French celebrity chef Marc Weygrat filed a court case against the Michelin guide five years ago, losing a negative review of his controversial soufflé. Now, Vegrat, who turns 75, has barred Michelin inspectors from his new restaurant. “I am turning 75. I don’t want to sit for exams and get a rank anymore,” he said.
Vegrat’s new venture, ‘Le Restaurante Marc Vegrat’, has recently opened in the luxurious ski resort of Megeve, France. This is their 450 euro (about $465) per person restaurant. In 2019, Vegrat filed a lawsuit against Michelin after the Michelin Guide dropped his restaurant La Maison de Boa from three to two stars. They demanded the deregistration of their restaurant, a symbolic one-euro compensation and an explanation for the decline. But, they lost and had to pay court costs.
A Michelin inspector previously said Wegrat’s restaurant used cheddar cheese in a soufflé. But Wegrat said he used local cheeses such as Reblochon and Beaufort, and noted that observers may have confused the saffron coloring in his recipe. “They are incompetent,” Wegrat still believes today.
The restaurant ‘La Maison de Boa’ is now taken over by Vegrat’s daughter and she has named it ‘Le Hamo de Ma Per’ (My Father’s Village), in honor of her father. “I’m proud of my daughter,” says Wegrat, “It’s a really magical place.”
The reason Weygrat opened the new restaurant in Mejeve is because he misses working in a restaurant, although he is trying to avoid the Michelin-level scrutiny that inevitably comes to chefs of their stature. But, while a guide might be discouraged by their Michelin-ban, an observer might sneak in to test out a restaurant. So it may appear in the next version. For example, Michelin included South Korea’s ‘Eo’ restaurant in their Seoul Guide in 2019, despite owner chef Eo Eun-gwon’s request that they not.
Guests who come for an eight-course meal at Wegrat’s restaurant have the opportunity to meet the chef himself. Vegrats themselves are present in the preparation of dishes such as lobster tartlet, topped with fragrant meadowsweet emulsion and wild flowers. In fact, many customers come to Mejeve’s restaurant just to shake hands with the famous chef.
With their signature black wide-brimmed hat, that one have become celebrities of sorts. “I said arrogantly No, I’m just a part of the architecture,” he laughs is called.
Despite the price, Wegrat says he’s not making any profit from his new venture. They just want to maintain the balance sheet and pay their employees well. He says he earns enough profit from many of his other restaurants, and that his dispute with Michelin has not affected his business.
Wegrat is not the only person who has spoken out against the guidebook. Many chefs have spoken of the intense pressure they face in the months leading up to the guide’s publication, and many have expressed a desire to be excluded from the guidebook. In 2017, chef Sébastien Brass requested that his restaurant in central France be removed from the guide. “Life is too beautiful and too short,” he had said, citing this decision as the price of his freedom. To his surprise, two years later his restaurant was included again in the guidebook with two stars.
Chef Frédéric Ménager says he won’t allow his restaurant ‘La Ferme de la Roushote’ to be rated by Michelin. He says he gets phone calls from guides, but “the only stars that matter are the stars in the guests’ eyes as they leave their table mesmerized.”
Michelin still holds sway in France; They have included 639 restaurants in the country in their 2024 guidebook.
Although his Michelin years may seem behind him, Wegrat says he hasn’t lost momentum — which he credits to his wife B.