THE MOBIL GUIDE AWARDS By John Mariani Since I wrote about the AAA restaurant awards a few weeks ago, it seems only fair to compare them to the just-announced five-star Mobil Guide awards.  No real surprises here--half of the fourteen annointed are in hotels (Mary Elaine's, The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ; Picasso, Bellagio, and Renoir, MGM Grand, both Las Vegas; Alain Ducasse, The Essex House; Daniel, the Mayfair-Regent; Jean Georges, Trump International; and Lespinasse, St. Regis, all NYC), and all are among the most expensive restaurants in the world, even though a at least two lose hundreds of thousands of dollars each yea for their hotel benefactors. Actually, I agree on most of their choices as being restaurants of considerable merit. (The rest of the list is The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, VA; The French Laundry, Yountville, CA; Gary Danko, San Francisco; Ginza Sushiko, Beverly Hills; Seeger's, Atlanta; Charlie Trotter's, Chicago; and Maisonette, Cincinnati.) Ginza Sushiko does raise my eyebrow.  Easily the most expensive and exclusive restaurant in California, with only a sushi counter and some tatami rooms, it has nothing like the posh, service or amenities of any other restaurant on the list. There is no dress code. There is also no menu, so you eat what chef Masa Takayama wants you to eat.  Take it or leave it. Like AAA, Mobil (whose editor once told me the reason their inspectors don't actually eat at all the thousands of restaurants below the five-star level listed in their Guides is because, "We're not a food guide; we're a restaurant guide." Duh.) seems to think that five-star restaurants should toe a strong French line.  Other than Ginza Sushiko, not a single ethnic restaurant makes the cut. A few might show touches of American or Asian influence, but none is resolutely American.  Omissions are telling:  Where are great restaurants like Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, Le Cirque 2000, Le Bernardin, Gotham Bar & Grill, Gramercy Tavern, and San Domenico in NYC, Valentino in Santa Monica, Spago Beverly Hills, Tony's in Houston, Tribute in Detroit, Commander's Palace in New Orleans, and so many others? Like AAA, Mobil seems unconcerned that gloebtrotting chefs like Alain Ducasse and Jean-George Vongerichten spend very little time in their five-star restaurants, while chefs like Guenter Seeger, William Boyce of Mary Elaine's, Patrick O'Connell of the Inn at Little Washington, and Bertrand Bouquin of Maisonette insist on always being behind their stoves. And while Mobil declined this year to rate restaurants like New Orleans' Grill Room at the Windsor Court Hotel and The Dining Room at Atlanta's Ritz-Carlton Buckhead because of "renovations and chef changes," the same concerns didn't prevent them from rating Maisonette, where Bouqin just came aboard as chef just last fall. The lesson here, as with AAA? Be French, be very expensive, be in a hotel, and pretend to be difficult to get into. Being there is not required. Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? Email: jwdineline@aol.com Copyright © 1998 Inter Active Media Solutions. All Rights Reserved. The interactive components of this site require that you use a current browser version of Explorer; be sure to maximize your window out so you can see the entire page. This page was created by Inter Active Media Solutions.