The Grove in Delray Beach. Oceano in Lake Worth Beach. The Katherine and Casa D’Angelo in Fort Lauderdale. Pasta And … in Margate.
These are some of my favorite restaurants in South Florida, places with high-quality food where the chefs bring passion, creativity and precision to plates. Places that I recommend without hesitation to friends and strangers alike.
None were included in the 2025 Florida Michelin Guide.
When Michelin – the so-called “foodie bible” produced for over a century by the French tire company – announced earlier this year that it would be welcoming Broward and Palm Beach counties to its 2025 edition, the local restaurant and food community reacted with excitement and anticipation. But when the coveted stars and lower-rung “Bib Gourmands” and “recommended” restaurants were revealed at a ceremony in Orlando in April, beyond the obligatory smiles, high-fives and Champagne toasts, there was also much head-scratching.
In two counties with a combined population of 3.5 million and more than 7,000 restaurants, Michelin’s anonymous inspectors saw fit to award only 1.1 restaurants a star (more on that in a bit), and just three Bibs, which are given to eateries that offer “good quality food at a good value.” Nine other restaurants were listed as “recommended.” All told, the two counties had 14 restaurants included in the guide; nine from the Palm Beaches and five from Greater Fort Lauderdale.
In contrast, Miami-Dade, with 2.8 million people and roughly 8,700 restaurants, had 63 restaurants included in the guide – 15 starred, 14 Bibs and 34 “recommended.” When the guide first came to Miami in 2022, Michelin inspectors lauded 30 restaurants: 11 with stars and 19 with Bibs (the “recommended” consolation prize did not exist at that time.)
Does the fault lie within ourselves or the stars? Is the culinary scene really that much better to our south? Or are Michelin’s anonymous inspectors – who surreptitiously traversed the region last fall and early winter – just becoming snobbier when it comes to newcomers that want to join the club? The Michelin Guide will expand to include all of Florida in 2026, after getting much blowback about a system that essentially requires state and county tourism boards to pony up cash to defray the mysterious inspectors’ expenses, including travel and paying for their meals.
In early June, six weeks after this year’s ceremony, the lone Palm Beach County star recipient – Konro in West Palm Beach – shuttered, its chef-proprietor jailed and charged with a violent attack against a woman who was his domestic and business partner. It was a virtual repeat of an episode that led to the shuttering of his previous Michelin-starred establishment in Chicago in 2017.
Konro has since been removed from the 2025 Michelin Guide and its website, something Michelin says is standard when it learns of a starred restaurant’s closure.
Before Konro imploded, its 14-course tasting dinner with wine pairings cost roughly $1,000 per person, including tax and tip, payable in advance to secure the booking.
Konro’s closing leaves the two counties, for now, with just a partial restaurant with a star – the 14-seat, tasting-menu Chef’s Counter at MAASS restaurant at the Four Seasons on Fort Lauderdale beach.
And this leaves me, a former South Florida Sun Sentinel food writer who is still a keen observer (and devourer) of the South Florida food scene, with questions:
How is it that the same kitchen that produces the same food for a 125-seat dining room at MAASS be deemed star-worthy only for its expensive chef’s counter tasting menus ($195 or $375, excluding wine), and not the entire restaurant, whose a la carte menu features many of the same items?
How is it that Michelin seems to fawn over the same chefs with a history of stars in other locales (even those with checkered pasts), and so often snubs local talent and excellent restaurants with longtime community roots?
How is it that Michelin can be so uneven across the region? In the past year, I’ve had mediocre, overpriced meals at starred restaurants in Miami that left me going “huh?” and floated away from marvelous experiences in Broward and Palm Beach counties that Michelin inspectors overlooked or underrated.
When it comes to stars, Michelin’s inspectors seem to love small places with fancy tasting menus that embody what I call the three P’s: Pricey, pretentious and precious. Salons where tweezer-placed microgreens balance just so on top of fermented foams and 28-ingredient reductions. Hence, lots of chef’s counters and expensive omakase dens.
