Tag: Michelin Star

The newest Michelin Guide includes 19 restaurants in the Triangle, from avant garde fine dining to a barbecue trailer in the Raleigh suburbs.

For a century, the Michelin Guide has been the most coveted culinary honor in the world, bestowing its star system on the best restaurants in the biggest food cities.

On Monday, Michelin unveiled its latest guide, The American South, which rates restaurants in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Michelin is most famous for its star system, awarding one, two or three stars on the very best restaurants in the world. A Three Michelin Star restaurant represents an exclusive and rare tier of food quality and dining excellence, two stars means “excellent cooking” and one star is “high quality” cooking.

Simply earning one star would represent a monumental achievement in the restaurant world.

Only one North Carolina restaurant earned a Michelin Star, Counter in Charlotte. Owned by chef Sam Hart, Counter also earned a Green Star, recognizing the restaurant’s sustainability practices.

In the Triangle, 19 restaurants are included in the American South Guide. Of those, 15 earned a “Michelin Recommended” designation, representing “good cooking” in the region. Three others earned Bib Gourmand honors, which highlight good quality restaurants that also offer a good value, according to inspectors.

Michelin was expected to unveil its new American South guide Monday night, Nov. 3, at a ceremony in Greenville, SC, but instead appeared to release the list Monday morning. Michelin has not confirmed the restaurant selections included in the email

The Triangle’s Michelin Bib Gourmand honorees

The Bib Gourmand restaurants, which Michelin recognizes as “eateries for great food at a great value.”

• Mala Pata Molino & Cocina, 2431 Crabtree Blvd Suite 102, Raleigh
• Prime Barbecue, 403 Knightdale Station Run, Knightdale
• Sam Jones BBQ, 502 W. Lenoir St., Raleigh

Michelin Recommended restaurants in Raleigh, Durham, Cary

Here are the Michelin Recommended restaurants, which means “simply a good meal.”

• Brewery Bhavana, 218 S Blount St, Raleigh
• Brodeto, 2201 Iron Works Dr suite 137, Raleigh
• Crawford & Son, 618 N. Person St., Raleigh
• Dampf Good BBQ, 6800 Good Hope Church Rd., Cary
• Herons, 100 Woodland Pond Dr, Cary
• Jolie, 620 N. Person St., Raleigh
• Little Bull, 810 N. Mangum St., Durham
• Nanas, 2514 University Dr., Durham
• Nikos, 905 W Main St Unit 21B, Durham
• Poole’s Diner, 428 S. McDowell St., Raleigh
• St Roch Fine Oysters + Bar, 223 S Wilmington St, Raleigh
• Seraphine, 324 Blackwell St Suite 4, Durham
• Stanbury, 938 N Blount St, Raleigh
• Tamasha Modern Indian, 4200 Six Forks Rd Suite # 130, Raleigh
• The Fearrington House, 230 Market St, Pittsboro
• The Pit Authentic BBQ, 328 W Davie St, Raleigh

How Michelin divides NC

With the American South guide, Michelin is introducing a new regional culinary look, rather than focusing on a state or major city. Throughout the seven states included in the guide, Michelin selected 228 restaurants offering 44 different cuisines, by its own count.

Beyond the single star for Counter, Michelin gave North Carolina seven Bib Gourmand designations and 37 Michelin Recommended honors.

To be in the Michelin guide, Visit NC and tourism offices Visit Raleigh, Discover Durham, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority and Explore Asheville will pay Michelin a little more than $1 million over the course of a three-year deal.

In this first year of the guide, Michelin selected only restaurants in those cities or metro areas.

North Carolina BBQ shines

While Michelin has a global reputation for recognizing fine dining, the new American South guide also put a spotlight on North Carolina’s greatest regional delicacy: barbecue.

Four Triangle barbecue joints were selected in this first guide — Prime Barbecue and Sam Jones BBQ — which each nabbed Bib Gourmand honors. The outdoor barbecue trailer Dampf Good BBQ in Cary and the influential barbecue institution The Pit were also included.

“I’m literally blown away to be honored by such a prestigious organization,” Sam Jones said in an email. “Being a fourth-generation BBQ man, I wish my family who have gone before me could see where barbecue has gone and the opportunities we’ve had to take what they’ve started in a literal hole in the ground in Ayden, N.C. to a national spotlight. It’s nice to see the hard work and effort that we collectively put in on a daily basis be recognized and I’m glad that the torch that was passed to me burns brighter today than it did before.”

Crawford crushes

Raleigh chef Scott Crawford stands out on the North Carolina list with three Michelin Recommended restaurants: his flagship Crawford & Son, French bistro Jolie and ode to the Adriatic Sea, Brodeto.

Most of Crawford’s career has been spent in luxury hotel dining throughout the South, leading fine dining kitchens at some of the region’s top resorts, including time at Herons and the Umstead Hotel in Cary. Staying in the south previously meant foregoing the pursuit of Michelin honors in New York or San Francisco or Chicago, but not anymore Crawford said.

“Just Michelin coming here means the South is to be taken seriously for its restaurants and hospitality and its food,” Crawford said. “That alone is extraordinary. There are so many great and talented chefs working in the South doing amazing work. It’s gratifying to have them looking here and taking that work seriously and that that commitment to excellence is being recognized.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM.