At the turn of the 20th century, Michelin had a problem: There weren’t enough people on the road.
French brothers André and Édouard Michelin published a guide in 1900 to encourage more people to travel by car — and, in turn, buy more tires. The little red book offered practical advice for motorists, from changing a tire to finding a gas station, along with recommendations for places to eat and stay.
More than a century later, the guide is an influential force in hospitality. Its stars put restaurants on the map, fill locals with pride in place, and bring international acclaim to a chef’s work.
With the release of the 2026 Michelin Guide American South, new stars are drawing attention to the region’s top dining destinations — giving travelers three new reasons to take the long way around.
Dakar NOLA | New Orleans
Chef Serigne Mbaye spent his childhood cooking alongside his mother in Senegal — memories palpable in the tasting menu at his restaurant on the Mississippi River levee.
Inside the cottage, guests are welcomed with teranga, a Senegalese tea ceremony rooted in generosity. Its intimate dining room seats 18, though many more faces adorn the walls in a collection of West African tribal masks.
Drawing on local seafood and produce, Mbaye brings Senegalese and Creole influences together in pescatarian plates that tell a story of cultural exchange, a reminder that a meal can be both an exploration of somewhere new and a way to understand the place you’re in.
Michelin inspectors lauded the shrimp skewers with mustard sauce, Gulf crab with black-eyed peas and cassava, and soup with shrimp and okra.
So. Fox | Atlanta
Muscadine grapes are the namesake of this wine-forward Southern restaurant, open less than four months before earning a Michelin star.
The restaurant is the latest venture from chef Myles Moody and sommelier Rachael Pack, the husband-and-wife duo behind Kinship Butcher & Sundry next door. So. Fox builds on the couple’s backgrounds in fine dining while leveraging established relationships with nearby farms and producers.
Its menu follows the seasons, giving carefully sourced ingredients room to speak for themselves. Wine is equally central to the experience: Pack’s low-intervention program treats each glass as an integral part of the meal rather than an afterthought.
Michelin inspectors praised the corn dumplings with lump crab meat and a bowl of piped marshmallow set with roasted apple granita and purple shiso.
Uberto Restaurant | Gay, Georgia
About an hour south of Atlanta, this contemporary restaurant sits within World of Quercus, a luxury retreat spanning 3,000 acres of lush woodlands, rolling pastures, and cool lakes.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the restaurant opens its doors to outside guests for chef Ryan Smith’s tasting menu. The meal is a reflection of the land that surrounds it, with more than 90% of its produce by weight harvested from the property’s biodynamic garden or procured from suppliers within 5 miles.
Here, the journey is part of the experience. Dishes are shaped by Smith’s creativity and seasonality of the region — worthy of a getaway all its own.
Michelin inspectors highlighted the miso and Alabama blue crab chawanmushi, a cold-smoked, dry-aged Rohan duck, and fig ice cream with buckwheat sponge and crumble.
Beyond the new Michelin stars, 14 restaurants earned their first Bib Gourmand distinction, while 31 more received recommendations. In all, the 2026 Michelin Guide American South features 265 restaurants, a roadmap for delighting your taste buds wherever you find yourself in the region.
