NEW ORLEANS — They’re restaurants worth driving to… on your Michelin-brand tires, of course.

With three New Orleans restaurants now earning Michelin stars, here’s how the honor came to be. It all started as a brilliant marketing strategy.

Back in 1889, two brothers founded the Michelin tire company in France. With only a few thousand cars in the country at the time, they created a guide for drivers—like where to gas up and places to visit—hoping to encourage road trips and, ultimately, tire sales.

The guide kept growing, and so did its hotel and restaurant sections. Eventually, the Michelin brothers hired anonymous diners to review restaurants. By the 1920s, they began awarding stars, recognizing good restaurants worth a detour or even a special trip.

Today, Michelin outlines exactly h

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