[Michelin Guide] California Celebrates Three New Two Stars and Seven New One Stars

Tonight sees California's selection increase with ten new Bib Gourmands, one new Green Star, three new Two Stars, and seven new One Stars. It's easy to see why our Inspectors have taken a shine to the Golden State with innovative cuisine, buzzy chefs, and oodles of flavor.

This year, Chefs Justin Cogley, Harrison Cheney, and Jordan Kahn are rising to new heights. Known for their easygoing luxury, Cogley and the team at Aubergine balance classic techniques with a sleek and modern aesthetic, resulting in captivating dishes. Cheney's new Nordic style is clearer than ever in an elegant tasting menu. Kahn, on the other hand, is returning from a hiatus with dramatic effect at Vespertine—with a tasting menu that moves between floors as the meal progresses.

For more on what our Inspectors liked and everything in between, keep reading below for the 101 on the newest MICHELIN Guide Stars in California.

Beginning a new chapter, Chef Jordan Kahn's singular operation emerges from a lengthy hiatus with a renewed creative vision. Situated inside a strikingly futuristic edifice of red steel ("the Waffle"), diners enjoy a tasting menu that is likewise out of the ordinary, moving between floors as the meal progresses. Each dish is visually stunning, with cuisine that is not only daringly inventive (at times downright whimsical), but also marshals finely honed technique and impeccably balanced flavors. as in an artful dish of scallop with passionfruit, ají amarillo, and petals of horseradish tuile, or an "obsidian mirror" of smoked mussel cream with salted plum. The meal ends as strong as it begins, with a mesmerizing dessert that features kaleidoscopic flavors.

Together with their sister restaurants, Vespertine works to ensure all ingredients are used in their entirety.

Easygoing luxury and refinement strike a harmonious note within L’Auberge Carmel, where every element seems designed to delight. Chef Justin Cogley balances classic technique with a sleek, modern aesthetic, and his cooking captures a sense of place that feels wholly his own. Products of spectacular quality are prepared skillfully and painstakingly presented with an artistic eye, as in a surprising "cabbage" taco filled with shallot jam, Madeira-braised treviso, Kaluga queen caviar and cabbage chips. The hits keep coming, like the rice roulade with Dungeness crab finished in a white dashi and butter sauce or the triple-seared dry-aged ribeye brushed in wagyu XO. Fabulously accommodating sommeliers are ever present to help navigate a wine list of real distinction.

Offering an abundance of poise, polish, and charm, this cozy Nob Hill jewel box remains quietly impressive. Chef Harrison Cheney's cleanly minimalist new Nordic style is clearer than ever in an elegant tasting menu that deftly weaves together a variety of preserved fruits and vegetables, flawless seafood, and aged meats. Meals are off to an impressive start with the likes of a refreshing cured California trout dressed with a chilled fish bone broth drizzled with herbed oil. Rutabaga is transformed into thin, flat strands mimicking pasta and comes dressed with a creamy-textured smoked pork fat sauce. The applewood roasted quail features crisped-skin breast plated with a luscious jus and bouquet of Napa Valley greens, while the leg and thigh are glazed with fermented blueberry.

Offering what may well be the Bay Area’s most creative and ambitious take on brunch, this disarming passion project from co-owners Kristina Compton and Rachel Sillcocks gets its extra shine from the pair’s extensive fine dining experience—each also contributed a grandparent for the restaurant’s name. The hospitality is cheery and warm, matched by a winsome space that calls to mind a modernist diner, and happily the cuisine is every bit as finely tuned. There is nothing precious or manicured about the cooking here. It is often bold and brash, a total riot of flavors mixed with stellar ingredients, and dishes are equal parts unexpected and undeniably satisfying. At dinner, find a rotating, seasonal multicourse menu with a few optional add-ons.

