The New Michelin Guide is Here! The New Bay Area Michelin Guide is Here for 2011! (And Chez Panisse is Off The List :())

Here they are, the best restaurants in the Bay Area for 2011, below.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26  – With its fifth edition out today, the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 shines the spotlight on one of the world’s most diverse culinary regions. The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 goes on sale Wed., Oct. 27, at $18.99.

As the name indicates, the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 covers San Francisco proper, and from Sonoma County to the South Bay. A total of 519 restaurants are selected for inclusion this year. Of those, 74 are categorized as “Bib Gourmands,” otherwise known as “Inspectors’ Favorites for Good Value.” Bib Gourmands offer two courses plus a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. The selection includes 29 new restaurants earning Bib Gourmand status this year.  For the list of Bib Gourmand restaurants, please visit www.facebook.com/MichelinGuides.

Two Bay Area restaurants earned three stars in the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011. Three stars represent the highest honor Michelin bestows. Only 118 restaurants worldwide currently have the three-star designation. French Laundry earned three stars for the fifth year in a row, while The Restaurant at Meadowood earned its third star for the first time. Meadowood had earned two stars in the 2010 Guide. Three restaurants – Coi, Cyrus and Manresa – earned two stars in this edition, while 39 restaurants earned a single star. A full list of star recipients appears below.

“San Francisco is famed for its diversity – its people, its politics, its scenery and of course its food,” said Jean-Luc Naret, director of the MICHELIN Guides. “The Bay Area is also a particularly fertile farming region. There is so much to choose from – we spend a full year studying this region to produce our Guide and the effort is immensely satisfying. This is quite simply one of the finest culinary regions in the world.”

The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 offers a wide assortment of categories for discerning diners. Among them:

–  ”Small Plates,” defined as restaurants with a unique style of menu,

ambience and service. Sixteen restaurants joined the Small Plates

category in the 2011 Guide.

–  MICHELIN pours out the drink accolades, designating a special symbol for

restaurants with excellent wine lists, and for those with noteworthy

sake lists. In this Guide, 81 restaurants were celebrated for their wine

selection and 15 for their sake selection.

Michelin divides the guide into six sections: San Francisco City, East Bay, Marin, Peninsula, South Bay and Wine Country. Forty-three distinct cuisines are represented in the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011, which showcases the region’s spectacular culinary diversity.

Michelin has done as much to enhance mobility as any company in the world. The company patented the pneumatic, or air-filled, automobile tire in the late 1800s. This was a milestone moment in mobility; it permitted automobile owners to travel at great length in a single journey. Then, in an effort to prompt travelers to enjoy their newfound mobility, the company created guides – and detailed maps – to steer travelers on their way. More than 1 million copies are sold each year.

San Francisco is one of only three U.S. cities where Michelin publishes a guide annually. The other two are New York City and Chicago. The MICHELIN Guide New York 2011, the city’s sixth edition, was introduced Oct. 6. And Michelin plans to introduce its first-ever Chicago guide, MICHELIN Guide Chicago 2011, on Nov. 17.

Thanks to the rigorous MICHELIN Guide selection process that is applied independently and consistently worldwide, the MICHELIN Guide has become an international benchmark in gourmet dining. 26 MICHELIN Guides cover 23 countries and three continents, and feature more than 45,000 addresses. The selection is made by anonymous, professional inspectors who are Michelin employees. Inspectors pay all their bills in full. To find out more about the MICHELIN guide inspectors and the history of the MICHELIN Guide, visitwww.famouslyanonymous.com.

Michelin’s San Francisco Michelin inspectors also share insider secrets on Twitter at @MichelinGuideSF.