A Taste of Excellence: MICHELIN Guide Announces Inaugural American South Selection

GREENVILLE, S.C. — This evening the MICHELIN Guide announced the inaugural selection for the American South, and it features 10 One MICHELIN Star restaurants in addition to one Two Star establishment. The full selection was announced at a ceremony held at the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C. 

Emeril’s in New Orleans entered the selection with Two MICHELIN Stars, impressing the anonymous Inspectors with its Creole cuisine. The full selection, including Bib Gourmand restaurants and Recommended eateries, totals 228 restaurants spanning 44 cuisine types. Chefs and restaurant teams were honored on stage during the inaugural ceremony.

“The cuisine of the American South is a rich blend of cultural influences, brought to life by skilled chefs who have crafted some of the region’s most iconic dishes,” said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guide. “Our anonymous Inspectors were deeply impressed by the region’s culinary prowess, and this inaugural selection reflects their findings — from Southern staples like barbecue, Creole and seafood, to international flavors. We welcome these restaurants to the MICHELIN Guide family and toast to all the chef and restaurant teams honored tonight.”

The 2025 American South selection includes the pre-existing Atlanta restaurant selection as a part of this first regional edition in North America. Atlanta welcomed seven new Recommended restaurants this year.

Here are the new MICHELIN Star restaurants, with Inspector notes from each (Inspectors’ comments in full on the MICHELIN Guide website and mobile app):

Two MICHELIN Stars

Louisiana

Emeril's (New Orleans; Creole cuisine)
The young E.J. Lagasse, son of the indomitable namesake, now oversees a remarkable dining room that has celebrated Creole cuisine for more than three decades. His determination is palpable as he charts a new course, bringing contemporary refinement and vibrant originality to the fore. BBQ shrimp tarts, deep-flavored gumbo and superb, golden-brown cornbread paired with French butter feel familiar and new at once. This is cooking that bursts with personality and class and never at the cost of flavor. Generously spaced tables and plush banquettes offer direct, unobstructed views into a gleaming kitchen fronted by floor-to-ceiling glass. All the while, a superb service team tends to every detail with warmth and generosity.

One MICHELIN Star

Louisiana

Saint-Germain (New Orleans; Contemporary cuisine)
The old adage about not judging a book by its cover couldn’t be more apt for this little restaurant in Bywater. An unassuming front advertising "natural wines and garden patio" leads to a quaint bar where Chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith start the meal with a few pleasant bites. The contemporary tasting kicks into high gear with a griddled cornbread cake smeared with butter aged and cultured in-house. A series of petite courses follows, each one showcasing refined sauces and bold flavors. Carolina Gold rice with crab and ginger is a winter-proof knockout. Other hits include squab with creamed greens as well as a warm cheese soufflé bolstered by brûléed sugar.

Zasu (New Orleans; American Contemporary cuisine)
Chef Sue Zemanick is no stranger to the New Orleans dining scene, having spent time in the kitchens of some of the city's famed restaurants before opening Zasu in 2019. Set in an easy-to-miss cottage in Mid-City, it's an elegant oasis with a sleek dining room marked by wood floors, dark green walls and gold tones. The menu is tightly edited, featuring a dozen or so dishes focused on seafood and blending local flavors with French techniques. A scallop shell holds two perfectly seared scallops in a Thai chile-lime butter with watermelon radish for a refreshing opener, while tilefish on a bed of Swiss chard, sweet potatoes and beech mushrooms in a beurre blanc is a satisfying main course.

North Carolina

Counter (Charlotte; Contemporary cuisine)
To say that Counter is an outlier in the Charlotte dining scene risks understatement: this ambitious, mercurial project from Chef Sam Hart is sui generis. The boldly immersive experience features shifting concepts fueled by Chef Hart’s multifarious passions and creativity, drawing on themes of nostalgia, music, personal history and more on a multicourse tasting menu. Local products are celebrated, including herbs and vegetables from nearby urban farms, combined with wide-ranging culinary influences that make for a truly memorable meal. The tight-knit team provides effortlessly gracious hospitality, and the beverage offerings are sure to impress.

South Carolina

Malagón Mercado y Taperia (Charleston; Spanish cuisine)
Don't be fooled by this unassuming spot off King Street; Malagón is a find. It's a small space with an appealing old-world ambience, where shelves are stocked with wines and imported produce and an open kitchen offers a peek at the goings-on. Chef Juan Cassalett's tapas-focused, Spanish menu has a clear spark. Nothing is overcomplicated, and there is beauty in the precision in dishes like fried rabbit leg with a savory crème fraîche dipping sauce and la bomba de la Barceloneta, with diced pork stuffed inside mashed potato and then fried. It's all deceptively simple and deliciously surprising, as in the arros con cangrejo, a paella-style dish tossed with crab that delights with each bite. 

Scoundrel (Greenville; French cuisine)
Chef/owner Joe Cash's upscale French bistro charms with an elegant dining room with hardwood floors and brick walls, a full-service bar and an engaging staff who make everyone feel well cared for and welcomed. It's the hottest table in town, and reservations are a must, though seats at the bar feel far from a consolation prize. 

High-quality ingredients are prepared with care and finesse here, where familiar favorites like Caesar salad are leveled up. Roasted half chicken is tender and juicy with a perfectly crispy skin, then topped with gnocchi Parisienne and a moutarde sauce for an extra flourish. For dessert, the upscale comfort food trend continues with cronuts served with a pistachio anglaise sauce and crème fraîche.

Vern's (Charleston; American Contemporary cuisine)
The husband-and-wife team of Daniel and Bethany Heinze have created one of Charleston's most coveted spots. Reservations at Vern's are highly sought after, though some may try their luck at the handful of bar seats saved for walk-ins. Lowcountry ingredients are championed on a menu that reflects Chef Daniel Heinze's travels. It all shifts with the seasons, but items like charred sourdough with allium butter or raw yellowfin tuna with Calabrian chili are dynamic starters. Pasta is made in house—campanelli with rabbit and vacche rosse cheese in a cacio e pepe sauce is silky-smooth. It's perfectly paired with a selection from Bethany's expertly curated wine list.

Wild Common (Charleston; American Contemporary cuisine)
Chef Orlando Pagán's tasting menu is far from common, and while upgrades like caviar eggs Benedict and wagyu are indeed available, there's nothing standard here. From the price (less than $100) and the focus on local ingredients to the wildly creative dishes with a global bent, this is fine dining injected with a bit of fun. Pho with carrot kimchi or hamachi crudo with coconut and kumquat may kick off the meal before roasted carrot and walnut tortelli with carrot fondue and browned butter whey foam, and entrees like dry-aged New York strip with a polenta cake and king trumpet mushrooms. In yet another twist, an aged cheddar sundae offers a savory take on the final course.

Tennessee

Bastion (Nashville; Contemporary cuisine)
Walk through the buzzy cocktail bar to find this stylish restaurant in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. Bastion offers a single tasting menu featuring contemporary Southern cooking that is approachable yet playful. Dishes arrive in waves, and the product focus is on full display in a stunning plate of yellow peach and tomato with strawberry miso mayo and mozzarella marshmallows, and in a summery pairing of candy-striped agnolotti filled with squash accompanied by a luscious bowlful of creamed corn. Black cod poached in champagne butter over kohlrabi noodles is topped with a parsley salad with bacon for a clever dish. Southern chess pie is bested with sake lees and cantaloupe sherbet for a terrific finale.

Locust (Nashville; Contemporary cuisine)
Reservations are a must at Chef Trevor Moran's compact, Japanese-influenced seafood spot. There is a simple elegance and a clear attention to detail in these dishes, all designed for sharing. Beef tartare hand rolls, a house classic, always delight. From there, explore more of the seafood like Maine diver scallops with shaved green apple. A Japanese omelet with shredded Jonah crab is simple but spot on, but don't skip dessert. The ever-changing iterations of their kakigori may present a block of the finest, powdery shaved ice filled with a dense passion fruit cream and caramelized honeycomb, then draped with rich milk foam and crowned with a confit egg yolk.

