Michelin USA a boon for French names

Joel Robuchon kept his three stars at the MGM Grand hotel, while Guy Savoy was awarded two stars for his outlet at Caesars Palace.

Meanwhile Robuchon received another, single, star for his version of L'Atelier, also at the MGM Grand and Daniel Boulud's Brasserie at Wynn gained a star too

The Las Vegas edition of the Michelin guide is in its second year, and already these new city guides to the USA are great news for the top French names.

Chefs such as Robuchon, Savoy and Gagnaire took the idea of being a global brand in the late 1990s and ran with it, to the extent of opening restaurants in North America, the Middle East and Asia. Now Michelin has belated chased them across the globe, still handing out awards for the same type of French food, wherever it's cooked. For ambitious chefs the game is no longer about owning a fine property in Paris with good food and service.

And for those who have always obsessed about winning two or three stars - or even being a double three-star winner as Ducasse once was - the bar is raised. Why not 15, 20, or even more? There are further Michelin city guides in the pipeline, with Hong Kong likely to be the next after inspectors were spotted there over the summer. More stars add up to good marketing as well as being great for the ego - the era of the celebrity chef is just starting.