Mirepoix earns Michelin star

The prestigious Michelin Guide awarded Windsor’s Restaurant
Mirepoix a coveted Michelin Star in the latest edition of the
organization’s San Francisco Guide.
Mirepoix’s husband and wife owners Matthew and Bryan Bousquet
said the prestigious award validated the hard work and sacrifice
they have put into Mirepoix for the past nine years. “This is what
we’ve been striving for,” said Matthew.
The Michelin guide is one of the culinary world’s most
significant awards.
The guide’s reviewers are famous for working anonymously and
expanded their reviews to San Francisco several years ago.
“San Francisco is famed for its diversity – its people, its
politics, its scenery and of course its food,” said Jean-Luc Naret,
director of the MICHELIN Guides in a written statement. “The Bay
Area is also a particularly fertile farming region. There is so
much to choose from – we spend a full year studying this region to
produce our Guide and the effort is immensely satisfying. This is
quite simply one of the finest culinary regions in the world.”
Bryan said the award was gratifying and said the couple had
achieved the success with the help of the local community. “There’s
no way we were going to get away with nine years in that spot
without the community backing that we got.”
She said the international recognition that a Michelin star can
bring to a community could have positive implications for the Town.
“We’ve always tried to do the best we can to make this recognizable
for the area and it’s one of those things that we’re hoping it
brings a lot more recognition to the town as much as the town
brings recognition to us.”
The couple, who live in Windsor, have a young daughter and also
own Bistro M. Bryan said the couple have worked hard to balance the
needs of their businesses with their family and the award was
recognition that their approach had paid off. “To us, it’s like the
Emmy of restaurants. The recognition is on par with one of the
highest accolades in this business,” she said.
Bryan said the motivation to run a restaurant comes from the
desire to constantly improve. “Once you’re comfortable with it, you
have to push a step further. You have to be uncomfortable and
running every second. The motivation comes from pushing yourself as
hard as you can each time you push yourself harder to do it without
sacrificing quality.”
Matthew said the couple were in shock after receiving the news
early Tuesday morning and while they are unsure as to what the star
will mean for the restaurant he said the recognition would push him
to continue improving his craft. “We don’t want to stop with one,
we want to continue on, improve and make it to the point where this
is our flagship.”
He said he would be looking for advice from fellow winners at a
cocktail reception held in San Francisco. “I plan on talking to
anyone I possibly can tonight, at least everyone with two
stars.”