I prefer places that warm the soul. Places such as chef Timon Balloo’s The Katherine and chefs Jeremy and Cynthia Bearman’s Oceano (formerly Oceano Kitchen, which reopened in January after moving from Lantana) and chef Michael Haycook’s The Grove, and refined Italian restaurants with classic old-world service such as Angelo Elia’s Casa D’Angelo and chefs Luigi and Esperanza Marenco’s Pasta And …, which is improbably located in a strip- mall with a 7-Eleven and a Papa John’s.
In my humble palate’s estimation, all these places could have rated at least a “recommended” mention, if not full-blown stars or a Bib. And if deserving, venerable places such as Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach merit “recommended” inclusion in the guide, could the same not be said for Darrel Broek and chef Oliver Saucy’s Café Maxx in Pompano Beach, or even the re-imagined Anthony’s Runway 84 or Café Martorano in Fort Lauderdale, all in business more than 30 years? Or how about some of the bold flavors and locally sourced ingredients showcased at chef Jimmy Everett’s Driftwood in Boynton Beach, or chef Jason Binder’s MIA Kitchen in Delray Beach?
Did Michelin inspectors visit these places and deem them unworthy, or miss them entirely? Michelin wouldn’t say. “The Michelin Guide doesn’t reveal specifics about the number of restaurants inspected, the destination inspection process or the inspectors’ methods of evaluating a destination,” a Michelin spokeswoman sent by email in response to questions, saying it should be attributed to the “anonymous Chief Inspector of the Michelin Guide North America.”
Michelin says its inspectors “compile lists of restaurants that warrant visits” by exploring destinations with advance field work, and also use “various sources, including local and national media, social media, and word-of-mouth recommendations.”
Did Michelin use the same inspectors who doled out honors so liberally for Miami-Dade in Broward and Palm Beach counties?
“This type of detail about our inspection teams is kept private,” the anonymous Chief Inspector wrote.
Their stars seem to gravitate toward those with Michelin pedigrees in other cities. MAASS is overseen by executive chef Ryan Ratino, who has multiple starred restaurants in his home base of Washington, D.C., and now the Orlando area, too. Famous names such as chef Thomas Keller and brands such as Korean steakhouse Cote have been awarded stars for restaurant outposts in Miami-Dade.
Are Michelin inspectors locals with a feel for the area or flown in from other parts of the world?
“We don’t share demographic information about our inspectors to maintain their anonymity and to protect the independence of the process,” the anonymous Chief Inspector wrote. “Nevertheless, they are international former professionals from the industry … all have at least 10 years of experience, which ensures they have a precise and technical knowledge of the field.”
Michelin, which awarded its first U.S. stars in New York in 2005, says its training and methodology for inspectors “ensures a uniform international standard … A starred restaurant has the same value regardless of whether it is in Paris, New York or anywhere else in the world.”
The Guide also says its ratings are based strictly on food and cooking quality and not service or décor, which makes no sense to me. Back in my reviewing days, I considered service, atmosphere and beverage programs key components to an exceptional restaurant experience. A great restaurant didn’t necessarily have to be fancy or expensive, but its environment had to be hospitable, comfortable and compatible with its overall mission.
Another eccentricity: Michelin says stars are awarded to restaurants and not individual chefs, yet “the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine,” is deemed critical to the accolade, listed as one of the guide’s five criteria. The others include “product quality, mastery of cooking techniques, harmony of flavors … and consistency over time and across the entire menu.”
The focus on consistency explains why the guide skews towards smaller restaurants with pricey tasting menus. As one Palm Beach County restaurateur said: “It’s a lot easier to achieve consistency when you have just one seating a night with 12 guests where everyone is eating the same dish every course, as opposed to an all-night service with 350 covers and 45 menu items.”
