Former Michelin man reveals secrets of France's food guide

PARIS -- Talk about spilling the beans!

Michelin's Red Guide, France's famed yardstick of where to eat, is feeling the sting of indiscretions from one of its former restaurant inspectors who is breaking the secrecy on how the gastronome's bible awards its coveted ratings.

Among Pascal Remy's allegations: Restaurants only get sporadically checked, the guide had few inspectors, and more than one-third of top-rated three-star establishments -- gastronomy's Hall of Famers -- are not up to par.

First, a warning: Remy was fired by the guide because, he claims, he wanted to publish diaries about his 16 years at Michelin and three more at one of its rivals, the GaultMillau. By going public about the famed guide's inner workings, Remy is breaking a taboo, hitting his former employers where it hurts -- their reputation.

One of Remy's most damaging claims is that some top restaurants do not deserve their rating. He suggested they are shielded because their chefs are too famous to be touched.

"More than one-third of the three stars are not up to the expected standard," Remy told this week's Le Figaro Magazine.

"Sometimes the Michelin is wary of strong repercussions that could hurt its image. It has created chefs that are more powerful in the media than it is. Its room for maneuver is thus reduced," he said.

Twenty-seven restaurants have three stars in the 2004 guide. The guide says a three-star is "one of the best tables, worth the trip. One always eats very well, sometimes marvelously."

Michelin spokeswoman Fabienne de Brebisson disputed Remy's claims.

"We award stars when we think they deserve three stars, two, one or none," she said. "We are totally independent."

But Remy said Michelin inspectors, whom he claimed are paid roughly the same as elementary school teachers for a lonely life traveling around to taste food and visit kitchens, can't inspect restaurants regularly.

"With five active inspectors, we can't test 10,000 places and even less eat everywhere," he told Europe-1 radio. "There's a myth that says, 'The inspector visits each year.' ... It used to be every two years, now it's more like three, three-and-a-half."

But Michelin's de Brebisson said Remy's figure of five inspectors was false. She said 21 inspectors worked on this year's France guide and that Michelin's rule is to visit all of the 4,000 establishments listed on average once every 18 months.

"Of course, it is far more for the starred restaurants," she said. "A three-star restaurant, for example, is visited more than 10 times."

The guide, which has sold more than 30 million copies in its 104 years, gets 50,000 letters a year, she said. If two letters criticize a restaurant or the guide's description of it, an inspector is sent, she said.

Remy said those in the business write letters to shoot down rival chefs.

"If there's no mail, we don't move. But if letters mention a drop or increase in quality, we go, without necessarily eating there," he told Le Figaro. "Those close to restaurateurs use this method to sing the praises of their friends or to destroy a competitor."

Remy said he is challenging his firing in court. He said that when he asked Michelin's editor to edit his diaries, he was promoted and then asked not to publish, only to be fired when he refused.

Efforts by The Associated Press to reach Remy were unsuccessful.

De Brebisson, however, alleged that Remy threatened to publish if Michelin did not accept his demands. She refused to say precisely what they were but said: "He tried to use this manuscript as a bargaining chip."

"We cannot accept this type of pressure," she said. "He was fired for grave mistakes."