The MICHELIN Guide announced its 2026 American South selection, with many New Orleans chefs and restaurants earning recognition.
The selection was announced Wednesday night in a ceremony in Nashville.
This is the second annual restaurant selection for the MICHELIN Guide American South.
Three new restaurants in New Orleans earned one MICHELIN star in the 2026 selection.
A total of 14 restaurants were selected for Bib Gourmands, and 31 new restaurants joined the recommended selection.
New Orleans restaurant and chef recognitions:
Two MICHELIN Stars
Retaining the distinction:
- Emeril’s
One MICHELIN Star
- Dakar NOLA (new)
- Saint-Germain
- Zasu
Bib Gourmand
The MICHELIN Guide inspectors awarded 59 restaurants the Bib Gourmand distinction, which recognizes eateries for offering great food at a great value.
- Acamaya
- Cochon
- Cochon Butcher
- Domilise’s Po-Boy & Bar
- Dooky Chase
- Hungry Eyes
- Lufu NOLA
- Mister Mao
- Parkway Bakery & Tavern
- Saba
- Safta’s Table (new)
- Turkey and the Wolf
MICHELIN Recommended Restaurants
- Addis Nola
- Atchafalaya
- Casimiro (new)
- Clancy’s Restaurant
- Compère Lapin
- Evviva (new)
- Galatoire’s
- Herbsaint
- Jewel of the South (new)
- Killer Poboys
- La Petite Grocery
- Molly’s Rise & Shine
- Osteria Lupo
- Patois
- Pêche
- Restaurant August
- Saffron NOLA
- Saint Claire (new)
- The Crustacean Club (new)
- The Kingsway
- Willie Mae’s Nola
About the MICHELIN Guide:
The MICHELIN Guide is a globally recognized hotel and restaurant rating system, known for awarding excellence and quality for world-class restaurants.
The Guide was first published in France at the turn of the 20th century to encourage the development of car mobility as well as tire sales by giving practical advice to motorists.
It has specialized in restaurant, hotel and wine recommendations.
Michelin’s inspectors still use the same criteria and manner of selection that were used by the inspectors in the very beginning.
The restaurant selections join the MICHELIN Guide selection of hotels, which features unique and exciting places to stay around the world.
The rigorous MICHELIN Guide selection process is applied independently and consistently in more than 60 destinations, according to the guide’s website.
The MICHELIN Guide is considered one of the best international benchmarks for fine dining.
All restaurants in the Guide are recommended by Michelin’s anonymous inspectors, who are trained to apply the same time-tested methods used by Michelin inspectors for many decades throughout the world. This ensures a uniform, international standard of excellence. As a further guarantee of complete objectivity, Michelin inspectors pay all their bills in full, and only the quality of the cuisine is evaluated, according to the guide’s website.
To learn more about the Guide, click here.
To view the 2026 American South guide, click here.
READ MORE:See which New Orleans restaurants, chefs were recognized in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide
