“All right, all eyes on us now,” says Scoundrel chef and owner Joe Cash.
When his restaurant earned one star in the inaugural MICHELIN Guide American South, Cash reacted with the complicated emotions expected from someone who deliberately left an award-chasing career in New York to open a restaurant in his much smaller, up-and-coming hometown of Greenville, South Carolina.
“It’s this huge honor, huge privilege, and I think now our biggest thing is, how do we make sure that every single day, every single person that comes in here feels and believes these guys earned this, and they deserve it?” he says.
Cash’s response echoes that of many other chefs who learned in 2025 that two juggernauts of culinary influence, the MICHELIN Guide and Bravo’s Top Chef Season 23, were headed South with a heavy focus on the Carolinas.
“It poses an interesting opportunity,” says Kristen Hall, chef and owner of La Fête in Birmingham, Alabama, of her Bib Gourmand award. “Now we’re in the Guide. Now we have to maintain that. That’s part of the reason why I didn’t necessarily want a star. With a star comes expectations from guests.”
Places like New Orleans, Atlanta, and Nashville have long been considered culinary destinations, and Charleston’s status continues to rise through awards and the establishment of festivals the caliber of the Food & Wine Classic. Now, these dining hubs have the opportunity to share the spotlight with the region’s lesser-lauded cities.
“A lot of people for a long time have said Charlotte doesn’t have a good food scene, and I would argue to the bone that it does,” says chef Andres Kaifer of Charlotte’s Customshop. In addition to a recommendation in the Guide, Customshop was among several restaurants that hosted Top Chef judges for dinner when they were in town filming late last summer. The social media buzz from judge Gail Simmons, in particular, created immediate impact and felt validating, Kaifer says.
“I left Miami because of how attractive the food scene was in the Carolinas,” Kaifer says. “We have a very rich and diverse food scene.”
The MICHELIN Guide, inclusive of seven states, boasts 228 restaurants representing 44 types of cuisine, meaning it’s not only stereotypical Southern food or only white tablecloth, tasting menu restaurants that have caught the attention of the judges and the international dining community.
For Jeff Tonidandel of Tonidandel Brown Restaurant Group in Charlotte, it was a surprise to have three of their restaurants—Ever Andalo, Haberdish, and Supperland—included in the Guide.
“We don’t do things I typically think MICHELIN is looking for,” he says. “At every one of our places you can eat family-style and have shareable large portions.”
Hall thinks similarly about La Fête’s inclusion and the broader implications. “The assumption that MICHELIN-[recognized] restaurants are expensive and fancy—La Fête is neither of those things,” Hall says. “There are definitely more people with the awareness of what exists here beyond the stereotypical Southern food experience.”
Even with the diversity of cuisine, the secret to culinary success here is the ideal location for sourcing ingredients, says Joe Kindred, chef and co-owner of three restaurants in the Charlotte area. “You can always see my Southern roots,” Kindred says. “I think that it’s really [easy] to tell if the chef is from the South. It’s my job to really tell that narra- tive and not be afraid of that narrative.”
Joe and Katy Kindred’s restaurants Albertine, Kindred, and milkbread also served Top Chef’s host Kristen Kish and judges Tom Colicchio and Simmons, and benefited from the enhanced visibility.
Practically speaking, though, the sudden increase in reservations at each named or awarded restaurant creates logistical challenges. For La Fête, Hall immediately ordered more glasses and spoons.
“Volume creates a huge challenge,” she says. “It’s fun to be busy, but it’s only fun to be busy when you’re prepared.”
For Asheville, however, the challenge of MICHELIN-related attention is welcome after Hurricane Helene decimated the restaurant community in 2024.
“I think this concentrated attention comes at a meaningful moment,” says Eric Scheffer, founder and CEO of Scheffer Group, which operates popular neighborhood restaurants in Asheville. “This spotlight doesn’t create something new; it amplifies and codifies Asheville’s place in the culinary South. The timing also matters because people understand, at least on some level, the emotional and financial challenges that our community just endured.”
Philip Bollhoefer is vice president of food and beverage for Parks Hospitality Group, which notably includes Soprana Rooftop Cucina, now a MICHELIN-recommended pizza restaurant on the roof- top of Embassy Suites in Asheville. He says Soprana’s additional obstacle of being located inside a hotel pushed the team to focus even more on sourcing the best local ingredients possible and ensuring the staff was ready to engage guests.
“We do feel a pressure and a responsibility now that there is a different clientele coming to the South with different expectations,” Bollhoefer says. “We’re excited to give everyone that learning opportunity to see what the South is all about.”
Many within the region are encouraged that the Guide and Top Chef attention and impact aren’t isolated to only those restaurants making the lists.
“A rising tide lifts all ships,” says Frank Scibelli, owner of FS Food Group and seven concepts in North Carolina, including MICHELIN-recognized Little Mama’s. “For sure it’s good for everybody. I think it’s obviously motivation for people who didn’t make it.”
For Mark Bolchoz of Cane Pazzo in Hanahan, South Carolina, his restaurant was too recently opened to be considered for the Guide, and that was okay, then. “In the immediate I wasn’t super focused on it,” he says. “We had just opened, but it’s hugely important for next year.”
Katy Kindred, who trained for such awards for many years alongside her husband in San Francisco restaurants, welcomes the pressure the industry may experience.
“Having accountability outside of Yelp is important,” she says. “Having the MICHELIN Guide here is having a similar effect [to a restaurant critic]. It gets everyone on their game.”
As to the long-term effects of both the Guide and Top Chef on the Carolinas and beyond, it remains to be seen.
“The way that I see it, we don’t really know how deep or wide the impact of MICHELIN being in the South will be,” Hall says. “As long as we see it as an opportunity for positivity, then it’s a good thing.”
MICHELIN Star
MICHELIN Bib Gourmand
- La Fête in Birmingham, Alabama
MICHELIN Recommended
- Customshop in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Ever Andalo, Haberdish, and Supperland in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Kindred in Davidson, North Carolina
- Soprana Rooftop Cucina in Asheville, North Carolina
Find the complete guide at michelin.com
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