Michelin Missed the Mark in the Mile High. Here's How

"It's incredibly exciting to see how the Colorado Michelin Guide will evolve and grow," said Tim Wolfe, director of the Colorado Tourism Office, at the September 9 ceremony celebrating the restaurants included in this year's edition of the renowned dining guide, the second to include spots in this state.

And it is exciting. The energy in the room was certainly celebratory as members of the hospitality community cheered for each other — particularly loudly for the state's newest one-star restaurant, Alma Fonda Fina.

But the Michelin Guide's strategy is also kind of baffling.

Category confusion

Take the Bib Gourmand choices, for example — the places described as "restaurants that offer high-quality food at pocket-friendly prices." That description also fits most of the 28 restaurants that retained Recommended status, as well as the two 2024 additions to that list, Brasserie Brixton and Kawa Ni. Being Recommended is "a sign of a chef using quality ingredients that are well cooked; simply a good meal," according to the Michelin website.

If price point is the difference between Recommended and Bib Gourmand, though, Tavernetta's inclusion as a Bib is mystifying. Sure, it offers one of my favorite happy hours in town and a solid deal for a midday deal (two courses for $30 and an optional $20 half-glass wine pairing), but an average dinner there definitely falls more into the splurge meal category than "pocket-friendly."

Last year, there was a fair amount of surprise that Tavernetta landed on that Bib list and not in the star category — but it made more sense because all five of the places that got stars in 2023 were high-end tasting menu concepts, while diners order à la carte at Tavernetta.

Given that, when I was making predictions for this year's list, I considered the tasting-menu precedent set last year and didn't see any plausible candidates for new stars except for a possible second for fine-dining stalwart Frasca — which didn't happen,

Instead, a star was bestowed on Alma Fonda Fina — an extremely happy surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. Not because Alma Fonda Fina isn't top-notch; chef/owner Johnny Curiel, his wife, Kasie, and their team bring so much passion to the plate and have created a very special place. But this is a spot where you order à la carte (even at the chef's counter), and the service model is less buttoned-up than the other starred restaurants.

But with Michelin being so new to the market, there's no track record for guesses. And the general consensus in the room was that while it's a huge honor to get a star and it's nice to be included in any way and recognized for hard work in a tough industry, "We're just happy to be here," as several people noted.

A lot of other people weren't there, though.

Why were there so few additions?

The biggest Michelin surprise — and disappointment — was how few restaurants were added this year.

After the first Colorado edition of the Michelin Guide was announced last year (at a much more awkward ceremony held in the cavernous Mission Ballroom), I wrote that "the most surprising aspect of the Bib [Gourmand] picks is how short the list is compared to those of other U.S. regions, such as Florida, whose inaugural guide last year included 29 Bibs."  Colorado had just nine.

So as the date for this year's announcement grew closer, I was optimistic that many of the favorites left out last year would be included this time around.

Instead, Michelin made just four additions — and dropped two spots. The newcomers are all excellent picks  — here's to Alma, Brasserie Brixton, Kawa Ni and Bib Gourmand addition MAKfam (all of which are also on Westword's top 100 restaurants list).

But what about Lucina? Spuntino? Molotov? Sushi Den? Major Tom? Somebody People? The Bindery? Wildflower?
And what about Sắp Sửa!? Last year, I chalked up that exclusion to the restaurant being too new — it opened just over two months before the first guide was released. But this year, Ni and Anna Nguyen's innovative Vietnamese restaurant was again MIA, an omission made even more glaring when it landed on Bon Appetit's list of the twenty best new restaurants in the country the very same day Michelin left it out.

Then there's the awkward exclusions of places like Annette in Aurora, Rootstalk and Radicato in Breckenridge, Bin 707 in Grand Junction and Pêche in Palisade simply because of geography: Michelin inspectors only visit restaurants in the areas where Destination Marketing Organizations such as Visit Denver and Visit Boulder foot some of the marketing costs associated with the guide.

But in that case...why not Marigold in Lyons? After some confusion last year surrounding whether only restaurants within the city of Boulder would be considered or if the area included all of Boulder County, we got this explanation from Carly Grieff, external communications for Michelin: "The Inspection team's boundaries were county-wide (Boulder County) as they were assessing restaurants for possible inclusion." If that's true, this was another big miss.

And not only were there a very low number of additions, but all of them were in Denver (though Jessenia Sanabria of Sweet Basil in Vail won the Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award and Chris Dunaway of Element 47 in Aspen got the Michelin Sommelier Award). That left a lot of the people at the ceremony wondering how the organizations footing the bill in the other areas of the state were feeling...

So is Michelin short of inspectors? How many restaurants did they manage to visit in the past year? Not enough, it seems.

Why was Potager dropped?

While Michelin added four Denver spots to the Colorado list, it also dropped two. One was Bib Gourmand pick AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q; I've only been there twice since it opened in 2019 and can't speak to any major changes, but it seems plausible that an inspector may have had a meal there that was a miss.

But what about Potager — a pioneer in Colorado's farm-to-table scene that's going stronger than ever under current owners Paul and Eileen Warthen, who took it over from founder Terri Rippeto five years ago — losing its Recommended status? To imply that you could get "simply a good meal" there last year and then drop it altogether this year was a mystifying Michelin move. Or, as one well-known local chef said, "Bizarre."

Let's talk about Brutø

After last year's Michelin ceremony, I wrote that "Id Est Hospitality is the group to watch," and damn, did it have a big year — one that included founders Kelly and Erika Whitaker winning Best Restaurateur at this year's James Beard awards.

But there was a big change, too, when Michael Diaz de Leon exited Brutø shortly after it earned its first star. The new executive chef, Top Chef alum Byron Gomez, officially launched his first menu at the restaurant on March 1, leaning into a "brutalist" take on the tasting menu that marked a big shift.

In late August, I posed a possibility: Could Brutø lose its star? Not because Gomez isn't talented — he has an impressive resume and a lot of passion — but simply because he hadn't had a lot of time to settle in.

Westword contributor Jake Browne, who worked in fine dining for a decade, had a hot take on the topic after his anniversary meal in August. "Brutø feels like a restaurant that’s still finding its footing under Gomez, only one leg is tied to a myriad of eco-aware practices that bog down the menu," he wrote.

But Brutø kept its star.

Michelin may have missed the mark in other ways, but Gomez has clearly been working hard. Watching him accept his first star with a smile that lit up the room ("How are his teeth so white?" someone said as he posed on stage) was a reminder that award ceremonies like that are a great way to appreciate the heart that goes into this industry.

So what should we expect next year?

Who knows! Perhaps some of the obvious snubs will get their recognition. While we wait to find out, I'll offer one prediction: a star for Olivia, which is currently on the Recommended list.