Bibs Out, Bushwick: Michelin Approves Of These 7 Local Spots

Almost a century ago, a French tire company called Michelin decided to put restaurants in a book that it figured it could sell to drivers. Soon, it turned out there were too many restaurants and getting on the list became a great source of pride. Now, there’s even a bonus list where the company lists what it calls “good little restaurants” or bib gourmands: lower-key restaurants selected by “guide inspectors for their very good value for money.”

According to the tin, that means that a meal should cost under $40 for dish and a drink, though food blogs like Eater like to also report on the list as a list of restaurants that have failed to get an actual place on the main list itself, since Michelin makes a point of not including any restaurant on both lists and it releases this list before it dramatically announces the other one. The only Bushwick restaurant to earn any actual Michelin stars last time around was a pricy loft called Blanca, which is normally contained in a hidden room inside Roberta’s but is currently shuttered amid the pandemic. Even if it were open, it would likely not qualify for this list, however, as the tasting menu over there goes for about $198 a person, according to Yelp.

But the ongoing pandemic is also the real story of this year’s bib gourmand  list. Ridgewood, once home to the Bib-regular Houdini’s, is absent from the list entirely. This is likely no fault of the pizzeria whose hipness to the food world’s pizza trends once gave cause to the Times to name the entire neighborhood “Quooklyn.” Houdini’s is no more, according to the Infatuation, which took note of its permanent closing last September.

There’s a focus on new restaurants in this year’s list — two of the local spots that made it opened amid the ongoing pandemic. Many of them cling close to the border with Williamsburg. A search on the map itself reveals a curious aversion to southern Brooklyn on the part of the brand’s top-secret and anonymous reviewers. In fact, this year’s list goes no further south than Chavela’s, a Mexican spot in Crown Heights that opened a decade ago and made its debut on the list in 2018. Michelin calls it “an absolute riot of color.”

Other restaurants that lost their footing include Falanasai, a long-celebrated Vietnamese spot that made the list in its original incarnation back in 2016. It also shuttered this year but reopened with a new chef a month later. But no luck with Michelin set, apparently. Surviving Bushwick regulars on the list, however, do include celebrated names like Bunker and Roberta’s, the latter of which just opened an outpost in Williamsburg’s new Domino Park this year.

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Gordo’s Cantina

When Mexico City-native and restaurant industry vet Reyna Morales opened Gordo’s Cantina on St. Nicholas Avenue, our Matt Fink called its take on mole “flat out ravishing.” Michelin’s secret reviewer must be an avid Bushwick Daily reader, as the guide’s writeup also made space for the “satisfying mole” at “this Bushwick hangout.” According to the menu, its main mole dish — an enchilada stuffed with chicken and drenched in the stuff — will cost you $18. Also celebrated by the Michelin crew: the black tiger shrimp tacos (“delicious both with or without the tortilla”; these go for $16).

Gordo’s Cantina is located at 140 St Nicholas Avenue.