Michelin awards 3-star honors to 7 Bay Area spots
Revelry for some. Disappointment for others. And relief for those whose star ratings remained unchanged. After a nearly two-week delay as wildfires tore through Wine Country, the Michelin Guide has released its annual list of star-worthy restaurants in the region, and the compilation is draped in story lines.
The newest restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area to be awarded three stars — the coveted top rating — is Coi, Daniel Patterson’s fine-dining destination in North Beach, which previously had two stars. Benu, the French Laundry, Manresa, Quince, the Restaurant at Meadowood and Saison all have held onto their three stars. There are just over 100 restaurants worldwide with three stars.
The bump up for Coi puts the Bay Area’s three-star restaurant total at seven, one more than New York’s total from last year. This adds fodder to the ongoing discussion as to which city is the beacon for fine dining. The 2018 guide for New York will be released Monday.
Under the guidance of chef Matthew Kirkley, Coi introduced a seafood-focused $250 tasting menu when Patterson stepped down at the end of 2015 to focus on other projects.
Michael Ellis, the Michelin Guide international director, said the progression at Coi stems from how Kirkley has found new ways to implement Japanese influences — pairing skate wing with sweetbreads, for example — while highlighting California sensibilities.
“He’s doing things we’ve never seen anywhere in the world,” Ellis says.
Val Cantu’s Californios in the Mission made the jump from one to two stars, making it the first U.S. restaurant serving Mexican cuisine to earn two stars. Cantu’s tasting menus have garnered accolades from The Chronicle’s 2016 Rising Star Chefs and Top 100 lists, and Cantu was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs for 2017.
Similarly lauded since its debut last year has been Kyle and Katina Connaughton’s Healdsburg destination Single Thread, which made the list for the first time with two stars.
“Two stars off the bat is very unusual. We just needed more time for the third star,” Ellis says. “Coi, for example, had two stars under Daniel Patterson for many years. The (Single Thread) team is there and the establishment is there. They have their implementation.”
Also in the two-star group is James Syhabout’s Oakland restaurant Commis, still the only starred restaurant in the East Bay.
Dominique Crenn’s flagship, Atelier Crenn, was passed over again for the three-star bump, meaning the Bay Area still doesn’t have a female-led restaurant among its most elite Michelin ranks. Crenn originally earned her second star in 2013.
A cadre of restaurants earned their first stars, including Corey Lee’s In Situ at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. With Benu still toting a three-star rating, Lee now has two Bay Area destinations with Michelin stars, a feat that isn’t unfamiliar in the region. Mourad Lahlou’s eponymous Mourad and Aziza in San Francisco had one Michelin star each. (Aziza has since closed.) Thomas Keller still operates both his three-star French Laundry and one-star Bouchon in Yountville.
Rich Table in Hayes Valley was noticeably absent from the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list highlighting “reasonably priced” restaurants released earlier this month, stirring speculation it was in the running for a star. It turns out the rumors were true.
“Rich Table just has such a great story,” Ellis says of Rich Table receiving its first Michelin star in the 2018 listing. “They had a Bib Gourmand last year and now, here they are. They just improved so much.”
Joining the one-star list for the first time are a pair of Japanese fine dining concepts — Kenzo in Napa and Kinjo in Nob Hill, the most notable destinations in the Bay Area’s fast-growing category of fixedprice omakase restaurants.
Overall, the region remains home to 55 starred restaurants — seven with two stars, seven with three stars and 41 with one star. There are 67 Bib Gourmand selections in the area.
There were some star losses: The Financial District’s Campton Place had two stars last year but dropped to one in the new guide. Nico in Presidio Heights closed in August as part of a move to the former Bocadillos space at Jackson Square. And Aziza, Mourad Lahlou’s seminal Moroccan restaurant, closed recently with plans to reopen as a Moroccan-Mexican concept called Amara. Both restaurants fell from the Michelin Guide list.