Jungsik Is the First Michelin 3-Starred Korean Restaurant in the U.S.

New York is now home to the first Michelin three-star Korean restaurant in the United States.

On Monday evening, during a ceremony in N.Y.C., the Michelin Guide announced the latest ranking of spots in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The headliner was that New York’s Jungsik was upgraded from two stars to three. Jungsik Yim’s namesake restaurant is considered to have laid the foundation for Korean fine dining’s emergence in New York and the U.S. more broadly.

As they accepted the honor, Yim and executive chef Daeik Kim were visibly emotional. “We’re so happy to be part of this Korean cuisine and culture that’s booming in the States,” Yim said. “We’re just happy to have all the great chefs lead us … So many people before us, we just carry the legacy and keep moving forward.”

New York also saw the arrival of three new two-star restaurants, resulting in some subtle onstage drama. The Michelin Guide announced two stars each for César and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare back-to-back. Notably, César Ramirez opened his namesake restaurant after leaving Chef’s Table in the midst of a messy legal dispute. (He formerly held three Michelin stars at that restaurant.) Ramirez and the two new chefs at Chef’s Table were forced to share the stage and take group photos, with Ramirez appearing visibly uncomfortable and many in the crowd feeling secondhand awkwardness.

Across all three cities, formerly two-star restaurants were demoted to one star. In New York, Daniel Boulud’s Daniel was downgraded, while Chicago’s Moody Tongue and D.C.’s Pineapple & Pearls also received the boot from the two-star category. Additionally, New York lost the two-star Al Coro—which has since closed and been reimagined as Crane Club—and seven one-star restaurants from last year. Chicago lost three one-stars, and D.C. lost just one.

Those losses were tempered by new additions to each city’s guide, though. New York also saw Sushi Sho elevated to two stars, while eight other restaurants received their first star. Chicago gained one additional one-star restaurant, and D.C. acquired two more one-star spots. Sitting in the audience, though, I couldn’t help but notice that just one female chef was included across all the one-star additions.

Ahead of the ceremony, in a conversation with Robb Report, Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, touted how the guides are growing in terms of diversity. That may be true in the case of the cuisines being honored with stars—especially with Jungsik earning that coveted third star—but the guides may benefit from diversity in other areas, as well.