Yet Michelin doesn’t seem consistent in its own standards across the region, at least when it comes to the highly subjective world of food. Over the past year, I’ve eaten at numerous starred and recommended restaurants in the tri-county area and sometimes walked away confused.
For example, I had a satisfying and expensive but not particularly earth-shattering meal at one-starred Los Felix in Coconut Grove, where smallish plates of well-sauced, refined Mexican food are served rapidly in a cramped, artsy space. If that experience is star-worthy, then why not a star for Buccan in Palm Beach, chef Clay Conley’s bustling, modern American kitchen that only rated a “recommended” from the guide? Conley, a four-time James Beard Award semifinalist, opened Buccan in 2011. My recent meal there was flavorful and memorable, including standout pastas such as squid-ink orecchiette with crumbled sausage and slivers of conch, and a Sunday-only fried chicken dinner special with a heavenly biscuit and crispy, greaseless and crackling-good bird.
Sometimes the Michelin dichotomy is contained within the same building. I’ve been to the one-starred Chef’s Counter at MAASS and its tasting menu was … fine. The parade of pretty, little dishes – some showered obscenely with black truffles – didn’t tell a particularly cohesive story. The only things I remembered a few weeks later were the whimsical bookends: a foie gras macaron at the start and a miniature raspberry mochi taco at the end. I much prefer the Mediterranean offerings at Evelyn’s, one floor above MAASS in the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, which only merited “recommended” status in the guide. I’ve been numerous times since its 2022 opening and am always impressed by chef Brandon Salomon’s cooking, including specials like a candle made from carrots, fresh-baked pita and Jerusalem bagels with spreads and hummus, a grilled whole branzino deboned tableside with coriander-seed chermoula and rose petals, and a side dish I have dreams about – the crispy, spicy potato “batata harra.”
Perhaps realizing how the Michelin game is played and reaching for its star, Evelyn’s has recently added a tasting menu to its offerings ($125 per person, $215 with wine pairings). With all these cockamamie contradictions and imperfections, does the guide carry too much weight and garner too much attention from chefs, the media and foodies?
“Everybody cares about awards and recognition – it’s great for staff morale … I’d love to be mentioned in the guide,” said Angelo Elia, an old-school Italian chef who opened the Fort Lauderdale flagship of Casa D’Angelo in 1998. He shrugged off the snub by saying that after 30 years he’s “still learning, still trying to improve” and gets satisfaction from seeing happy guests and a healthy bottom line. “This business is a challenge every day,” he said.
The consensus among local chefs and restaurateurs whom I spoke with: It’s a good thing that Michelin is here; this year is just the start; its presence gives aspiring and ambitious chefs a worthy goal; it does give restaurants an initial attendance boost; and more places that are deserving will be recognized in future years as the inspectors roam more freely and more frequently.
The flip side: Michelin stars shouldn’t be viewed as the be-all-end-all, and inclusion in the guide doesn’t always lead to business success or long-term survival. In Miami, two starred restaurant in the 2025 guide have closed (EntreNos and Itamae AO).
Homegrown chefs like Rino Cerbone of Heritage in Fort Lauderdale, who grew up working at his family’s Pizza Time pizzerias in Coral Springs and Boca Raton, says 2025 is just the beginning for Broward’s growing and improving restaurant scene.
“This shows that local chefs can get on the map,” Cerbone said recently at Heritage, a miniature statue of Bibendum, the tire company’s mascot better known as The Michelin Man, on a bar shelf over his shoulder.
I was particularly pleased that Heritage was recognized with Bib Gourmand designation, given Michelin’s historical antipathy toward Italian-American restaurants. But Cerbone’s delicious and affordable modern takes on pizzas, pastas and other classics, such as his re-invention of clams oreganata using minced razor clams and a lemon crema, apparently proved irresistible to the inspectors.
In Palm Beach County, Aioli Bakery (where everything is made in house) and Palm Beach Meats (an artisanal butcher shop that offers sandwiches and special tasting dinners) were also deservingly awarded Bibs.
