It's Time to Change Your Tires

Every year around this time the Michelin Guide gets ready to release their ratings for the following year.  The restaurant world will be abuzz with chatter next week about who's kept their stars, who's lost their stars, and which newcomers have gained 1, 2, or 3 stars.  Michelin will publish the 2013 guide next Tuesday, October 2nd.  To hold us over, they've released their Bib Gourmands yesterday; a list of restaurants where they found good food for good value.

In order to make the BG list, a restaurant needs to offer two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. According to michelintravel.com, there's apparently such thing as Bibendum, "Introduced in the 1997 editions of the MICHELIN Guides in Europe, Bib Gourmand restaurants are identified in the guide by a red symbol depicting the head of Bibendum, the Michelin Man."

With 126 Bib Gourmands this year, the list is the biggest it's ever been and, despite its kitsch, is a solid list of dining options.  The full list is this way, but here's mention of a few noteworthy new additions: Alobar, August, Battersby, Calyer, Family Recipe, Hino Maru Ramen, Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, Laut, Pok Pok, and Speedy Romeo.