By Gus Saltonstall
The 2024 Michelin Guide’s awards took place Tuesday night, and while no Upper West Side restaurants received new recognition, multiple local spots achieved the feat of maintaining their stars and previous placements.
There are four restaurants on the Upper West Side that have Michelin stars this year, and three of them are in the Columbus Circle area.
Masa, a Japanese Omakase restaurant, and the French restaurant Per Se, are two of just five eateries in New York City with three Michelin stars, and they are both in the same building at 10 Columbus Circle.
Masa is run by chef Masayoshi Takayama, and its tasting menus start at $750 in the dining room and $950 at the counter.
“There is nothing like an omakase in the care of Chef Masa Takayama,” Michelin Guide wrote about the eatery. “The commotion of Columbus Circle gives way to the calm, collected ceremony of a room anchored by a strikingly smooth hinoki counter.”
Per Se, which reopened in 2023, is run by chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller, who also oversees the immensely popular French Laundry restaurant in California. The tasting menu at Per Se starts at $390.
“An experience at Thomas Keller’s Per Se is one to be savored, recounted and remembered,” Michelin Guide wrote about Per Se. “Despite stellar views and a clever design allowing each table a view, your attention won’t stray from the plate.”
Additional Michelin Star restaurants on the Upper West Side include the French eatery Jean-Georges at 1 Central Park West, which has two stars and offers tasting menus that range from $218 to $478. The most recent Upper West Side eatery to earn a star is the French restaurant Essential by Christophe at 103 West 77th Street
“Chef Christophe Bellanca’s dishes echo a simple elegance, evidenced by plump white asparagus on a fragrant bergamot-flavored crème with a refreshing herb vinaigrette and paper-thin slices of watermelon radish,” Michelin Guide wrote about Essential by Christophe.
The Michelin Guide also releases its Bib Gourmands list, which is a guide to the best restaurants in New York City that won’t break the bank.
Here are the two Upper West Side eateries that earned that selection in 2024.
- Covacha: 368 Columbus Avenue (between 77th and 78th streets)
- Chick Chick: 618 Amsterdam Avenue (near 90th Street)
In other news from around the city, Jungsik, a Korean restaurant in Tribeca, was awarded three Michelin stars on Tuesday night, making it the first new eatery in the five boroughs to earn the honor in 12 years.
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A tasting menu for $750 or $950 per person?
The Food Bank for New York City could really use some contributions this holiday season (and always). https://www.foodbanknyc.org/
So many of our neighbors are hungry.
UWS is a very expensive neighborhood. A number of people I know, including seniors, have moved in order to reduce living expenses. If you cannot afford food, perhaps it makes sense to move from one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city, let alone the country?
All you have to do is to look at the people standing in line at the Food Bank. If they moved from their shelters or apartments, they would not find a less expensive place to live, even if there were available apartments. Add to that the cost of moving their possessions, being further from their doctors or family or their children’s schools and friends. A number of people using the Food Bank’s services are the elderly or work as caretakers, cleaners, and delivery, restaurant, and grocery workers making life easier for people like you and me, Fred.
Afford $950 for a meal? No food is that good. You seem rather eager to get folks who don’t care to spend $950 for a meal out of the nabe. Have you tried the “tasting” menu yourself?
I pay more than 50% of my income in taxes (income tax, property tax, sales tax, UBT tax, et cetera). I also help support my mother-in-law and my parents.
If I choose to spend $950 on a meal, it is my business and nobody else’s. For the record, I have never had a $950 meal, I prefer to spend my money on opera, jazz clubs, Carnegie Hall. However I do NOT judge people who choose to spend their money on restaurants.
If you want to condemn someone, condemn our government for spending more than $300 per night per family on homeless shelters, when you can rent an apartment for a thousand dollars per night in the Bronx or Staten Island where my friends and relatives live.
The Michelin Star for Essentials is long overdue!!!
Let them eat omakase
Ridiculous tasting menu prices for whom??? The gazillionaires awash in worldy goods? The vast majority of NYorkers don’t have resources for such draconian prices — and then there are the people who rely on Food banks and handouts.
Your point being…?
I think my point is pretty clear.
I have been to both Masa and Per Se several times and never have been disappointed.
It’s a once in a lifetime experience right here on the UWS , A must!!!!
So, you’ve made “several” visits to places that are “once in a lifetime experiences”? I’d say you sir have lived a good life! Well done!
Oh my, can we all finally stop with “holier than thou” comments. Yes, $950 is a lot for dinner, but maybe they gave $10,000 to a food bank, you don’t know. Maybe a person bought a sofa for $950 instead of dinner, this is about choices. Can we please respect each other.
Yes — thank you Edwin for your intelligent response to all this.
Tatiana didn’t make it?
Covacha?!? I will now question the entire Michelin system. Very basic restaurant.
It’s Bib Gourmand – whose focus is precisely basic/affordable “value” restaurants. Not a real Michelin, more like a glorified Yelp review.
The BLT and fries at the Fairway Cafe are quite delicious
We haven’t had a good Caribbean restaurant since I can remember. Now Jerk House has opened on W. 57 St.. I’m excited about that.