The Michelin Guide gathered all the best restaurants in California once again to hand out stars at a gala in the Bay Area. While a few restaurants were given their second stars in 2024, perhaps showing that they’re knocking on the door of the guide’s highest echelons, the roster of Michelin three-starred restaurants in California for 2024 remained the same as the 2023 list. There are now 13 restaurants with two Michelin stars in the state: Acquerello, Aubergine, Birdsong, Californios, Commis, Harbor House, Hayato, Lazy Bear, Mélisse, Providence Saison, Sons & Daughters, and Vespertine. Any one of those could join the three-starred ranks in 2025. For now, here are the six Michelin three-star restaurants in California, or as Michelin would say, the six restaurants “worthy of a special journey.”
Addison, San Diego
Courtesy of Addison Restaurant
When Michelin expanded to cover all of California in 2019, Addison received one star for its outstandingly executed French-influenced fare, but chef William Bradley had higher ambitions. So he and his team set to remake the menu and find a voice more distinctly their own, focusing on the produce, flavors and culture surrounding them. Calling it “California Gastronomy” the now 10-course tasting menu includes dishes such as the Thai coconut soup tom kha gai and Regiis Ova caviar perched atop creamy koshihikari rice with a smoked sabayon and sesame seeds. Michelin noticed, elevating Addison to two stars in the 2021 California guide before handing the restaurant its third in December 2022. It has held onto its three-star ranking ever since.
Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
Photo: Aaron Wojack
Since opening in 2011, chef Dominique Crenn has put out a soulful, artistic take on modern French fare. After sitting at two stars for years, Michelin has finally awarded Atelier Crenn a third. The guide wrote that “The current menu displays a wonderful balance of grace, artistry, technical ability and taste.” With the honor, Crenn became the first woman to run a Michelin three-star restaurant in America. In 2019 she announced that she would take the meat off of all her menus—seafood would remain—because of Crenn’s concern about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. However, she has shown interest in serving lab-grown meat, which she briefly did at her more casual Bar Crenn, offering Upside Foods’ cultivated chicken until earlier this year.
Benu, San Francisco
Photo: courtesy Benu
Among his peers, chef Corey Lee is highly revered. “The first time I ate Corey’s food was at the French Laundry when he was chef de cuisine,” Crenn says. “I could taste the talent behind the food. What I love about Benu is he celebrates where he’s from—Korea—and he communicates that in a very special way.” Praised for his technical ability and refinement of dishes, Lee’s Benu earned its third star in the 2015 guide. Lee has merged flavors from Korea, China, and Japan with techniques he honed as the French Laundry’s chef de cuisine for four years. The result is a lauded tasting menu that will feature dishes such as an oyster with pork belly and kimchi or smoked quail, lilies, and fermented pepper.
French Laundry, Yountville
Courtesy Michael Grimm
Around since the early 1900s, the French Laundry was transformed by Thomas Keller into a leader of American fine dining after taking it over in 1994. Rooted in his love of French food and technique, the nine-course menu features dishes like a cauliflower velouté with toasted marcona almonds, john dory with creamed black trumpet mushrooms, squab with sunchokes, and venison with caramelized Brussels sprouts. “The French Laundry showed the importance of nostalgia in food,” says James Syhabout, chef of two-starred Commis in Oakland. “It traces what triggers you to take you to that same place when you first had a dish and it made you so happy. That’s all that matters sometimes about food.” One of the greatest testaments to the French Laundry’s influence has been the sheer number of alumni who have opened acclaimed restaurants of their own, from Grant Achatz’s Alinea to Corey Lee’s Benu to Rene Redzepi’s Noma. Like his idol Paul Bocuse, Keller has created a proving ground for exceptional chefs in addition to an outstanding restaurant to dine at.
Quince, San Francisco
Øivind Haug
Chef Michael Tusk has combined his love of Northern Italian cuisine with his surrounds in Northern California to evolve classics like tortellini into modern American fare. Opened in 2003, Quince earned its third Michelin star in the 2017 guide. As with fellow pillars of contemporary California cuisine in the Bay Area, Quince is devoted to sourcing the best product. Tusk has created a partnership with Fresh Run Farm—an early adopter of organic farming—to grow heirloom fruits, vegetables and flowers exclusively for the chef. In 2011, after six straight nominations, Tusk won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific, for his work at Quince and his rustic Italian restaurant Cotogna. In 2023, the restaurant underwent a stunning remodel and along with its tasting menu now offers à la carte options. With the restaurant coming back strong, it maintained its three stars.
SingleThread, Healdsburg
John Troxell
Husband and wife duo Kyle and Katina Connaughton wanted to open more than just a restaurant when they debuted SingleThread in Sonoma in 2016. From the inn above the restaurant to the farm to the 11-course tasting menu, the two create an immersive and comprehensive experience. The Japanese-inflected food is informed by Kyle’s time as a chef around the globe. Among many stints, he worked at the famed chef Michel Bras’s restaurant in Hokkaido, Japan, made pastries at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills; and led the research kitchen at Heston Blumenthal’s temple of molecular gastronomy the Fat Duck.
