Top US chef Thomas Keller in the kitchen of his New York restaurant, Per Se. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. President Harry Truman's old saw about the pressures of politics applies even more aptly to the world of top restaurateurs. For New York chefs, the temperature is about to rise a few degrees because the Michelin Guide, the bible of restaurants, is coming to the city that never sleeps.
The International Herald Tribune reports that in the last five months, undercover gastronomic agents have been compiling the Michelin Guide to New York City, the company's first hotel and restaurant ratings outside Europe.
This is probably the last thing that New York's highly-strung chefs - read Anthony Bourdain - need. Competition among the city's chefs is already intense and they are subject to all sorts of unreasonable demands from high maintenance guests, all clamouring to get the best table at the latest fashionable eatery.
Of course, guides to New York restaurants already exist - most New Yorkers have a copy of the Zagat. But the Michelin red guide will carry far more weight, as it is the Mercedes of restaurant guides. Every chef dreams of getting the top three-star rating, the way every tennis pro dreams of winning Wimbledon.
The Michelin guide to New York City, rating 500 restaurants in the city's five boroughs and 50 Manhattan hotels, will go on sale on November 15. New Yorkers, among the most status-conscious people on the planet, can be counted on to consult their Michelin assiduously to make sure they are eating at the right establishment. As for the city's chefs, you can bet there will be quite a few weeping into their foie gras when they see their rating.
