The Michelin Guide has spoken — in ways expected and unexpected.
At a ceremony Wednesday at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the guide, the world’s foremost source of culinary recognition, revealed its honorees for the inaugural Michelin Guide Southwest covering Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The evening marked a return after Michelin had ended its official presence in Las Vegas following its 2008-09 guide to the city.
Stars, but not all three
Joël Robuchon in the MGM Grand, the only Vegas spot ever to receive the top Michelin rating of three stars, garnered two on Wednesday, the sole restaurant in the region to do so (there were no three-star honorees). Guy Savoy in Caesars Palace (also a previous Michelin honoree), L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon (the more casual sibling of the main restaurant) and é by José Andrés all received one stars.
None of these awards was surprising — all had been mentioned beforehand by Vegas hospitality professionals and restaurant watchers as potential winners. So had Esther’s Kitchen, which received a Bib Gourmand award recognizing restaurants that offer outstanding food for good value.
China Poblano (also a José Andrés restaurant) and Yen Viet Kitchen (a Chinatown spot many had never heard of) were not part of the pre-ceremony buzz, but they still got nods for Bib Gourmands.
And buzz only means so much when it comes to the Michelin Guide, which is famously secretive in order to preserve its credibility and independence. Michelin inspectors remain anonymous, and the details of the inspection process are not revealed. Moreover, in the Southwest as elsewhere, assessment teams consisted of local, national and international inspectors.
Some surprising honorees
Seventeen Vegas restaurants received a Michelin recommendation that denotes restaurants serving high-quality, skillfully prepared food that have not been given a star or Bib Gourmand. In chatter leading up to the ceremony, 10 of these were touted as potential recipients of some sort of Michelin recognition: Anima by EDO, Cote Las Vegas, Gymkhana, Michael Mina, Mott 32, Partage, SoulBelly BBQ, Sparrow + Wolf, Stubborn Seed and Wing Lei (which at one time had a Michelin star).
There were seven other recommended restaurants, and the inclusion of five of them (Bouchon, Estiatorio Milos, Lamaii, Pho Ga Bac Bac, Ping Pang Pong) was at least somewhat surprising, to judge by comments made by attendees following the ceremony. (The remaining two are Kabuto and Kame Omakase.)
Of the 24 winning Vegas restaurants, nine are included among the Top 100 Restaurants in Las Vegas for 2026, a list compiled by the Las Vegas Review Journal. Of the record-breaking 14 semifinalist nominations this year in the James Beard Awards, only two involve restaurants — Partage and Sparrow + Wolf — recognized in the debut Southwest Guide.
A noteworthy omission
Not surprising, the Michelin honorees from Vegas generated extensive comment on social media. Many of the reactions were standard-issue grumbling, people online substituting their snap judgments for the results of a Michelin inspection process refined over 125 years, but it’s worth noting one frequently raised question: Why didn’t the honorees include Tamba?
This year, the modern Indian restaurant was included in the Top 100 and was a finalist in the national Best Restaurant category for the Beard Awards. Many people with palates worth paying attention to consider Tamba one of the finest restaurants to open in Vegas in the past several years. So, again, why the omission? Michelin will never tell.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at [email protected]. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.