The First Ever Michelin Guide to California is Released with Seven Three Star

Michelin has released its first ever guide to California and the numbers include 90 starred restaurants in total.

The guide highlights the gastronomic quality on offer in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Orange County and Santa Barbara and the Bay Area. It is the Bay Area with all the regions seven three-star restaurants that remains the culinary epicentre of California.

Three star accolades went to San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn and Healdsburg’s Single Thread, Benu, the French Laundry, Manresa, Quince and the Restaurant at Meadowood.

San Francisco's Saison dropped to two stars for the first time since 2014, which coincides with founder Joshua Skenes stepping away earlier this year and new chef Laurent Gras stepping up. Skenes’ Angler restaurant received its first star this year. Expect Saison to bounce back quickly.

Six new restaurants in Los Angeles have been awarded two-star status: chef Niki Nakayama’s n/naka kaiseki restaurant in Culver City; Michael Cimarusti’s Providence in Hollywood; Aitor Zabala and José Andrés’s Somni inside the SLS Beverly Hills; Sushi Ginza Onodera in West Hollywood; Urasawa, which inspectors deem “an exemplary sushi temple” in Beverly Hills; and chef Jordan Kahn’s Vespertine. In San Francisco, chef Srijith Gopinathan’s Campton Place in the Union Square neighbourhood, has been awarded a second star.

“MICHELIN is honoured to reveal the 2019 star selection and to celebrate the talented California chefs and their teams included in the first state-wide Guide in the U.S.,” says Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the MICHELIN Guides. “California’s trendsetting, laid-back and health-conscious culinary scene continues to boom, and as a result is an amazing showcase for the great local produce.”