Why are there no Michelin-starred restaurants in New Mexico?
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It's one of the top honors a restaurant can receive: being recognized by the Michelin Guide for its cuisine. Over 1,500 U.S. eateries are published in the guide, and 260 have earned a coveted Michelin star. But why are none of those establishments in New Mexico?
It turns out the Land of Enchantment joins a long list of states in the country that are not considered by Michelin Guides, and it's not because they lack top restaurants or food. As of 2025, Michelin inspectors only cover cities in seven states: New York, Chicago, California, Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Atlanta, and D.C.
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That list will be expanding soon, as the Michelin Guide announced in April that it would include states in the South, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Michelin is always looking to expand, but only after certain standards or criteria are achieved. 'To publish the Michelin Guide [in a specific area], we need first and foremost culinary potential,' Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guide, told Bon Appetit in 2024. 'Today, I have inspectors scouting about 20 destinations where we do not yet have a restaurant selection, but that we are considering for future years. It's always a several-year process because we must see the openings and the consistency.'
But it's more than just consistency or 'culinary potential' that brings a Michelin Guide to town. In recent years, Michelin has partnered with local and state tourism boards to help fund the creation of a new guide for that area — but only after the inspectors have deemed the local food scene to be worthy.
In 2023, The New York Times reported that California's tourism board had paid Michelin $600,000 in 2019 to cover the cost of expanding its culinary inspections beyond the Bay Area and Napa Valley. Tourism groups in Florida, Atlanta, Colorado and Texas all reportedly agreed to similar financial partnerships.
When asked about these newer financial partnerships, Poullennec, speaking with Bon Appetit in 2024, suggested that the Michelin's arrangements with these tourism boards (or, as he called them, 'destination marketing organizations' or DMOs) help to defray the editorial expenses involved with producing the guides.
'The involvement of DMOs in establishing new Guides does not have any influence on the Inspectors' judgments regarding the destination assessment, the restaurants in the selection, or award distinctions,' the inspector told Nexstar. 'DMO teams have no access to the Inspectors' work or the final selection until the list of selected restaurants is revealed by the MICHELIN Guide.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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