5 SWFL restaurants named in Michelin Guide for the first time ever

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (WINK)—For the first time in 125 years, Michelin inspectors have recommended restaurants in Southwest Florida.

The world-renowned company Michelin awards stars to the best restaurants worldwide for high-quality food and service. The brand has been compiling the Michelin Guide for decades, a list of restaurants its inspectors recommend, even if they haven't been awarded a Michelin star.

This year, Southwest Florida restaurants are featured on the list. Michelin inspectors have previously been to Miami, Tampa, and Orlando.

Five restaurants made this year's list— The Liberty in Fort Myers, Canary Club and The Bohemian in Bonita Springs, and Bicyclette Cookshop and Tong Yin in Naples. The restaurants found out they made the guide on Thursday and are celebrating the recognition.

These SWFL restaurants have not been given a Michelin star, but being recognized is still a huge honor and one of the most prestigious awards for these restaurants.

Canary Club was not only included in the Michelin Guide but also awarded a Bib Gourmand. That means diners will get high-quality food at an affordable price.

"We're in a very small local market here in Bonita Springs. It's a very community-driven market, so our goal is to provide our community with something that they come and enjoy, and know that it's not going to break their pocket at the end of the day, but they're going to feel like they just left a five-star restaurant," Anthony Gauer, general manager of the Canary Club, said.

The chef drives the menu, incorporating the restaurant's wood-fired oven and infusing each dish with flavors from the Levant region of the Middle East. The produce is all fresh, and the restaurant even infuses its own spirits.

"It's a chef's special touch, is what it really is here," Gauer said.

Everything is made with careful consideration, sourcing, and inspiration. People having lunch at the Canary Club said they keep coming back for the incredible food.

"Being part of any Michelin brand, you know, it's kind of what every chef, restaurant, GM, owner—it's kind of like their dream, you know. So it's amazing to be on their radar," Gauer said.

The owners of the Canary Club also own the Bohemian, the second restaurant in Bonita Springs to be recognized. The restaurants celebrated when they found out they made the Michelin list, an honor they didn't expect and are proud to now share with the community.

In Naples, Bicyclette Cookshop was also recognized. Kelly Zielinski, chef de cuisine at Bicyclette Cookshop, has long dreamed of working at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

"It means that one, maybe we've made some sort of difference in the food scene here in Naples. Personally, it's always been a dream of mine to work at a Michelin restaurant, and I've never worked at one, so now it's kind of cool to be a part of, like, creating one," Zielinski said.

The staff has worked together for years. The family atmosphere shines in the food they make.

"We're really influenced by the places we've all been, where we're all from. We have a lot of different cultures in the kitchen, and we like to take little snippets from everyone," Zielinski said.

The Michelin recognition means hours of hard work have paid off, including how to mold the menu around a small kitchen.

"We only have four induction burners, we have two ovens and two fryers, and then a little table top grill, and we've really had to mold the menu around that, because we can't do like certain things that bigger kitchens can do," said Zielinski. "I think that really forces us to be creative."

Zielinski is Polish and grew up making pierogi with her grandmother every Christmas. Perogi now has a permanent spot on the menu, with the flavor rotating seasonally. The staff draws on their diverse cultures to create the menu.t

"That's some of my earliest memories of cooking with my grandma in the kitchen. So took that kind of put a modernist twist on it," said Zielenski.

She describes Bicyclette Cookshop as a neighborhood casual fine-dining restaurant with international small plates and recommends ordering multiple dishes to share.

"Be adventurous with what's on the menu. We try to introduce new ways of cooking, new cuts of meat, and new produce. We try to work closely with our fishermen, our farms around here, so we just want people to know that we want to continue to be a part of the community," Zielinski said.

The Michelin recommendation won't change how the restaurant operates. Zielinski said they are going to continue to grow as chefs and a restaurant to try to earn a Michelin star next year, saying what they're doing has already gotten them this far.