Michelin stars announced: These Bay Area restaurants won (and lost)

The extremely influential Michelin star stays a make-or-break award for a lot of within the fine-dining world, identified for bringing in additional enterprise and caché for winners.

Maybe most notably, 10 previously-starred Bay Space eating places dropped off the information this 12 months. That is the best variety of demotions within the Bay Space since not less than 2019, Michelin confirmed. (The Michelin Information didn’t award stars in 2020, in the course of the top of the pandemic.) 

Some could be attributed to closures: San Francisco’s AL’s Place and Daniel Patterson’s as soon as two-starred Coi each shut down completely this 12 months. Burlingame Indian vacation spot Rasa closed and pivoted to a extra informal restaurant, the proprietor stated partially due to the stress of incomes a Michelin star. Cal-Indian fine-dining vacation spot Campton Place, which just lately misplaced its acclaimed government chef Srijith Gopinathan, stays briefly closed on the Taj Campton Place lodge however is reopening subsequent 12 months, a supervisor confirmed.

Considered one of San Francisco’s hottest locations for high-end sushi, Ju-Ni, misplaced its Michelin star this 12 months, as did chef Mourad Lahlou’s eponymous Moroccan restaurant, Mourad, in San Francisco. The opposite Bay Space eating places that misplaced their Michelin distinction are chef Ken Frank’s La Toque in Napa, lodge restaurant Madera in Menlo Park, Italian spot SPQR and high-end sushi bar Wako in San Francisco.

Michelin Information representatives attributed the decline partially to the continued impacts of the pandemic, equivalent to closures and an ongoing labor scarcity that’s limiting what number of eating places can function. 

Gwendal Poullennec, worldwide director of the Michelin Information, advised The Chronicle that the staffing disaster is without doubt one of the pandemic’s “long-lasting results” all over the world. People who gained stars “have managed to adapt to the state of affairs … with out compromising the standard” of meals and repair, he stated.

Standard San Francisco eating places that misplaced their stars in earlier years nonetheless didn’t return this 12 months, together with Wealthy Desk and Octavia. Palo Alto’s as soon as two-star Baumé, whose proprietor Bruno Chemel celebrated its departure from the French information final 12 months, didn’t make the reduce, both.

Nisei chef David Yoshimura, a positive eating chef who opened the restaurant after internet hosting 10-course Japanese tasting menu pop-ups, additionally gained the Michelin Information’s “younger chef” award. The Michelin Information gave Vincent Morrow, a grasp sommelier at Press, its sommelier award.

Many acclaimed Bay Space positive eating eating places held onto their Michelin stars this 12 months, together with the three-starred French Laundry in Yountville, Chinatown favourite Mister Jiu’s and Marlena in Bernal Heights, which gained its first star final 12 months. Oakland’s two-star Commis stays the one East Bay restaurant with stars this 12 months. 

Past the Bay Space, Localis grew to become the second Sacramento restaurant to earn a star, becoming a member of the one-star the Kitchen. 

The Michelin Information’s ceremony skilled some technical difficulties, together with frequent microphone suggestions and delays as a result of time it took for award winners to placed on particular Michelin cooks’ whites earlier than getting on the stage. The YouTube livestream chat was stuffed with cheeky criticisms of the obvious lack of preparation.

After Ssal’s star was introduced, couple and co-owners Hyunyoung and Junsoo Bae joined a stage stuffed with largely male, new one-star winners. Famed San Francisco chef Dominique Crenn, standing within the entrance row, appeared to make a remark concerning the lack of feminine cooks, yelling “ladies energy.” “Oh, sure, give it up for the feminine Michelin star cooks, completely,” ceremony host Nia Renee Hill stated in response.

All the new Bay Space eating places that gained stars are led by males, aside from Ssal, which is co-run by the husband-and-wife staff.

Earlier than Monday’s announcement, the Michelin Information just lately added three Bay Space eating places to its extra reasonably priced Bib Gourmand checklist: Good Good Tradition Membership in San Francisco, an offshoot of the wildly standard Liholiho Yacht Membership; Hilda and Jesse in San Francisco, a classy brunch restaurant; and Jo’s Trendy Thai, which pairs larb burgers with Thai-inspired cocktails in Oakland.

California is now residence to 89 Michelin-starred eating places. After France and Japan, the state boasts probably the most three-starred institutions — all however one in all that are positioned within the Bay Space.

Right here’s the total checklist of Michelin star winners in Northern California:

Three stars

Atelier Crenn, San Francisco

Benu, San Francisco

The French Laundry, Yountville

Manresa, Los Gatos

Quince, San Francisco

SingleThread, Healdsburg

Two stars

Acquerello, San Francisco

Birdsong, San Francisco 

Californios, San Francisco

Commis, Oakland

Harbor Home Inn, Elk (Mendocino County) 

Lazy Bear, San Francisco

Saison, San Francisco

One star

Adega, San Jose 

Angler, San Francisco

Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford

Aubergine, Carmel-by-the-Sea (Monterey County)

Avery, San Francisco 

Barndiva, Healdsburg

Chez TJ, Mountain View

Cyrus, Geyserville (NEW)

Gary Danko, San Francisco

Kenzo, Napa

Kin Khao, San Francisco

The Kitchen, Sacramento

Le Comptoir at Bar Crenn, San Francisco

Madcap, San Anselmo

Marlena, San Francisco

Mister Jiu’s, San Francisco

Niku Steakhouse, San Francisco 

Nisei, San Francisco (NEW)

O’ by Claude Le Tohic, San Francisco 

Omakase, San Francisco

Osito, San Francisco (NEW)

Plumed Horse, Saratoga

Press, St. Helena (NEW)

The Progress, San Francisco

Protégé, Palo Alto

San Ho Received, San Francisco (NEW)

Selby’s, Atherton 

The Shota, San Francisco

Sons & Daughters, San Francisco

Sorrel, San Francisco

Spruce, San Francisco

Ssal, San Francisco (NEW)

State Chicken Provisions, San Francisco

Sushi Shin, Redwood Metropolis 

Sushi Yoshizumi, San Mateo

The Village Pub, Woodside

Wakuriya, San Mateo

Elena Kadvany (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle workers author. E mail: [email protected] Twitter: @ekadvany