The Catbird Seat (Nashville; Contemporary cuisine)
Originally opened in 2011, this prized perch has ushered in a new chapter with its relocation to the top floor of the Bill Voorhees Building. Headed by husband-and-wife chef duo Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz, there is a youthful, maximalist vibe to this cuisine, and a degree of dedication to locality, seasonality and preservation. The meal is built around an array of stimulating small bites that may include such morsels as an elegant take on a chicken wing, here deboned, stuffed and dressed with sauce Perigord. A wee bowlful of crisped lamb neck set atop creamy Carolina Gold rice and dressed with candy cap mushroom-infused broth and pickled radish pods is yet another tempting possibility.

MICHELIN Green Star

Green Star: Three New Restaurants Highlighted for Their Inspiring Visions 
The MICHELIN Green Star editorially highlights restaurants that have inspired and impressed Inspectors with their committed vision for the future of gastronomy. By shaping a community of innovative establishments driven to pursue progress in the role of restaurants, the MICHELIN Green Star fosters dialogue and collaboration, encouraging establishments to inspire and evolve together. 

Three new restaurants have newly captured the Inspectors’ attention for their inspiring visions: Counter in Charlotte, North Carolina; January in Franklin, Tennessee; and Luminosa in Asheville, North Carolina. At Counter the majority of their ingredients are sourced from more than 20 local farms and they have a fermentation and preservation program in place to reduce waste. The team at January operates a zero-waste kitchen utilizing nearly every part of their products including turning vegetable trimmings into compost and turning excess produce into pickled, fermented, dried or canned ingredients for later use. Lastly, at Luminosa their commitment to sourcing local produce and supporting local farmers is their core ethos as they work hard to utilize all trim from their kitchen in sustainable ways.

These newly highlighted restaurants join the two establishments already recognized for continuing to impress the Inspectors in Atlanta: Bacchanalia and The Chastain. Together, they form a community deeply committed to presenting another vision of gastronomy.

Bib Gourmand

The MICHELIN Guide Inspectors gave 50 restaurants the Bib Gourmand distinction, which recognizes eateries for great food at a great value. The full list can be found below.

American South 2025 Bib Gourmand restaurants

NOTE: Atlanta’s pre-existing selection of Bib Gourmands is now included in the American South regional selection. All restaurants outside of the Atlanta area are considered ”new”.

MICHELIN Special Awards

In addition to the Bib Gourmands and Stars, the Guide announced four Special Awards:

The MICHELIN Guide Ceremony is presented with the support of Capital One.

Hotels

The restaurants join the MICHELIN Guide selection of hotels, which features the most unique and exciting places to stay in the American South and throughout the world.

Each hotel in the selection has been chosen by MICHELIN Guide experts for its extraordinary style, service and personality — with options for all budgets — and each can be booked directly through the MICHELIN Guide website and app. The selection features the region’s most spectacular hotels, including the picturesque Post House Inn (One MICHELIN Key) in Charleston, South Carolina; downtown Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel (Two MICHELIN Keys); and the lovely bed and breakfast Stonehurst Place (One MICHELIN Key) in Atlanta, Georgia.

The MICHELIN Guide is a benchmark in gastronomy. Now it’s setting a new standard for hotels. Visit the MICHELIN Guide website, or download the free app for iOS and Android, to discover every restaurant in the selection and book an unforgettable hotel.

The 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South selection:

American South's 2025 MICHELIN-Green-Starred restaurants

“New” is defined as a restaurant that is new for the first time to the American South selection. The pre-existing restaurants were included in the Atlanta standalone selection, which is now a part of the American South.

