Check it out ….

Took a doc outta the Napa Library the other day that left my head spinning. It’s called Three Stars. Highly recommend a view. Unlike that turgid doc Somm which studied four wine geeks trying to pass the master sommelier program, Three Stars bears repeated viewings because of its incredible contradictions of whether it’s worth it for a restaurant to receive a Michelin 3 star rating because it brings a ton of rich paying customers. But is it worth the super human effort it takes to get three stars and keep them??

Now I’m not saying that it’s not incredibly hard to get a MS pin. It is. But the movie Somm itself was boring with a capital B. A kind of singular passion for ridiculous minutiae that gives wine geeks a bad name.

But Three Stars is way beyond that. So many contradictions. Chefs who work so hard for their third star, burned out and retreating to a less strenuous cooking. A chef that killed himself when he thought he was going to lose his 3rd star. But Michelin Guide Directeur says, “ He knew he was going to keep his star.”

In the end chef Rene Redzepi of Noma, who took years to get his 3rd star, sums it up nicely, “You don’t get into cooking and restaurants for three stars. But it’s always a dream.”