Chef's 8 likeliest new stars, before Michelin names them on Monday, December 14, 2026. Pick the three you think get one, and see who agrees.
★ 47 days to go
Where Washington, D.C. stands: about 20 starred restaurants; no three-star since the Inn at Little Washington dropped to two. Last year D.C. got no new stars at all, the first shutout since the guide came in 2017. We pick eight, not ten: the guide has been stingy here.
Tap ☆ My pick on up to three. You'll see what everyone else picked once you do.
Jon Sybert and Jill Tyler's casual successor to their starred Tail Up Goat. No. 2 on the Post's best new list and added in September. Counter service, but the cooking is the star.
Michelin names its new stars on Monday, December 14, 2026. We'll email you that night with who got one in Washington, D.C., and how your picks did.
This also opens a free Chef Amazing account: keep the places you love, the lists friends send you and your next trip. Your address is never shared or sold. Picks for Washington, D.C. are counted without an account.
How Chef picks
Only restaurants without a star today. Then what we read: what the critics wrote this year (the New York Times, the Washington Post, Chicago magazine, the Globe, the Inquirer), James Beard lists, which places Michelin itself added to the guide this year, the critics' read Chef Amazing keeps on each place, and how members who've been rate it. Strong, Good and Long shot are Chef's words for the odds, not math: nobody outside Michelin knows what the inspectors ate.
Photos "like it" (not of the restaurant), via Wikimedia Commons: Maison Bar à Vins: FordsFishShack, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rye Bunny: Evan-Amos, CC0; Maru San: City Foodsters, CC BY 2.0; Isla: Daderot, CC0; Qui Qui: pelican from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0; Elcielo Bistró: Cerieks, CC BY-SA 4.0; Eebee's Corner Bar: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0; Chai Pani: Ocdp, CC0.
Facts checked October 27, 2026. Chef Amazing's own predictions; Chef Amazing is not connected to the MICHELIN Guide. Photos marked "a photo like it" are not of that restaurant.
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