Michelin expands in U.S.
Michelin added Detroit to a new Great Lakes edition of its guides, and Boston earned six Bib Gourmand awards in Michelin’s first year coverage there. ( ) Internationally, São Paulo’s Evvai and Tuju earned three Michelin stars and Rio’s Madame Olympe picked up a new star, while Song at the Four Seasons Hangzhou retained its star in the Shanghai/Jiangsu/Zhejiang guide. ( )
Michelin is widening its U.S. footprint again, adding Detroit to a new American Great Lakes guide after bringing Boston into its coverage less than five months ago. (guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com) Michelin said on April 7 that its new American Great Lakes edition will cover six cities: Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. The inaugural restaurant selection will be released in 2027, after inspectors spend 2026 dining anonymously across the region. (guide.michelin.com) Detroit has never had Michelin coverage before, so restaurants there are now eligible for stars, Bib Gourmand value awards and Michelin Recommended listings for the first time. Local reports said Visit Detroit joined Michelin in announcing the move on April 8. (guide.michelin.com, clickondetroit.com) Boston’s first Michelin guide arrived on November 18, 2025, as part of the Northeast Cities edition, with one star for Three 1 One and six Bib Gourmand awards across Boston, Cambridge and Brookline. Michelin’s Boston Bib Gourmand list now shows Bar Volpe, Fox & the Knife, Jahunger, Mahaniyom, Pagu and Sumiao Hunan Kitchen. (guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com) That pace shows how Michelin is shifting from a handful of legacy U.S. markets to multi-city regional guides. Boston was folded into a Northeast Cities edition in 2025, and the Great Lakes becomes Michelin’s next U.S. regional rollout in 2026. (guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com) Michelin’s expansion is moving just as fast overseas. On April 13, Michelin awarded three stars to São Paulo restaurants Evvai and Tuju, the first time any restaurants in Latin America reached Michelin’s top tier, and Rio de Janeiro’s Madame Olympe picked up a new one-star rating. (guide.michelin.com, g1.globo.com) In China, Michelin on April 9 combined Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang into one regional guide covering 409 restaurants and 77 starred establishments. Song, inside the Four Seasons Hotel at Hangzhou Center, kept its one-star rating in that new edition. (guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com) For diners in Detroit, the next milestone is not this spring’s announcement but the 2027 release, when Michelin will publish its first Great Lakes picks after a year of inspections. For Boston, the six Bib Gourmands are already a sign of what Michelin tends to reward first: restaurants that pair strong cooking with prices ordinary diners can still reach. (guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com, guide.michelin.com)
