Last year, Atlanta received its very first Michelin Guide. Now the inaugural restaurants honored with stars have a few more compatriots on the list.
On Monday evening, the Michelin Guide announced its 2024 rankings for A-Town, with four new restaurants added to the little red book. All of those spots netted just one star, and the five one-starred restaurants from last year all retained that honor this year.
“As we toast to year two of the MICHELIN Guide in Atlanta, the passion and talent of the local gastronomy community continues to impress the anonymous Inspectors,” Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, said in a statement. “Congratulations to the city of Atlanta for another outstanding year for their restaurant and hospitality community.”
Dishes from Spring
Claire Maureen
The four new restaurants encompass just a couple of cuisines—Japanese and contemporary. In the former category you have O by Brush and Omakase Table. The inspectors commended O by Brush, an omakase counter run by the chef Jason Liang, for dishes such as “beautifully rich shima aji” and a dry-aged hirame and kanpachi tasting that they called “a delightful surprise.” Over at Omakase Table, they lauded the chef Leonard Yu’s “balance of variety and seasonality,” found in plates like uni gohan with otoro and corn potage.
As for the contemporary restaurants, Michelin honored Spring and Staplehouse. At Spring, the inspectors highlighted the chef Brian So’s house-made sourdough, pan-seared wild king salmon with Hollandaise sauce and trout roe, and maple-glazed cruller. At Staplehouse, they emphasized the hearty tasting menu, which includes a cabbage course, grilled sirloin steak with morel mushrooms, and a citrus tart with honeycomb candy.
The Michelin Guide has been on a bit of an expansion tear when it comes to the United States. Along with adding Atlanta last year, the culinary bible also began rating restaurants in Colorado. And this year, it’s finally looking at Texas’s culinary scene, with the inaugural guide for the Lone Star State set to be announced on November 11 during a ceremony in Houston. Much of this expansion is helped along by monetary contributions from the cities’ tourism departments, but Michelin has said that its rankings are decided without any outside influence.
While the list in Atlanta has now expanded to a total of nine restaurants, the city has yet to surpass the one-star mark. Perhaps restaurants will start gunning for that additional star next year.
