Colorado is Getting a Michelin Guide

The Centennial State's First Star Ceremony Will be Held September 12

Photo by Kaushal Subedi on Unsplash

Michelin has just announced that it is coming to Colorado.

The Guide, which inducted Florida into its prestigious roster in 2022, will hold its first Michelin Star Ceremony in the Rocky Mountain State in September 2023.

Colorado’s first Star Revelation Ceremony will be held Tuesday, September 12 at Denver’s Mission Ballroom. As in other cities, chefs will receive an invite to the soiree not knowing the placement of their restaurant in the 2023 guide. It is in real-time that chefs learn whether their restaurant has received a Bib Gourmand, Green Star, or a coveted One- Two- or Three-Star designation.

Michelin is rapidly expanding its presence throughout North America. Currently, New York, Chicago, California, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C. have Michelin Guides. When it was introduced in 2022, the Florida Guide focused solely on Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. In May, Michelin held its second Star Ceremony in Miami. An Atlanta Guide was also recently announced.

 “Colorado has a dynamic culinary scene, one that’s perfect for the Michelin Guide,” says Gwendal Poullennec, the International Director of the Michelin Guide, adding, “The state’s locations feature many creative restaurant teams and an exciting mix of flavors."

Colorado’s cuisine is eclectic and varied with cultural influences taken from Native American (especially the Ute, Navajo, and Apache tribes), European, and Latin American cultures. Colorado also boasts a thriving farming community that raises everything from grain and fruits to lamb and beef. In addition, its lush landscape and dense forests yield fresh fish, elk, and waterfowl.

The state is also a hotbed for tourism with visitors traveling to Colorado to ski in tony mountain resorts, hike its vast greenways, and even tour the haunted Stanley Hotel that is the real star of Stephen King’s The Shining.

As with past Michelin Guides, the state’s tourism authority has wooed Michelin to the state. In a statement, the Colorado Tourism Office’s director, Timothy Wolfe, said, “Colorado residents have long enjoyed the expanding food scene of our incredibly talented chefs, who bring locally harvested ingredients to life.”

A monetary incentive by the Colorado Tourism Office (if any), has not yet been divulged. In 2022, Visit Florida and the Tampa, Orlando, and Miami tourist boards paid Michelin $150,000 to produce its Florida Guide. California’s tourism board paid Michelin $600,000 to produce a statewide guide in 2019.