Restaurants in Aurora, Including Annette, Won't Be Included in the Michelin Guide

"It's like whiplash," says chef Caroline Glover, the owner of Annette and the 2022 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef in the mountain region, the first major honor for a local from that foundation in years. As a result, in June, when the Michelin Guide announced that it would be releasing its first Colorado edition this year, "Everyone was feeling excited about this big of a publication saying that Colorado has some good stuff going on," she adds. And that includes good stuff in Aurora, where Annette is located, in Stanley Marketplace.

At the time, Michelin specified that the guide would cover "Denver, Boulder, Aspen and Snowmass Village, the Town of Vail and Beaver Creek Resort."

"Aurora is a huge part of Denver's dining scene, in my opinion, so I don't even really think of the two as separate," Glover says, noting that other local and national publications, including Westword, don't typically differentiate between the two adjacent cities when compiling lists of the best restaurants. But in a follow-up conversation with Michelin about the coverage area, we learned that this guide is limiting "Denver" to Denver County — which means that any restaurants in Aurora, including Annette, are out of the running.

When Glover saw that, "I had this moment of, 'Wait, wait, wait — what?'" she recalls. She responded with an Instagram post that reads, in part, "For a city with such a rich and diverse food scene like Aurora to be excluded from consideration by Michelin is a huge missed opportunity — not only for our entire community, but for the diners coming to Colorado to experience our restaurants, as well."

Adds Glover: "It's not about Annette getting a star or not getting a star. It's more about, what does it mean for the city to not be included when we're so close to Denver? ... I think Aurora has some of the best food in the state, and the most diverse. And it's not boring. There are a lot of people cooking food they grew up with, and at a very high level of competence."

"We've worked closely with Annette over the years, and we've seen a lot of really cool, really diverse, high-quality chefs and chef-inspired restaurants coming out of Aurora because it's such a melting pot," says Peter Wanberg, who launched Jubilee Coffee Co. eight years ago and now also runs the City Park Farmers Market with his wife, Margo. "When you have a place like Annette that has had so much national recognition for its food, service and concept, to exclude it doesn't make a lot of sense. Why draw the line?"
Other notable omissions include Breckenridge, which is home to a number of fine-dining restaurants like Matt Vawter's Rootstalk and Radicato, as well as Grand Junction, where the James Beard-nominated Bin 707 Foodbar is located. On the other hand, the entirety of Boulder County is included, meaning that eateries like Marigold in Lyons and Farow in Niwot could be recognized. 

Michelin responded to a request for clarification about how coverage areas are determined with the following statement:

Michelin is always evaluating possible new destinations for the Guide, around the world. Before the Michelin Guide is established in a new destination, the anonymous inspectors conduct an initial study of the area. During that time, the inspectors evaluate the culinary landscape for a possible selection of restaurants. If there are enough restaurants offering high-quality cuisine, the process would begin for the Guide to be established.

That’s when a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) might be involved to cover some of the costs to establish the Guide in the new location, including communications, digital and marketing campaigns to promote the destination and the selection of restaurants. Michelin cannot discuss commercial terms of partnerships for competitive reasons.

The involvement of DMOs does not have any influence on the inspectors' judgments. DMOs discover the list of selected restaurants at the same time as the media and chefs – at the Michelin Guide Ceremony. There is no preferential treatment for the DMO in the partnership.

In Florida, for example, where the guide began covering Tampa, Miami and Orlando last year, no restaurants in Tampa ended up receiving stars in 2022.

Michelin's presence in Colorado was in the works long before it was announced to the public. “In 2022, the Michelin Guide conducted a destination study in Colorado, and we spoke with Michelin about the excellence of the Colorado restaurant industry,” explained Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, in a June release.

“The Michelin team was pleased with the inspectors’ initial findings, and since then, the Colorado Tourism Office, led by director Tim Wolfe, has solidified the partnership. We couldn’t be happier for our industry.”

But some financing sweetened the deal. "The Colorado Tourism Office looks to sponsor this program, marketing Colorado’s culinary excellence domestically and internationally to about $135,000 per year. This is to fund communication, digital and marketing campaigns to promote the selections and broadcast them to the world," says Hayes Norris, CTO's communications officer, adding that "we hope to see the guide expand in coming years, and are thrilled for what this recognition from the Michelin Guide will mean for the entire state of Colorado as word spreads about our dynamic and growing culinary scene."

Visit Denver is also contributing marketing funds to support the Michelin Guide. "Similar to the State of Colorado’s investment, Visit Denver's contribution is about $100,000 for the rating service and ongoing international/domestic marketing," says Richard W. Scharf, president and CEO of the organization.
Was Aurora left out because it didn't contribute financially to the effort? Bruce Dalton, the president of booster group Visit Aurora, said that the organization cannot comment on anything related to Michelin until after the honorees are announced in September.

But there are other theories. "The reputation of Aurora is not that great," says Siri Tan, owner of Urban Burma inside Mango House, who adds that "most of Aurora's restaurants are ethnic restaurants and are not as fancy as Denver's." And with less fine dining in Colorado's third-largest city, Michelin itself may have decided to omit Aurora from consideration.

Glover wishes there was more transparency about how how the coverage areas were chosen for the first Michelin Guide Colorado. But regardless, she says, "my hope is that next year Aurora gets to be included." After all, the Michelin Guide not only awards stars, but also offers general recommendations and the Bib Gourmand designation for places that offer quality food for a good value — a description that is spot-on for countless Aurora eateries. "Michelin does not just benefit restaurants, but also our vendors, our farmers and the economy overall," Glover adds. "Next year, they need to take a deeper dive."

Despite the limited coverage area, Glover is excited for the local restaurants in the running for stars this year. Those names will be announced at Colorado's invite-only Michelin Guide Ceremony on September 12 at the Mission Ballroom.