"MichelinStars" news and stories

Photo: Michelin.

Michelin's "New York City Restaurants 2010" dining guide was released this week, bumping up Daniel Boulud's Daniel restaurant to three stars while stripping Mario Batali's Del Posto of a star.

Daniel is in small company in the three-star category of "exceptional cuisine and worth the journey." Masa, Per Se, Jean Georges and Le Bernardin also retained their three-star ratings.

Del Posto dropped from the two-star category ("excellent cooking and worth a detour") to one star ("a very good restaurant in its category").

Other restaurants that saw significant changes include the Italian restaurant Alto, with a bump up to two stars and Corton, which also won a double star.

What do you think of guidebook ratings? Let us know in the comments below.

For years, Michelin has been awarding top chefs and restaurants 'Michelin Stars' for outstanding achievement in fine dining. Though they release an annual guide, the general population seems to remain unaware of which restaurants are actually rated as 3-star, 2-star, etc.

Now, in a clever marketing move, all restaurants that have been awarded Michelin stars will display a 30-foot tall inflatable Michelin Man on their roofs, leaving no question whatsoever to observers that they have received the honor. Further, the establishments will display multiple inflatables for each star they have received - for instance Gordon Ramsay and Joel Robuchon will each have three of the enormous balloon-like figures adorning the tops of their restaurants.

They have just released a picture of the first restaurant to display the Michelin Man inflatable, which can be viewed after the jump.