WEBVTT - What does a tire company know about food? 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.640 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.119 and there's Charles w Chuck Bryant. Jerry's out there lurking 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:24.200 like an Internet weirdo, and this is stuff you should know. Yeah, 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.960 I've got a question for you. Okay, have you ever 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:33.440 been to a Michelin starred restaurant? Yes, I don't know 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.400 if I have or not. Surely you have, I don't know. 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.839 I mean I've never sought one out, sure, but I 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:44.560 may have accidentally done it. Uh, yeah, it's possible. Um, 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.239 there's there's a decent there's enough one star restaurants out 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.000 there that that is entirely possible. You've been to one 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.800 one star? Um? Actually, I've been to a three three 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.080 starred restaurant once. Yes. Well it was for a very 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:06.280 special occasions in my engagement. UM. I contacted our friend Hodgeman, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.280 who was kind enough to contact his friend Adam Sacks, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.760 who was a restaurant critic, UM, who pulled some strings 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.560 to get me reservations at Danielle in New York City. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:23.360 And it was a three star restaurant. It was amazing. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:29.119 It was just totally amazing. Yeah, I think, I mean, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.880 I went to Atlanta's not on and you'll you know, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.360 we'll go over all this in this episode, but Atlanta 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:38.520 is not covered under the Michelin Guide, but plains why 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.480 back Inalia doesn't have a star. Yeah, back Inalia or 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:43.839 Staple House, I could see having a star. I haven't 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.560 been there. Staple Houses the best meal I've ever had 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:52.840 in my life. What kind of food. It's a tasting menu. Um, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:58.200 just like wings, mostly wings, ribs, other things you can taste. 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.320 This sounds pretty good. Uh, it's very renowned Uh in 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.480 Atlanta and around the world, Like people fly to Atlanta 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.840 to go to Stable House. It's that good, and it's 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.440 it's really something else. It's the best meal I've ever had. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.239 And from the food to the service and the ambiance, 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.600 it was just It's a five star night, regardless of 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:23.480 what Michelin says. That's what my Yelp review is. But 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.519 doesn't that say everything about Michelin That the highest honor 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.440 you can get his three stars. It's like everybody else 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.760 is going with four or five. Michelin's like three tops, 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.560 you know. Yeah, But as as you'll see, this was 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:42.120 their star rating came out long before the Internet existed exactly. 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:46.600 Um and so you you might be like, Michelin, I've 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.160 never heard of that guy. But there's a tire company 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.000 called Michelan out there, and we are here to tell 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.920 you that they are one and the same company. That 0:02:55.040 --> 0:03:00.519 the tire manufacturer is also the publisher of the world's 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:07.160 most renowned restaurant guide of all time. Yeah, and and 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.720 once we explain it, it's like it's one of those 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.280 things that at the same time you say, oh, well, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.440 now I guess it makes sense, but also still very weird. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.600 It is, but it is part of this guid Yeah, 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.120 there's tire cartoon, tire man. If you're like, oh, you know, 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.840 this is pretty haughty stuff. No, one of their symbols 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.200 is the Michelin man licking his lips and making the 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.840 okay symbol. So let's all maintain a little bit of 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:40.960 perspective here, Okay. Yeah, absolutely so. Um So with the 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.800 with the the connection to the tired company, I think 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.560 it's a pretty satisfying explanation. But all the way back 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.560 in what was it the nineteenth century, for sure, I 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:57.160 believe eight nine, um Andre and Eduard Michelin started making 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.960 tires and this is you know, they're making bicycle time 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.760 tis I believe at first, Um, but they ended up 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.360 making tires for just about everything, including trains. I did 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.800 not know that there were tires for trains, but rubber 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.040 tires for trains. UM just had no idea that that 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.080 ever existed. Maybe it's one of those things where they 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.880 tried it and it failed spectacularly, but it's still worth remarking. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.000 I don't know if they're still around or not, but 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.800 these guys started making tires at a really good time 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.440 because UM, around that time, Uh, in addition to bikes, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.600 you also started to need tires for your car, and 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.279 the Michelin brothers were there for it. Apparently France was 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.320 like one of the early hot spots of um, the 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:44.120 auto manufacturing world around the turn of the last century. Yeah, 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.000 they built more cars than anyone else between eighteen ninety 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.480 and sort of the mid to late nineteen forties, and 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.040 they sold a ton of tires, and um, the Michelin 0:04:55.120 --> 0:05:00.360 man himself debuted in eight which is pretty remar parkable, 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.440 and there was I think, uh, I think it was 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.480 Dave Ru's right, Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, Dave can 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.279 point you and if you're in a place where you 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.039 can look this up on the internet. Um, just type 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.560 in bibendum b I b E N d U M, 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.599 which was the original name of the Michelin Man, which 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:25.119 comes from a Latin toast attributed to Horace uh Nun's sbendum. