Chefs, restaurateurs, and hospitality workers from across California gathered at Eve in San Diego on the evening of June 24 for the unveiling of the 2026 Michelin Guide California. At the ceremony, restaurants across the state were recognized with Michelin star
designations in one of the hospitality industry’s biggest nights.
This year’s ceremony comes on the heels of an exciting 2025, where two Los Angeles restaurants — Aitor Zabala’s resurrected Somni and Michael Cimarusti’s Providence — received three stars for the first time in the city’s history. Other additions included omakase restaurant Mori Nozomi; Santa Barbara’s Silvers Omakase; and Little Tokyo Korean tasting counter, Restaurant Ki, which became the city’s first Michelin-starred Korean restaurant. Ki’s chef, Ki Kim, received the Michelin Young Chef Award.
Since the 2025 ceremony, Michelin has released a handful of updates to its California guide, putting more restaurants in contention for stars or Bib Gourmand recognition, the latter of which spotlights “good quality, good value cooking.” The Bib Gourmand designation tends to highlight more affordable restaurants — at these restaurants, diners can expect two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for about $50 before tax and tip. The newcomers to the guide include Corridor 109, a Melrose Hill seafood tasting menu from chef Brian Baik; Lugya’h, a tlayuda counter within Maydan Market from the team behind Poncho’s Tlayudas; Montecito’s Little Mountain from chef Diego Moya; and Lielle, a California tasting menu restaurant from Marcus Swedish chef Marcus Jernmark.
At the 2026 ceremony, Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle of Little Fish Melrose Hill (and fried fish sandwich fame) took home the Michelin Young Chef Award. The new one-star restaurants in Los Angeles and on the Central Coast are Dave Beran’s Santa Monica tasting menu restaurant, Seline; Edomae-style omakase restaurant, Miura; Sawtelle strip mall omakase restaurant Kojima; Brian Baik’s Melrose Hill seafood tasting menu counter, Corridor 109; Swedish chef Marcus Jernmark’s California restaurant, Lielle. Jon Yao’s Taiwanese-inflected restaurant, Kato, was Los Angeles’s only new two-starred restaurant. A handful of restaurants lost their single star this year, including 715, Camphor, and Morihiro.
Although Michelin previously announced that it would phase out its green stars, which recognized restaurants for sustainability, a new slate of green stars made a surprise appearance at the 2026 ceremony. Monte’s in Santa Barbara and Six Text Kitchen in Paso Robles were recognized with a green star.
Michelin published its first Los Angeles guides in 2008 and 2009, before pausing its coverage of the city for a decade. (San Francisco has had its own guide since 2006.) In 2019, the California Tourism Board wooed Michelin back with $600,000 to cover the costs of expanding the guide to the entire state, including a return to Los Angeles. Michelin did not award stars in 2020 and 2021due to the ongoing pandemic, but returned with a ceremony in 2022. Still, even years after its return to the city, Michelin has been criticized for its inability to capture the nuance of Los Angeles’s restaurant scene.
Three Stars
- Providence
- Somni
Two Stars
- Hayato
- Mélisse
- Vespertine
- Kato*
One Star
- Bell’s
- Caruso’s
- Citrin
- Corridor 109*
- Heritage
- Holbox
- Kali
- Kato
- Kojima*
- Lielle*
- Meteora
- Miura*
- Mori Nozomi
- N/Naka
- Nozawa Bar
- Orsa & Winston
- Osteria Mozza
- Pasta Bar
- Rebel Omakase
- The Restaurant at Justin
- Restaurant Ki
- Seline*
- Shin Sushi
- Silvers Omakase
- Six Test Kitchen
- Sushi Inaba Restaurant
- Sushi Kaneyoshi
- Uka at Japan House
