Michelin Inspectors Designate 29 New ‘Bib Gourmand’ Restaurants in San Francisco

On Oct. 26, Michelin will formally introduce its complete selection for the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011, the company’s fifth Bay Area edition. To whet the appetite of Bay Area residents, Michelin has announced its list of 74 “Bib Gourmand” restaurants in its 2011 guide. Also known as the “Inspectors’ Favorites for Good Value,” Bib Gourmand restaurants offer two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less (tax and gratuity not included). Introduced in the 1997 editions of the MICHELIN Guides in Europe, Bib Gourmand restaurants are identified in the guide by a red symbol depicting the head of Bibendum, the Michelin Man.

This year, 29 new restaurants have earned the Bib Gourmand designation. San Francisco boasts 74 Bib Gourmand restaurants in total. The full list of San Francisco Bib Gourmands appears below. The volume of Bib Gourmand restaurants in San Francisco makes the city a global leader in culinary value. No city of comparable size offers as many Bib Gourmands.

The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 covers a wider geographic region than most of its peers, stretching from Los Gatos in the south to Geyserville in the north. Over the past year, Michelin inspectors have analyzed restaurants throughout Northern California, always anonymously. At the end of their investigative process, they gather to debate the region’s restaurants in full, determining which restaurants should be retained in the selection, and which merit one, two or three stars. The inspectors also give a special nod to restaurants that deliver exceptional value. Those restaurants are designated as Bib Gourmands. These restaurants often reflect neighborhood favorites and overlooked gems, and are of particular interest to the full-time residents of a given city.

A full list of Bib Gourmand restaurants can be found here: www.facebook.com/MichelinGuides.

The Bib Gourmand selection includes:

(* denotes new selection for 2011)

“You can stretch your dining dollar in San Francisco, perhaps more than in any other city in the world,” says Jean-Luc Naret, director of the MICHELIN Guides. “Starred restaurants earn an outsized share of the attention every year, but those restaurants only represent 10 percent of those included in our guides. The Bib Gourmands deliver everyday excellence at a reasonable price. And they can be found throughout this entire region.”

To celebrate its fifth year in San Francisco, readers can start enjoying the MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmands in advance of the Oct. 27 on-sale date. The San Francisco Bib Gourmand selections can be found online at www.facebook.com/MichelinGuides. Michelin inspectors also share insider secrets via Twitter at @MichelinGuideSF and can be seen in a video interview for the first time ever online.

Thanks to a rigorous selection process that is applied independently and consistently around the 23 countries by the MICHELIN Guide, the MICHELIN Guide has become an international benchmark in gourmet dining. The selection is made by anonymous, professional inspectors who are Michelin employees and is based on the same working methods in all countries. They pay all their bills in full. This guarantees a total independence of the Guide regarding the hospitality industry.

With more than one million copies sold in approximately 100 countries, the MICHELIN Guide has always built its success on the diversity of its selection, especially on small establishments offering a high-quality dining experience at an affordable price. Hence the popularity and importance of the Bib Gourmand or “Inspectors’ Favorites for Good Value” category and the Under $25 category – both increased in number of offerings in the 2011 edition.  Moreover, inclusion in the MICHELIN Guide is, in itself, synonymous with quality, since only the best establishments in each comfort and price category are featured in the Guide.

The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 goes on sale Wed., Oct. 27 at $18.99.  

Enhancing mobility is not only the mission of the Michelin Group but also of the MICHELIN Guide, which was created to assist travellers — and motorists in particular— by making their journeys more enjoyable. Now representing 23 countries and three continents, the collection of 26 MICHELIN Guides includes more than 45,000 addresses. In North America, a new MICHELIN Guide Chicago will be launched in mid-November. It will join New York and San Francisco as the only three U.S. cities with current guides. The MICHELIN Guide to Hong Kong and Macao was introduced in December 2008. A new MICHELIN Guide was also recently launched in Japan, covering Kyoto and Osaka. For more information, visit www.michelinguide.com.