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.840 Now is the time to drink and just look up 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:33.080 the poster. Type in bibendum poster and you'll see what 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:37.160 is exactly a very creepy poster of an early Michelin 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.000 entire man. It's um it is very creepy and sort 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.320 of it is it's like, what is wrong with all 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:46.600 the people at the table. There's something terribly wrong with everybody. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.080 But apparently be Bendam is still his name in Europe, 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:55.120 or Bibbs affectionately. But um so the be bendum debuted 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.200 a little actually before the time of the guide. The 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.039 guide for made its appearance in nineteen hundred. And the 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.520 reason why the guide ever existed as far as the 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.920 Michelin Company's concerns, because they're the Michelin brothers were looking 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.520 for a way to um sell more tires by getting 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.479 people to drive more, and they figured, well, if we 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.680 make a guide book saying hey, you gotta check out 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:24.919 this place in Leone or Burgundy or Champagne Um or 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.080 sparkling Wine, like all these different places in France. Um. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.479 Then they'll actually go out and take road trips to 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.120 these places. And that was the origin of the Michelin Guide, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.279 was to tell people about all these different spots and 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.560 to make you know, to let you know about them, 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.640 and maybe you should go check this out. Yeah. So 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:48.520 um it was first given away for free when it debuted. Um, they, 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.760 like he said, we're just sort of listing restaurants where 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.000 you could go. But eventually in ninety six they started 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.479 recommending restaurants and uh, in nineteen thirty one is where 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.080 the star system was finally debuted, which is one star 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.200 a very good restaurant in its category, two stars excellent 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:12.920 cooking worth a detour, or three stars exceptional cuisine worth 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.520 a special journey. And uh, I really think they missed 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:21.720 a big opportunity by not rating these one to four tires. Uh. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.520 Instead they did one to three stars. But as Day 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.680 points out, if you'll notice, what they're saying is, hey, 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:32.880 this restaurant, you should really drive to your Michelin tires 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.400 a lot, right, Yeah, maybe lay some rubber and do 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.880 some donuts on the way totally. So that language is 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.040 still in use today. Like those are the current explanation 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.240 for stars as well, even though the point isn't to 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.720 get you to use up your tires, Uma, but they 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.280 do still signify the same thing, where like a three 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.680 star restaurant to the to the Michelin the editors of 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.800 the Michelin Guide is it's with a trip in and 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.160 of itself, like it's worth getting in a plane and 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.760 flying to a different country to eat this meal at 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.040 this restaurant and then getting on a plane and flying back. 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:14.280 That's basically what a three star Michelin rating means. That's right. Um. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.720 The first one outside of France was in Belgium in 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.400 nineteen o four. Uh, and then it kind of spread 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.000 through Europe with other guides North Africa. Um. They did 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.800 publish an English language version in nineteen o nine, but 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.720 it was just for France. Still. Um, America didn't get 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.679 its first guide and this is very surprising to me 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.680 until two thousand five when they started their guide to 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.440 New York City, because you know, they were like the 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.880 only good food in Americas in New York. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.480 and not only that, only good French restaurants are in 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.000 are what is in New York, in New York and 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:54.240 in America. You know, they took a lot of flak 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.439 for that first one. UM. In its defense, they didn't 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.160 they hadn't put together a team of American inspect or. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.080 They had they had used some of their existing European 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.600 inspectors to go over and they have no idea what 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.800 they're doing aside from French cuisine apparently, so they did 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.320 just basically put an American guide book out to the 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.800 best fresh French restaurants in New York. That was the 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.000 first American guide. But they have since as we'll see, 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:21.560 like really kind of um kept pace a lot more 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.520 since then. Yeah, they've tried to. Uh. The modern guide 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:30.199 has more than forty restaurants in thirty four countries here 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.240 in the States. You have New York. Uh, they cover 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.040 the state of California, and then the cities of Chicago 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.560 and Washington, d C. And that's all as far as 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.160 the US goes so far. Uh. And they sell these 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.080 things now they sold um they've sold thirty million of 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.480 them over the last hundred years. Uh. And then next 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.720 year they are going to hit in Moscow. Um. They 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.520 have them for Tokyo, Hong Kong, uh, sort of other 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.040 places all over the world. Now, like you said, because 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.720 they're trying to I think shed and we'll talk more 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.679 about this, but shed a little bit more of that 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:07.240 stag snooty only French kind of thing, right, which is 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.160 why they're releasing a guide book on Topeka next year 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:15.800 as well. So, um, if you uh, if you open 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.439 up one of these Michelin guides or go online, that's 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:22.080 all online as well too. Um. When you when you 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.360 hear about three stars, like that must be you know, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.439 a tremendous amount of detail explaining why and all that. