kitchens serving food that matches or exceeds the quality of those with the tire company’s stamp, and, on some level, must aspire to at least a shoutout from Michelin (we should note: some eventually get their due). Hell, we genuinely look forward to when a great restaurant gets big enough to warrant putting our names down for meals months ahead of when we intend to eat them. But to look out at the modern marvel of dining in New York, with all its diversity, creativity, and pedigree, and effectively only see Manhattan as a viable and desirable eating destination, is to miss a ton of the action. Here’s hoping Michelin widens its lens next year. Sigh.
