A restaurant that has held three Michelin stars for half a century was pushed down a rank in one of the biggest shocks of the French culinary guide for 2019. Ahead of the new edition’s unveiling; manager Danielle Baumann Haeberlin confirmed the bad news for the Auberge de L’Ill, calling it “a sad day for the Alsace” region where the family has run an inn for 150 years. “After 51 years of three stars, I learned Sunday that I had lost the third,” her brother, chef Marc Haeberlin, told France 3 Alsace television. “It’s hard for the team, it’s hard for everyone – the customers, the family – it’s very hard,” said the chef, a champion of contemporary Alsatian cuisine. “I don’t know how to explain this loss,” said Haeberlin, whose culinary mentor, the legendary chef Paul Bocuse, died a year ago. Haeberlin is not the only shock loser of the 2019 guide.
Published in Daily Times, January 28th 2019.