There’s more on the plate for Michelin inspectors to consider for the 2026 guide, with two notable new Fort Lauderdale restaurants arriving on the scene in recent months, Calusso and Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse. Calusso, at the renovated Pier Sixty-Six resort, is a modern American restaurant overseen by chef Jonathan Kaiser, who grew up in Hollywood and has worked at starred restaurants around the country, including the three-star Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The opening “oysters Caprese” and closing honeycomb semifreddo blanketed by shaved curls of Comte cheese are both showstoppers.
And at Ukiah, chef Michael Lewis has made a triumphant return to South Florida after founding the innovative KYU in Wynwood in 2016, once again bringing Asian-inspired and wood-fired treats to the region. His snapper skewer brushed with brown-butter ponzu and grilled lemon is a marvel of simplicity, the smoked brisket and pastrami short rib a carnivore’s dream. And I would crawl over a bed of smoldering post oak to eat the coconut cake, derived from his mother’s recipe.
Here’s hoping Michelin saves room for dessert – and finds room on the table for more recognition for deserving Broward and Palm Beach restaurants.
FLORIDA MICHELIN GUIDE 2025
The 14 restaurants in Broward and Palm Beach Counties listed in the 2025 edition of the Florida Michelin Guide:
ONE STAR
(High quality cooking)
Chef’s Counter at MAASS, Four Seasons Hotel, Fort Lauderdale (modern tasting menu)
BIB GOURMAND
(Good quality cooking at good value)
Aioli, West Palm Beach (artisanal bakery)
Heritage, Fort Lauderdale (Italian-American)
Palm Beach Meats, West Palm Beach (artisanal butcher with sandwiches, small
plates and tasting-menu dinners)
RECOMMENDED
Buccan, Palm Beach (modern American)
Butcher’s Club, PGA National Resort, Palm Beach Gardens (steakhouse)
Coolinary and the Parched Pig, Palm Beach Gardens (modern American)
Daniel’s, A Florida Steakhouse, Fort Lauderdale (steakhouse, modern American)
Evelyn’s, Four Seasons Hotel, Fort Lauderdale (Mediterranean)
Larb Thai Isan, Fort Lauderdale (Thai)
Moody Tongue Sushi, Hilton West Palm Beach (sushi)
Nicholson Muir, Boynton Beach (steakhouse)
Stage Kitchen & Bar, Palm Beach Gardens (international)
MIKE MAYO’S LIST
Broward and Palm Beach County restaurants worthy of inclusion or elevation in the 2026 Florida
Michelin Guide, according to former South Florida Sun Sentinel food critic Michael Mayo:
NEW & NOTABLE
Calusso, Pier Sixty-Six Resort, Fort Lauderdale
Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, Fort Lauderdale
EXCLUDED IN 2025, Worthy of Recognition
Anthony’s Runway 84, Fort Lauderdale
Cafe Maxx, Pompano Beach
Casa D’Angelo, Fort Lauderdale
Cafe Martorano, Fort Lauderdale
Driftwood, Boynton Beach
Eathai, Boca Raton
The Grove, Delray Beach
The Katherine, Fort Lauderdale
Oceano, Lake Worth Beach
Pasta And … , Margate
RECOMMENDED IN 2025 GUIDE,
Worthy of Elevation:
Buccan, Palm Beach (star)
Daniel’s, A Florida Steakhouse, Fort Lauderdale (star)
Evelyn’s, Four Seasons, Fort Lauderdale (star)
Larb Thai Isan, Fort Lauderdale (Bib)
Stage Kitchen & Bar, Palm
Beach Gardens (Bib)
CORRECTION: The one-star Tambourine Room by Tristan Brandt at the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort in Miami Beach is expected to reopen to the public on Sept. 16. The 14-seat chef’s counter restaurant with a tasting menu briefly converted to private-dining-only earlier this summer.
