5 restaurants in NYC earned the highest Michelin rating for 2019 - and 2 of them have topped the list every year since the ranking started

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Diners at a private event at Per Se in NYC in 2014.

• Five New York City restaurants earned the highest Michelin rating for 2019. 
• The Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, Eleven Madison Park, Le Bernardin, Masa, and Per Se were all awarded three stars.
• Two of those, Le Bernardin and Per Se, have consistently topped Michelin ratings for 13 years - every year since Michelin started ranking NYC restaurants in 2006.

Five restaurants in New York City were recently awarded one of the highest honors in the industry: three coveted Michelin stars.

The Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, Eleven Madison Park, Le Bernardin, Masa, and Per Se, all in Manhattan, topped the NYC guide for 2019. All five restaurants are on the pricier side, with meals falling in the $75 and higher category, according to the Michelin guide.

Two of the restaurants, Le Bernardin and Per Se, have won the highest Michelin rating 14 times, every year since the restaurant guide was established in New York City in 2006.

Le Bernadin, a seafood restaurant in Midtown West, was opened in 1986 by a sibling duo from Paris who had already established the restaurant there in 1972. It's now run by one of the siblings, Maguy Le Coze, and chef Eric Ripert.

Read more: Michelin just announced its 2019 New York City restaurant list - and 16 restaurants made the list for the first time

"When the definitive history of NYC's dining scene is written, Le Bernardin will have a chapter all to itself," reads Michelin's description of the restaurant. "...Seafood restaurants have no hiding place when it comes to cooking fish or crustaceans and this kitchen always hits its marks - whether that's poaching halibut, pan-roasting monkfish, baking striped bass or searing tuna."

Per Se is a newer establishment, opened in 2004 by chef Thomas Keller. 

"The kitchen's sourcing is legendary and will make you think again about ingredients you consider familiar," reads the Michelin guide. "For instance, the milk-poached poularde is so exceptionally succulent and flavorsome that any chicken you subsequently sample will seem a disappointment."

Sixteen restaurants in the city earned Michelin stars for the first time, while five others saw their status elevated: Gabriel Kreuther, Kosaka, Le Coucou, Sushi Nakazawa, and Tuome. In total, 76 New York City restaurants received stars for 2019. 

Michelin defines a three-star rating as "Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey." The stars are based on five criteria: the quality of ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his cuisine, and value for money and consistency between visits.