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.080 That is not how a Michelin guides work. There's a 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.080 tremendous amount of work and effort and thought that's put 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.520 into um, the kind of rating or symbol that a 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.920 restaurant gets in the Michelin guide. But the guide itself 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.120 is basically like just trust us. Here's one star or 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.640 two stars or three stars or no stars. Here's a 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:51.080 little right up about the restaurant, what you can expect, um, 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.440 the chef and what the chef's known for. And in 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.320 a couple of paragraphs they they make or break a 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.319 restaurant around the world old. Yeah, and they have UM 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.640 very I mean, if you don't know anything about it 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.200 and you just pop it open, like you said that, 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.960 you could get confused by all the weird symbols that 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.320 it uses to convey their qualities. UM. We'll get into 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.640 some of those in a minute. But UM, the star is, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.679 you know, obviously the highest honor you can get. UM. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:23.440 The criteria, there are five criteria to judge um these 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.280 restaurants for stars. It's not it's only about the food. 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.920 It's not the decord, it's not the service or the 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.800 ambiance or where it is. It's literally just the food 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.400 on the plate. Uh. And these five criteria, which are 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:40.840 quality of the ingredients, mastery of flavor and the cooking techniques, UH, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.240 personality of the chef, UM, the harmony of flavors, and 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.680 then the consistency between the visits. UM. I also saw 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.040 value for money? Is that not one? I didn't see 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.560 that anywhere except in this thing that we were given. 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.840 Did you see that elsewhere? Now? I saw that that 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.600 would make much more sense for the bib rmand, which 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.040 we'll talk about. Yeah. I mean this was taken Uh. 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.880 I got mine from an interview within actual New Yorker. Okay, yeah, 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.839 I missed that part. So um, when you put all 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.400 those criteria together, and again, like you said, it's just 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.120 they're just talking about the food. But they're talking about 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:22.960 the food too, the point where a three star rating 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:29.319 means that that restaurant puts out consistently, over time, technically 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:36.440 scientifically perfect food no matter what you order, and no 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:38.400 matter what time of day, no matter what day of 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.160 the year, no matter who you are, you're going to 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.560 go in and get a perfect meal every time. That's 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.040 what a three star rating is. And there's a lot 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.040 of criticism of those criteria, as we'll see, but it 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:56.280 really is a remarkable, a remarkable thing that they're they're 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.640 basically saying, like, this is a perfect meal no matter 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.000 what you order. That's that's kind of hard to find 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.239 in other industries. You're not just like well like, um, 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.920 you know this is a this is a perfect shoe 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.880 that I'm wearing. You know, if it fits this This 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.640 is weird. You know, five boxes of criteria that are 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:19.040 being checked off no matter what what shoe model, shoe, 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.880 the shoe is going to be perfect, no matter what 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.559 that's You don't find that everywhere else. You know that 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.280 I really love that symbol or that analogy. Thank you. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.079 Uh So, there are only a hundred three stars worldwide. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.280 There are four hundred and fifty nine two stars and 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.440 two thousand, four d and eighty six one star restaurants. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:47.239 A man, very famous man um chef name Elaine Dukasa. 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:52.240 How do you pronounce that? I think it's Ellen. I 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.120 think there's so much French in here that I'm gonna murder. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.920 But um, he has the He has thirty six restaurants 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:03.360 in between them, twenty Michelin stars, including three three star restaurants, 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.559 which is quite an accomplishment. Um And I think we 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.400 should take a break maybe, and then we'll talk about 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.760 some of those more weird symbols in the guide. Does 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:49.880 that sound good? Lallah learn it's too with Joshua John. So, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.680 the Michelin Guide is most well known for the stars 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.440 that it gives, right, um and, we should say, even 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.680 being mentioned in the Michelin Guide, it's not like a 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.160 comprehensive listing of restaurants in It's like, these are the 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.200 most noteworthy restaurants in New York and then the starred 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.960 ones are the best of the most noteworthy. Um So, 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.880 just being in there is is an honor um, but 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:17.240 they I guess it's kind of like recognition that there 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.000 are some restaurants out there there are still really good 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.160 and that you should still go check out. They just 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.200 don't necessarily check the boxes of the five criteria of 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.280 the perfect meal every single time, but it's still definitely 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.320 worth checking out. They came up with other criteria and 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.480 they found um. The first one, I believe, which it 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.160 came out in nineteen, was the Bib Gourmond that we 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.520 we mentioned a minute ago. Um and Bib being again 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.320 Bi Bendam or the Michelin Man. Yeah, this is like 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:52.160 his faves totally, as evidenced by him licking his lips. 