Michelin may have declined to hand out stars in Los Angeles this year (and Las Vegas too), but they're scattering them around Europe. Yesterday the Michelin Guide to Germany awarded 24 new stars, giving out one new 2-star rating, and 1-star awards to 23 previously unstarred restaurants. Bloomberg News reports that the number of 3-star establishments stayed constant, at nine. Germany has the second highest number of 3-star restaurants in Europe. France, perhaps unsurprisingly, has the highest.

“Berlin is starting to be the food capital,” said Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides. “Berlin and Hamburg are competing. It will be interesting to see which one is going to be the first to get a three-star restaurant.” Right. Also interesting will be whether Naret decides to return to Los Angeles. San Francisco's Michelin Guide came out last month.

Previous Michelin Guides to Los Angeles were met with scathing reviews from both this publication (Michelin Tires, by Jonathan Gold) and The Los Angeles Times.

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