Michelin, which publishes one of the world’s most regarded dining guides, unveiled its 2024 awardees of stars, budget-minded meals and new, notable openings on Monday night. At a ceremony held at Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay for the release of the international tire company’s latest California guide, seven restaurants received their first-ever Michelin star.
Seen as a culinary benchmark of quality, technique, service and experience, Michelin stars are regarded as some of the highest honors in the industry, with one star signifying “high-quality cooking, worth a stop,” two stars denoting “excellent cuisine, worth a detour,” and three stars meaning “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.” Bib gourmand awards, of which there are 132, translate to “good food at a moderate price.”
The new 2024 guide spotlights 577 restaurants across the state and lists 85 California restaurants with stars — including three new one-star ratings in Los Angeles and the return of two stars to Vespertine, Jordan Kahn’s fine dining restaurant in Culver City, which was closed for dine-in service from March 2020 until its recent reopening in April.
No new three-star ratings were awarded in the state.
Celebrated marisqueria Holbox in Historic South-Central L.A. — The Times’ 2023 Restaurant of the Year, where chef-owner Gilberto Cetina serves seared-scallop tacos, blood clams, grilled octopus and other coastal Mexican specialties — was awarded its first Michelin star.
“What does getting a star mean to you?” the host asked Cetina at the ceremony.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I mean, it’s huge. I’ve dreamt about this moment.”
Melrose fine dining restaurant Meteora, from Vespertine chef Kahn, also received its first star. New kaiseki restaurant Uka, perched above Hollywood inside cultural center Japan House, also earned its first star, with Michelin’s inspectors noting the restaurant’s in-house fish curing and aging.
Ian Krupp, wine director of Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks, was awarded the 2024 Michelin Sommelier Award.
There are 16 green stars in this year’s guide, given for sustainability practices; the only new green star awarded in 2024 was also earned by Vespertine.
The contentious dining compendium is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on where to eat in more than 170 countries, with its team of anonymous inspectors traversing restaurants and the globe, often incentivized or sponsored by local tourism boards.
In 2019, tourism nonprofit Visit California paid $600,000 to broaden Michelin’s coverage beyond the Bay Area, though a representative for Visit California stated that sponsorship does not include editorial sway over the guide or its new statewide inclusions.
“We were delighted to see California’s local culinary talent evolve with the promotion of two restaurants to the two-star category and the return of a former two-star restaurant,” Michelin’s anonymous chief inspector for North America told The Times via email.
Representatives for Michelin declined to state how many inspectors participated in the California guide, or how many visited restaurants across Los Angeles specifically.
Other new one-star inclusions include Rebel Omakase in Laguna Beach and 7 Adams, Hilda and Jesse, and Kiln in San Francisco.
In Los Angeles, 715, Camphor, Citrin, Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Beverly Hills, Gwen, Heritage in Long Beach, Kali, Kato, Morihiro, Nozawa Bar, Orsa & Winston, Osteria Mozza, Pasta Bar, Shibumi, Shin Sushi, Sushi I-Naba and Sushi Kaneyoshi all retained their one-star ratings from 2023’s guide. Sushi Ginza Onodera and n/naka were previously ranked with two stars in the 2023 California guide but now hold one.
Q Sushi downtown did not retain its one-star rating, nor did Curtis Stone’s Maude, in Beverly Hills, which recently announced its permanent closure slated for Sept. 28; the Pie Room by Curtis Stone is set to open in its place. Multiple restaurants that earned stars last year closed permanently since the 2023 guide’s release, including Manzke, in a markedly difficult year for restaurants.
New two-star awardees include Aubergine in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Sons & Daughters in San Francisco. Vespertine reclaimed its two-star rating, bringing the L.A. area’s two-star restaurants to four; it joins Hayato, Mélisse and Providence. There are currently no three-star restaurants in Los Angeles, though Addison, in San Diego, maintained its three-star rating. The rest are in Northern California.
Vespertine and Meteora chef Jordan Kahn with his wife, Zara Ziyaee Kahn, who serves as the restaurants’ director of marketing.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vespertine’s reopening was years in the making; after closing it during the pandemic, Kahn and his partners discovered the space required extensive and necessary repair. In the meantime, Kahn and his team hosted pop-ups and themed at-home menus. They opened Meteora. And the chef began brainstorming, then readying, a new version of his fine-dining restaurant.
“The first iteration was, for me, very moving,” Kahn told The Times when Vespertine reopened in April. “I was connecting the space and the food and the environment and materials and everything, kind of this very cohesive, singular sort of expression. I think the newer iteration just feels more evolved, that still continues, still has a similar quality to it, but it’s me, seven years later … it was like my work, and this is more like my life.”
The 2024 guide also added 10 new Bib Gourmand awardees, most of which are in the L.A. area. Grá, Little Fish and Quarter Sheets, all in Echo Park, earned the nod, as did Liu’s Cafe in Koreatown, Thaitown’s Mae Malai Thai House of Noodles, La Puente’s Manohar’s Deli Palace and the multi-location Pollo a la Brasa.
Newbury Park’s Cedro Italian Restaurant also earned a Bib Gourmand, as did Lola Gaspar in Santa Ana and Molti Amici in Healdsburg.