Grub Street Grub Street New York

We now have a copy of the Michelin guide in our hot little hands, and would you believe it, X’ian Famous Foods doesn’t rank as one of the top 716 restaurants in the city. Sorry, Bourdain. But enough (for the moment) about Michelin: Also out today is the 2011 Zagat guide, which includes food-truck rankings for the first time! (The top three: Wafels & Dinges, Street Sweets, and Van Leeuwen). The big news here: Le Bernardin got an extremely rare 29 out of 30 for "Food" — the first time that’s happened since Bouley in 1996. Once again, La Grenouille and Sushi Yasuda also got high marks for "Food" (28, to be exact), even though they didn’t rank in the Michelin guide. Also getting 28s: Eleven Madison Park, Per Se, Daniel, Jean Georges, and Gramercy Tavern. Plus, Asiate and Per Se got near-perfect 29s in the categories of "Décor" and "Service," respectively.

Yes, the Michelin guide just unfurled its 2011 star ratings and the only man who can help us make sense of ’em is Jean-Luc Naret, the dapper Frenchman who is the face of the operation (not including the actual Michelin man, of course). Our first question to him: Whattup with Del Posto? The place blows $500,000 and doesn't get its second star back? Naret tells us that his inspectors found improvements in service and whatnot, but not in the quality of the cuisine. Here’s what else he told us, about why restaurants like Locanda Verde and Colicchio & Sons didn’t make the cut, what a Michelin report actually looks like, and his favorite New York City meal of the past year.

Michelin has released its annual map of the stars (the new guide comes out tomorrow) and not a heck of a lot has changed in the dining constellation. The biggest (non-)story: Batali’s prediction that he’d get back the star he lost last year didn’t exactly come true. And Eleven Madison Park (another Times four-star) remains a Michelin one-star. Among the newcomers, the big surprise might just be Danny Brown Wine Bar & Kitchen in Forest Hills. Perry Street, Insieme, and Shalizar fell off the list, and Etats-Unis, Rhong Tiam, Veritas, and Eight One all closed. Here’s the list along with our annotations.

Today, Eddie Huang begs to differ with a review of Xiao Ye in Time Out (or as he calls it, “The Magazine for Murray Hill Tourists”) that calls him “a cocky pretender to the David Chang throne” and “a sort of gastronomic Dennis the Menace,” and points out “how much the generic duroc-pork pot stickers ($8 an order) resemble the Chinatown classics, sold five for a dollar a few blocks away.” Huang asks, “Is this city too small for three Asian People? Chang, Huang, Pelaccio? LOL,” and writes, “The fact that you compared zha jiang mien to dan dan mien shows you know ZERO about Chinese food.” It goes on from there. Meanwhile, another punk-rock (or at least, faux-hawked) chef Marc Forgione can now kiss and make up with the New York Times. Sam Sifton’s review of Marc Forgione is out, and in Diner’s Journal, the critic acknowledges the time one of his colleagues famously shushed Forgione in his own kitchen.

You can add this footnote to Ferran Adrià’s biography: Earlier this year, the chef said a new incarnation of El Bulli might just involve corporate sponsorship, and true to his word, he’s teaming up with Spanish telecom giant Telefonica. According to Telecom Paper, he’ll be their new brand ambassador (which will involve “creativity training courses”) and in return, they’ll help fund the refurbishment of the restaurant. Thomas Keller’s BMW partnership is looking so small potatoes right now.

Telefonica signs marketing deal with El Bulli chef [Telecom Paper]