American South’s 2025 MICHELIN-Starred restaurants

“New” is defined as a restaurant that is new for the first time to the American South selection. The pre-existing restaurants were included in the Atlanta standalone selection, which is now a part of the American South.

American South's 2025 Recommended restaurants

“New” is defined as a restaurant that is new for the Atlanta area, which was a pre-existing standalone selection and is now a part of the American South.

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The MICHELIN Guide in North America

Michelin announced its first North American Guide in 2005 for New York. Guides have also been added in Chicago (2011); Washington, D.C. (2017); California (San Francisco in 2007, statewide 2019); Florida (Greater Miami, Orlando and Tampa in 2022, adding Greater Fort Lauderdale, The Palm Beaches and St. Pete-Clearwater in 2025, statewide in 2026); Toronto (2022); Vancouver (2022); Colorado (2023); Atlanta (2023), Mexico (2024), Texas (2024), Québec (2024), the American South (2025), Boston (2025) and Philadelphia (2025).

About the MICHELIN Guide

Recognized globally for excellence and quality, the MICHELIN Guide offers a selection of world-class restaurants. 

• The famous one, two and three MICHELIN Stars identify establishments serving exceptional cuisine that’s rich in flavor, remarkably executed and infused with the personality of a talented chef.
• The Bib Gourmand is a designation given to select restaurants that offer good quality food for a good value – often known as personal favorites among the inspectors when dining on their own time.
• The MICHELIN Green Star honors restaurants that are pioneers in sustainable gastronomy.
• Recommended restaurants and special professional awards are also highlighted by the MICHELIN Guide inspectors. 

The MICHELIN Guide remains a reliable companion for any traveler seeking an unforgettable meal and hospitality experience. The Guide was first published in France at the turn of the 20th century to encourage the development of car mobility as well as tire sales by giving practical advice to motorists. Progressively, the Guide has specialized in restaurant and hotel recommendations. Michelin’s inspectors still use the same criteria and manner of selection that were used by the inspectors in the very beginning.

The restaurant selections join the MICHELIN Guide selection of hotels, which features the most unique and exciting places to stay around the world. Visit the MICHELIN Guide website, or download the free app for iOS and Android, to discover every restaurant in the selection and book an amazing hotel.

Thanks to the rigorous MICHELIN Guide selection process that is applied independently and consistently in more than 45 destinations, the MICHELIN Guide has become an international benchmark in fine dining.

All restaurants in the Guide are recommended by Michelin’s anonymous inspectors, who are trained to apply the same time-tested methods used by Michelin inspectors for many decades throughout the world. This ensures a uniform, international standard of excellence. As a further guarantee of complete objectivity, Michelin inspectors pay all their bills in full, and only the quality of the cuisine is evaluated.

To fully assess the quality of a restaurant, the inspectors apply five criteria defined by Michelin: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu. These criteria guarantee a consistent and fair selection so a Starred restaurant has the same value regardless of whether it is in Paris, New York or anywhere else in the world.

About Michelin North America, Inc.

Michelin is the leading mobility company and manufacturer of life-changing composites and experiences. For more than 130 years, Michelin has made contributions to human progress and to a more sustainable world. Michelin is constantly innovating to manufacture high-quality tires and components for critical applications for demanding fields, including mobility, construction, aeronautics, low-carbon energies and healthcare and offer the finest experiences, from providing data- and AI-based connected solutions for professional fleets to recommending outstanding restaurants and hotels curated by the MICHELIN Guide. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America has approximately 23,500 employees and operates 35 production facilities in the United States (michelinman.com) and Canada (michelin.ca).

About Capital One

At Capital One we’re on a mission for our customers – bringing them best-in-class products, rewards, service, and experiences. Capital One is a diversified bank that offers products and services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. We use technology, innovation, and interaction to provide consumers with products and services to meet their needs. Through Capital One Dining and Capital One Entertainment, we provide our rewards cardholders with access to unforgettable experiences in the areas they’re passionate about, including dining, music and sports. Learn more at capitalone.com/dining and capitalone.com/entertainment.