{"id":13690,"date":"2026-11-09T14:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T14:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/13690\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T14:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T14:05:18","slug":"michelin-in-pittsburgh-chefs-talk-pressure-costs-and-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/13690\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelin in Pittsburgh: chefs talk pressure, costs and stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three days after Michelin announced it was coming to Pittsburgh, Cory Hughes, chef and co-owner of Fig & Ash, received a review that stunned him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Michelin coming to town, we expected more out of Fig & Ash,\u201d Hughes recalls the reviewer writing. He was \u201csitting there with my jaw open.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do what we do,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t cook for awards, Michelin or James Beard. We cook the food we enjoy cooking and serve the guests we enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fig & Ash had not changed, Hughes says, but diners were already talking about the restaurant differently. Over time, though, he says he\u2019s come to see Michelin as a chance to bring visitors, investment and chefs back to Pittsburgh. \u201cAnything that highlights Pittsburgh is good for all restaurants,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Still, Hughes does not want Michelin to change what Fig & Ash is. He built the restaurant around \u201cgoing to a chef\u2019s house for Sunday dinner,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s comfort food to me,\u201d and he won\u2019t change how the restaurant works just because inspectors are in town<\/p>\n

Who pays for the guide to come?<\/p>\n

The Michelin Guide is expanding its Great Lakes coverage to include Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Cincinnati. Michelin says inspectors dine anonymously, pay their own bills and evaluate food according to five criteria.<\/p>\n

Christian Frangiadis, chef of One by Spork and owner of Spork, is glad Michelin is coming, especially for the tourism it could bring. He describes the arrangement as a bit of \u201cpay-to-play,\u201d because cities pay to bring the guide to their region, but stresses that restaurants cannot buy stars.<\/p>\n

\"\"Christian Frangiadis, head chef of One by Spork and owner of Spork. Photo courtesy of Spork. <\/p>\n

Wholesale food supplier Sysco has sponsored several Michelin Guide ceremonies, including the 2025 Northeast Cities event in Philadelphia. There, the company served as the event\u2019s official food distributor, and a Sysco executive presented the Young Chef Award. Sysco also noted that some of its customers could receive Michelin distinctions. That ceremony partnership prompted questions among some chefs and restaurateurs about the guide\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from NEXTpittsburgh, the Michelin Guide said its partnership with Sysco ended in 2025 and that commercial arrangements have no bearing on its restaurant ratings.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommercial partnerships do not influence which restaurants are selected, inspected or recognized,\u201d Michelin said in a statement. \u201cThe MICHELIN Guide\u2019s restaurant selections are based solely on the independent assessments of our inspectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

What troubles Frangiadis is how little restaurants know about the people assessing them. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any control over what happens,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause it\u2019s so secret and we don\u2019t know many details, you wonder: What\u2019s the purpose? Who is inspecting you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it Ruth Reichl, or somebody who wrote an article in the State and Observer in 1979?\u201d he adds. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Wabeck, wine director at Del Frisco\u2019s Double Eagle Steakhouse and a former chef, questions whether sponsorships could undermine Michelin\u2019s appearance of independence. \u201cI want the process to be as anonymous as possible,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce you take a penny from anyone, you\u2019ve got nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does a star mean?<\/p>\n

Frangiadis says he has eaten at \u201creally mediocre three-star Michelin restaurants\u201d and \u201cincredible one-star Michelin restaurants.\u201d The criteria, he says, \u201chave branched out a lot and changed quite a bit.\u201d The ratings seem different \u201cfrom place to place and judge to judge.\u201d<\/p>\n