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:57.000 Give me the okay symbol? Yeah, so um, you're right. 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.280 It started in the fifties as uh. The original symbol 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.360 is a little red are which stood for our E 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.320 p a s French for meal. I'm not going to 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:15.120 pronounce it, but it's basically Gorman means good little restaurant, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.520 and it actually comes out it's it's in, it's the 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.400 regular guy, but it also comes out as its own 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:24.840 separate guide, Um, the Bib Gourman Guide after the Michelin Guide, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.560 is published, and these are good quality, good value cooking. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.320 And the idea is that you can go to a 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.800 bib Gourman restaurant and you can get what they say 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.720 is a three course meal. I also saw one of 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.000 the inspectors say like a main course, a dessert, and 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.400 a glass of wine, but like kind of like three 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:48.560 things for about forty dollars per person, which they consider 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.440 a good value. And that is if you're talking like 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.880 really really good stuff. Um and three thousand three six 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.240 restaurants right now are listed as bib Gourmand's. Yeah, so 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.480 it's a kind of like anybody can pick that up 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.120 and be like, let's see where we're gonna go to 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.680 dinner tonight. Basically, you know, um, forty dollars. You could 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.520 you can drop forty dollars a person at like um 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.280 out back pretty easily. So that that is pretty that 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:19.040 is pretty remarkable that they I guarantee it's eleven or 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.960 twelve bucks. You think, sure, let's look right now you talk. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.159 I'm gonna look up how much a bloomen onion is. 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:29.840 I gotta say, I haven't been to an outback steakhouse since, uh, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.600 I don't know, probably two decades but um, that bloomin 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.640 onion is bloom and delicious. Uh yeah, yeah, for sure 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.560 and delicious. You made a joke while we were on 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.800 UM on the road the other day about how we 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.040 should go to out Back and I was like, yeah, 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.040 blue an onion would be pretty good. But it turns 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:48.639 out it was just a joke and we didn't end 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:53.919 up there. Mm hmm. How's that for an anecdote? It's 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:55.760 good until the part where you didn't go and get 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.440 one of those bluemen onions on your road trip, right, 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:04.000 so you can get yourself bluemn onion for eight dollars 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.720 and nine cents I stay corrected, all right? That sounds 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.359 about right with tax though you're approaching ten. Yeah, and 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.679 if you want a regular size cheese fries it's eleven bucks. 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.760 So but you gotta get some extra sauce with that 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.000 bluemen onion, so that probably pushes it over ten unless 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.760 that's a freebe I don't know how they were gallon size? 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:26.040 Uh were you? Were you thinking the bluemen onion was 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.640 going to make an appearance in this episode on Michelin 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:33.520 Stars and did not? Um? I give that four tires though? 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.879 All right? So another symbol they have is the plate 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.280 to Michelin. How are you gonna pronounce that in French? Uh? 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.280 Las yet? Yeah? Las yet? That sounds about right. Uh. 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.879 This is a symbol of a dinner plate flanked by 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:53.040 a knife and a fork. This debuted in and this 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.680 is just good cooking. Uh it is not. It means 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.560 it doesn't have a star. It's not a bib gourmon. 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.880 But they call it quote simply good food. I'm not 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.840 entirely sure what the distinction is between the plate in 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:09.840 the bib gourmand rating it. I think it's money. Okay, 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.280 so this could still be expensive or is it cheaper 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.200 than the bib gourmand. No, no, I think the bib 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.880 gorman is specifically cheap, and the plate to Michelin can 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.720 be pricey but just not good enough for a star, 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.840 just not good enough. It's like a substar rating. I 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:31.080 guess substar, but more expensive than forty bucks a person. Okay, 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.240 otherwise it would be a big gormant. They also one 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.760 other way to kind of understand the bib gourmand is um. 