The second annual Michelin Guide American South was unveiled on the evening of 21 October at The Pinnacle in downtown Nashville, adding three restaurants to the region’s one-star ranks. According to Travel South USA, the regional tourism organisation, the 2026 selection covers 265 restaurants across 44 cuisine types, with 48 newcomers.
The Stars
The new one-star restaurants are Dakar NOLA in New Orleans, So. Fox in Atlanta and Uberto in Gay, Georgia. That brings the region to 21 one-star restaurants, 18 of them returning. Travel South USA said Emeril’s in New Orleans kept its two stars and remains the region’s only two-star restaurant.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that So. Fox, in the city’s Virginia-Highland neighbourhood, opened only a few months ago. Uberto, at Quercus, is the first restaurant outside metropolitan Atlanta in Georgia to receive a star, the newspaper said, and its chef Ryan Smith also received a Mindful Voices award. Georgia now holds ten stars, with eight restaurants retaining theirs, including Atlas, Bacchanalia and Hayakawa.
Value and Recommended Lists
The guide’s value category, the Bib Gourmand, now totals 59 restaurants: 14 new and 45 returning. In Georgia, Tipsy Thaiger and Summerland were added. Michelin’s Recommended list has 184 entries, with 31 new and 153 returning. Local broadcaster WVLT reported that A Dopo in Knoxville gained a Bib Gourmand and that Au Bon Coin, Raven Steakhouse in Maryville and Wilder at Windy Hill Farm & Preserve in Loudon were newly Recommended.
In Tennessee, WVLT said, there were no new stars. Bastion, The Catbird Seat and Locust in Nashville each kept the single star they hold. Maiz de la Vida in Nashville and Bao Toan Kitchen & Bar in Memphis joined A Dopo among the state’s three new Bib Gourmands.
The AJC also noted changes at the other end of the ledger. In Atlanta, Gunshow, Marcel, The White Bull and Nadair were removed from the Recommended list, and Nadair had closed earlier this year.
Why It Matters
Michelin recognition tends to bring bookings, tourism and investment to a dining scene, and the American South guide is still young. A second edition that awards a star to a restaurant in a small Georgia town, outside any major city, suggests the guide is widening its view of Southern cooking beyond the big metropolitan areas. For diners and travellers it offers a curated list of places to visit, while for restaurateurs it shows that a listing can be won and lost from one edition to the next. Details here come from regional tourism and press reports of the announcement rather than from the guide’s own pages.
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