How Sonoma’s Bib Gourmand restaurants maintain their Michelin ratings

Just a few weeks ago, Michelin announced its Bib Gourmand ratings for 2023, and four Sonoma Valley restaurants held onto their distinguished titles.

Folktable, El Molino Central, Valley Bar + Bottle Shop and Glen Ellen Star have maintained their Bib Gourmand ratings from last year; an award that can take a restaurant’s reputation to the next level.

Michelin’s Bib Gourmand rating is different from its star ratings; stars are given to restaurants that fit into the fine-dining genre of eateries, but the Bib Gourmand rating is bestowed upon places where Michelin believes the customer will get the best bang for their buck.

The rating signal’s the “best value for money restaurants — offering a three course meal at a reasonable price,” according to Michelin’s website.

According to Casey Thompson, former “Top Chef” contestant and executive chef of Folktable, there’s pressure to maintain a Michelin rating once it’s received.

“For me, it has upped our game in a sense that, we want to maintain — I certainly don’t ever not want to receive it again because that would feel not so great,” she said.

Thompson said after this year’s awards were announced she and the chefs of the other Michelin-rated restaurants in Sonoma were in-touch with one-another, exchanging congratulations and asking if they’ve received their plaques yet.

The Glen Ellen Star, which has maintained its Bib Gourmand status since 2014, shred a congratulations on one of Folktable’s Instagram post.

The Glen Ellen Star’s secret to success is embracing the pressure of maintaining the rating, while not giving it too much power over them.

“I think the annual pressure of maintaining or improving our Michelin ranking is good as long as it is an affirmation of our consolidated efforts versus allowing the rating to define us. There are a handful of restaurants on my resume that exclusively catered to the ratings and not a single one of them is in business today,” Ari Weiswasser, chef and owner of the Glen Ellen Star, wrote in an email to the Index-Tribune.

Weiswasser’s restaurant, known for its Tomato Cream Pie, Brussels sprouts and brown sugar bacon marmalade, wood-baked sourdough bread and house made butter and other iconic dishes, was open for two years before it received its first Bib Gourmand rating.

He is grateful for the time before the pressure was added because it allowed the restaurant to establish its brand and identity outside the Michelin Guide.

“We have certainly improved and evolved throughout the years, but we haven’t lost our original passion for hospitality and intention of establishing connections with our guests,” Weiswasser wrote.

The first time Folktable, located inside Cornerstone Sonoma, received its Bib Gourmand rating in 2021, it had only been open one year, and Thompson wasn’t expecting it.

“I go to the restaurant and I’m like ‘guys, we got a Michelin Bib Gourmand,’” Thompson said. “It really just gave us hope.”

Because Folktable opened in the midst of the pandemic, the restaurant only had experience with to-go orders. Thompson was focused on surviving that first year, and putting out creative and quality food.

“I was hopeful, but I as a chef am not shooting for the stars,” Thompson said. “It was the cherry on top. It was really beautiful to have been recognized, but it wasn’t my mission.”

The next year Folktable received the award, it felt to Thompson like the restaurant had proved itself.

“There’s a lot of pressure once you reach a certain status to maintain it,” Thompson said.

Consistency is of the utmost importance when it comes to Michelin ratings because judges visit anonymously and more than once. Standards must be maintained at all times.

Thompson has the luxury of an on-site farm at Cornerstone that grows produce according to her menu. They’re currently working on raising their own cattle for harvest as well.

“Holy truly this is the first restaurant that I’ve really been able to be me,” Thompson said.

Thompson has worked at a number of fine-dining restaurants, including a stint under celebrity chef Dean Fearing at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, one of Texas’ most revered dining destinations.

However, Folktable is the first place she earned a Michelin rating as the leader of the kitchen.

“Especially people that are coming to Wine Country for an experience, I think a lot of them do try to hit all of the Michelins,” Thompson said. “It does make a difference — we’re in really good company with the other restaurants.”

That guest connection seems unanimous with Sonoma’s Michelin restaurants. Valley Bar + Bottle, which has also maintained its Bib Gourmand rating since 2021, points toward the connection with the local community for its distinctive quality.

“We work very hard to keep true to our vision and it’s nice to be recognized,” Emma Lipp, co-owner and co-chef at Valley, said. “I think my number one lesson for myself with having a restaurant is that the standard I must abide by is my own.”

According to Lipp, that standard includes maintaining partnerships with community farms, winemakers and customers to give a hyper-local feel to their food, which they consider “California home cooking.”

She described receiving the rating as a cherry on top of the team’s hard work and success, though she’d be disappointed if they were to not receive it again.

El Molino Central first appeared in the Michelin Guide in 2019, when the editors wrote, “Lovers of regional Mexican food will swoon for this laid-back charmer, which offers full-throttle fare made with quality ingredients.”

None of the chef’s will know if they’ve maintained their ratings until the list comes out next year, but for now, they can take a brief sigh of relief before hopping back into their hot kitchens.

“Chef’s are very serious people,” Thompson said. “It’s a pressure cooker intense situation.”

You can reach Staff Writer Rebecca Wolff at rebecca.wolff@sonomanews.com. On Twitter @bexwolff.