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.639 We'll talk about the inspectors a little bit um in 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.920 a in a minute, but um, apparently the ratings are 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.560 they used a hive mind kind of thing where they'll 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.000 have different inspectors go to see what they think about 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.520 an inspector's rating of a restaurant, and then they kind 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.160 of pull them all together and the average is what 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.399 the what the restaurant gets. Um, that was one explanation 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:06.000 I saw, and by proxy, the bib Gourmand is say, 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.080 like one inspectors like, if you happen to be talking 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.360 to a Michelin inspectrum and said, what's your what's your 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.159 real favorite restaurant in this town, they'd probably give you 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.760 a big Gourmand recommendation. Not necessarily everyone in the Michelin 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.400 organization would would agree that it deserves a star three stars, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.760 But this one inspectors like, this is really honestly the 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.200 best restaurant in town. Right, And then they would take 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.320 you into an alley and strangle you to death because 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.399 you're not supposed to know who I am write exactly. 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:37.439 You am so sorry, but you know too much like 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.879 the talent to Mr Ripley at the end, Oh spoiler? 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:47.320 Uh was it? No? It doesn't matter? Okay? Uh. You 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.639 have the Green Star, which debut just last year that 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:55.800 has restaurants and chefs who are practicing sustainable gastronomy UM, 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:01.040 sourcing locally, reducing waste, renewable energy in the restaurants. Uh. 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:05.480 Then you have the covert or covers uh. And that 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.639 is based I think. I mean, the food's got to 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.560 be good too, but it's really has to do with ambiance. 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.760 You can get one to five covers um, which means 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:16.240 like if you really want to go to a like 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.080 a special, like a romantic dinner or something, you might 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.680 want to look under the cover section. Yeah. And and 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.239 to make it even more arcane and obscure that you 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.000 can have five covers, but if it's in black ink, 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.880 it's not as good as a few covers in red ink. Yeah, 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.080 a little confusing. So if you have if there's a 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:37.920 place that has five covers in red ink, it's their 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:43.800 most charming, splendid um atmosphere of any restaurant they've ever encountered. Um. 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.359 But yet it does surely it has to do. It 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:48.440 takes the food into account to they're not going to 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.720 send you like a slop bucket that's really charming, but 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.399 they the whereas the stars are just the food. This 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.720 kind of takes into account the ambiance more. Yeah, and 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:03.000 then they started. You can see symbols for different specialties 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:05.840 in different regions, Like in Spain they'll have a little 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:09.840 toothpick and wine symbol for tapas like the best tapas places, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.199 and the UK and Ireland they'll have beer mugs for 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:16.320 the best pubs. If you see little grape symbols, that 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.000 means someone might have a really good wine list, or 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.240 a cocktail glass obviously for good cocktails, or a sake bottle, 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:26.720 stuff like that. So if you see all these little symbols, obviously, 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:29.560 I'm sure there's a uh, what do you call it? 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:34.720 A legend? Yeah, legend It explains all this stuff. But 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:37.520 we're here to do that for you. Yeah, from what 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:39.600 I can tell, you have to be basically a trained 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.320 Michelin inspector to decipher some of this stuff once it 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:45.760 gets real deep. You know. Well, we've been seeing this 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.760 word inspector without explaining that, and people are probably going, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:54.879 why do they keep talking about detectives, But we're not 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:57.840 talking about detectives. We're talking about inspectors, which is their 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.719 word for reviews. Yeah. Actually I don't even think they 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.560 call them that. They call them um anonymous restaurant. Oh no, 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.240 they do call them inspectors. I'm sorry I misread um 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.239 so well. And that makes a lot of sense too, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.400 because there is this definite haughtiness to this whole thing. 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.719 But at the same time, from what Michelin has finally 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.680 started to choose to reveal about its inspectors, UM, they 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.160 do seem to actually be worthy of such a kind 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:34.520 of haughty title. UM. They are typically trained in and 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.600 having like real life experience in the hospitality industry, the 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:44.959 restaurant industry, UM, hotel industry, UM. And they will train 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:49.000 uh and actually go through this kind of um vetting 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:52.520 process for about a year basically that also includes an 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.920 apprenticeship because this is not the kind of thing where 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:58.080 you can be like, oh, these are the five criteria. 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:02.040 I totally understand this. It's a lot more nerve racking 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.680 than that. And also, if you ask me, the best 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:09.880 way to lose love of food would be to become 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:13.720 a Michelin restaurant inspector because it sounds like a lot 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:18.840 of not fun work. Yes, I would much rather just go, uh, 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.320 you know, enjoy a meal at a restaurant than have 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:25.240 to review it any day of the week. Yeah, there's 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:28.960 a cool article I read from Forbes from twenty nineteen 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:33.040 by Carla Allen Do called the Secret Life of an 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:38.200 Anonymous Michelin Restaurant Inspector, where they talked to this woman 0:24:38.240 --> 0:24:41.200