The bay area Michelin Guide 2008 is out, and there’s not much changed from last year: the French Laundry is the only place with 3 stars (the most) in the wider bay area. Aqua and Michael Mina are the only 2 stars in the city. Those Michelin guys are so stingy with stars, Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters still clutches her lonely one. Jean-Luc Naret, the director of the Michelin guide, was handing out press copie......

In the excellent William Gibson novel Pattern Recognition, the main character has a panic attack every time she is confronted with the image of Bibendum, the Michelin Man. we don't really blame her, the early pics of him were pretty, well, not pretty. In that vein, we can only imagine the plotzing that's going on in some of the Bay Area's finest kitchens following the announcement that the revered Michelin Guide has chosen to focus......