The 1990 Michelin guidebook to France, published this month, has awarded three stars to the Louis XV restaurant in Monte Carlo's Hotel de Paris, whose chef, Alain Ducasse, at age 33 becomes the youngest person to be so honored.
The Louis XV, which won one star in 1987 and two in 1988, is the only hotel restaurant to garner three stars in the history of the red guide, which started in 1900. Michelin also awarded a first star to the Hotel de Paris's rooftop Grill Room.The guide, which can make or break a restaurant's reputation, demoted L'Oustau de Baumaniere, in Les Baux in Provence, to two stars after 35 years as a three-star restaurant. This leaves 19 restaurants in France with three stars.
Six were demoted from two stars to one, including two in Paris: Pre Catelan in the Bois de Boulogne and Le Petit Bedon, in the 16th arrondissement.
Fifty-seven fell from one star to none. These include some well-known Paris restaurants.