Its namesake is a Caribbean island just off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, but this beloved counter, located inside the Mercado La Paloma, is a distinctively Angelino phenomenon. Chef Gilbert Cetina, who previously cooked with his father at neighboring stall Chichen Itza, draws from Mexican coastal cuisines in dishes whose simplicity belies remarkable flavor. Spectacular quality seafood of unassailable freshness leaves an impression, whether in electrifyingly vibrant aguachiles and ceviches, excellent tacos served on house-made heirloom corn tortillas, or skillfully grilled lobster—a panoply of exceptional house salsas gilds the lily. The frequently changing menu offers no shortage of delights, and a tasting menu, offered by reservation only on Thursdays and Fridays, is hotly sought-after.

Industry veterans Chef John Wesley and general manager Julianna Yang have combined their talents at Kiln, where the warehouse space is warmed by personable service and the kitchen delivers artful creations. The tasting menu (either full experience of some twenty courses, or an abbreviated bar tasting) leans Nordic, highlighting preservation techniques like curing, drying and fermentation in dishes whose simplicity is belied by intricate techniques and compelling flavor combinations. The creative energy is consistent throughout the meal, offering plenty to impress guests. Opening snacks like a crispy curlicue of puffed beef tendon captures this ethos, while others, like a squab breast lacquered with burnt honey and served with a truffled jus, display a classical bent.

This whimsical, immersive space is a touch otherworldly, with its tangled greenery, moody lighting, and trance-y soundtrack, but guests will be happy to fall under its spell when they taste Chef Jordan Kahn’s singular cuisine. Primal live-fire cooking combines with a zero-waste ethos and a treasure trove of sustainably sourced wild and organic ingredients to create dishes that are as memorable as they are delicious. Charred yam with a buttery sauce accented with smoked trout roe and grilled hazelnuts is more than the sum of its parts, and a dish of raw scallops with a vivid macadamia nut leche de tigre, banana, and crunchy kombu manages to both surprise and delight. Drinks, from cocktails made without refined sugars, to wild-harvested herb teas and single-origin coffees, follow the same compelling ethos.

Tucked away in a modest little shopping center, this serene and striking spot feels a million miles away from the hustle and bustle. As its name suggests, omakase is indeed the name of the game here, where two seatings per night are available by reservation and overseen by Chef Jordan Nakasone. Rooted in tradition, the meal skews contemporary with a focus on seasonality and product quality. In addition to standout sushi such as Japanese white salmon and shima aji, there are a surprising number of kitchen dishes, including gindara, a rectangle of cod set in a memorable cauliflower dashi and garnished with tonburi and a delicious, comforting chawanmushi topped with firefly squid and shaved bottarga.

In this city, finding a five-course menu for under a hundred dollars is a tall order. Chefs Serena and David Fisher make it seem effortless, though, bringing their signature magic to this second act in a sleek new space. The cuisine keeps an unfussy Californian simplicity, featuring solid technique and thoughtful flavor combinations that allow quality seasonal ingredients to shine. Think carefully shaped caramelle pasta that pairs a filling of sweet and nutty kabocha squash with buttery chanterelles, or crisp-skinned black cod with sunchoke confit and a finely tuned shellfish broth. Desserts never fail to end the meal on a strong note, as in a perfectly tender, moist apple crumb cake dressed up with an orange bay leaf ice cream and satsuma granita.

Chef Yoshitaka Mitsue and Chef Shingo Kato (both formerly of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations) and two waiters take great care with the details at this sleek hideaway nestled within Japan House at the Ovation Hollywood. Here, the fish is sourced from Japan and flown in twice weekly, then cured or aged in-house. Products are sourced locally for the best quality. It's all part of the kaiseki dining experience at Uka, where guests are invited to savor six or nine courses. Most of the menu leans traditional, as in the kabutamushi, a dumpling made with shredded turnip and filled with Japanese sea bream, while French influences make their way into dishes like grilled abalone with a butter ponzu sauce and wagyu with a red wine jus and miso butter sauce.

Mélisse (Santa Monica) Cuisine: Modern French

Protégé (Palo Alto) Cuisine: Contemporary

Hero image: Bonjwing Lee / Aubergine Thumb image: Yellow Nguyen / R|O-Rebel Omakase

Source: Michelin Guide