He compares Michelin with The World\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants, which has recognized outstanding restaurants in places outside Michelin\u2019s restaurant guide coverage. Copenhagen\u2019s Noma, which topped the 50 Best list multiple times, held two Michelin stars during some of those years. These systems do not produce a single, universal ranking, Frangiadis says. \u201cDoes that mean there are 300 or so three-star restaurants better than Noma?\u201d he asks. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Pekarcik of Local Provisions and formerly of Spoon, is a Pittsburgh-born chef and restaurateur who previously worked with Gary Danko and Bradley Ogden in California. He sees Michelin as a chance for Pittsburgh to be measured nationally. Before Michelin came to the United States, James Beard Awards and Mobil stars were among the benchmarks he followed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brian, Gillian, Hope and Jessica Pekarcik. Photo by Laura Petrilla courtesy of Local Provisions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing because it finally gives Pittsburgh national accreditation and a national standard,\u201d he says. \u201cEven if standards vary from market to market, it at least accredits Pittsburgh\u2019s restaurant scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Pekarcik questions how evenly Michelin applies its standards as it moves into smaller markets. \u201cThere didn\u2019t seem to be a consistent measure of who received one star, two stars or none. It seems so relative to the critic, the Michelin reviewer and that person\u2019s standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pekarcik sees today\u2019s chefs building on a previous generation\u2019s effort to raise Pittsburgh\u2019s dining standards. He names Lilith and Fet-Fisk as restaurants pushing the scene forward. \u201cIt\u2019s long overdue for them to be compared with restaurants in bigger markets,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fet-Fisk\u2019s dining room. Photo by Roman Hladio.<\/p>\n

Dave DeSimone, a longtime Pittsburgh food and wine writer, sees an opportunity beyond stars, too. Michelin\u2019s Bib Gourmand highlights more casual restaurants offering good food at moderate prices. Pittsburgh has \u201cplenty of potential candidates,\u201d he says, though he wonders how the guide will find them without experienced local reviewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSimone also relays a saying among French chefs: One star can \u201cmake\u201d a restaurant, while two or three can \u201cbreak\u201d it \u2014 bringing overwhelming attention and pressure to maintain the honor.<\/p>\n

What might recognition demand?<\/p>\n

Hughes thinks staffing will be a major hurdle for Pittsburgh restaurants trying to raise the level of cooking and service. \u201cChanging what you do and making sure every service and every plate is perfect can only happen with more staffing,\u201d he says. Many kitchens, he adds, write menus around the staff they have.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars\u201d is a documentary series about the strain of pursuing the guide. \u201cThe pressure is astronomical,\u201d says Hughes. \u201cWhen I see restaurants trying to push for stars, all I can see are ulcers, anxiety and hundred-hour workweeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes hopes Michelin may also prompt diners to pay closer attention to how food is prepared. He criticizes restaurants that, in his view, rely on national chain food distributors for prep and reheat sauces.<\/p>\n

There are broader reasons to ask what recognition can cost. Research on Michelin\u2019s New York expansion found that receiving a star was associated with a higher likelihood of restaurant closure. A separate study of Michelin reviews and chef interviews in New York and San Francisco found racialized patterns in how cuisines were evaluated.<\/p>\n

Wabeck worries that restaurants may spend more on staff, d\u00e9cor and elaborate menus to compete, then pass those costs to diners. \u201cIf Michelin is here and people start chasing stars instead of regular guests, making guests feel welcome and giving them a reason to come back, I hope they don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Chef Csilla Thackray. Photo courtesy of Titusz.<\/p>\n

Csilla Thackray, chef at Titusz, looks at Michelin as a distant concern for her \u201cfledgling restaurant.\u201d The restaurant opened earlier this year. \u201cThere\u2019s no way we deserve that,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re new and just getting our footing and trying to, like, find our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

She worries that making a star the goal could displace the purpose of hospitality. \u201cIf the goal is to get there, I think something\u2019s lost,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s smaller market, with fewer resources than larger food cities, may also make the guide\u2019s standards difficult to meet.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh, Thackray says, can feel insular and protective of what it has. Some people may worry that Michelin will bring outside expectations and push the city to become \u201clike New York.\u201d She adds, \u201cI don\u2019t know how founded that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelin may bring Pittsburgh a wider audience, but it cannot decide what makes a meal worth returning for, Wabeck says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters more to me now is that people walk out the door happy,\u201d Wabeck says.<\/p>\n

Which area restaurants do local chefs think deserve Michelin recognition? We asked them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three days after Michelin announced it was coming to Pittsburgh, Cory Hughes, chef and co-owner of Fig & Ash, received a review that stunned him. \u201cWith Michelin coming to town, we expected more out of Fig & Ash,\u201d Hughes recalls the reviewer writing. He was \u201csitting there with my jaw open.\u201d \u201cWe do what we<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2777,5,2052,10641],"class_list":["post-13690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-best-restaurants","tag-chef","tag-michelin-guide","tag-pittsburgh-chefs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117586868474486964","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}