SAN DIEGO — California’s annual Michelin Guide ceremony can be fraught with anxiety for chefs and restaurateurs. After all, it’s the night when they discover whether their restaurants gain, maintain or, in the worst-case scenario, lose a Michelin star, one of the culinary industry’s most coveted honors. But at Wednesday night’s event in San Diego, there was nary a hint of competition.
Instead, the overwhelming feeling was one of community.
At an opening cocktail reception on the curved covered terrace at Eve, an indoor-outdoor waterfront event venue, the vibes were immaculate. Sun poured onto the covered terrace and bounced off the bay below. Attendees dressed to the nines milled around, enjoying passed bites like Thai spring rolls and glasses of sparkling wine. Some of the best-known chefs from all over California hugged and talked shop, having spent years cooking, collaborating and dining together in the rarified world that is California fine dining. Many stopped at a signature Michelin red step-and-repeat to snap a pic with the puffy, permanently jolly Michelin Man, who made the rounds for photo ops.
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The team behind Kato in Los Angeles poses with the Michelin Man at the Michelin ceremony in San Diego on June 24, 2206.
Steve Lucero/BFA.com
It was an especially proud evening for the San Diegans in attendance, like chef Elijah Arizmendi of newly minted one-star Lucien in La Jolla, Eric Bost of one-star Lilo and Jeune et Jolie in Carlsbad, and William Bradley of Addison by William Bradley, which, until last year, held the distinction of being Southern California’s only three-star Michelin restaurant.
“It’s a huge validation for everybody who’s been working their asses off for so long,” said San Diego Magazine co-owner and writer Troy Johnson. “For years, we’ve been written off as the flaccid mozzarella stick of California cuisine, whereas LA and San Francisco have been taken seriously. We’ve seen [the San Diego culinary scene] grow up, and now the rest of the world is noticing.”
Once the crowd filtered into a ballroom and the star ceremony commenced, one of the biggest stories of the night was Kato, the Los Angeles Taiwanese tasting menu restaurant fresh off a win for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program at last week’s James Beard Awards in Chicago. The decade-old restaurant, which started as a tiny strip mall spot that wasn’t even allowed to serve alcohol, has racked up a walk-in full of accolades in the past few years, from being named the top restaurant on the Los Angeles Times’ 101 Best Restaurants list for two years running in 2023 and 2024 to chef Jon Yao’s James Beard Award win for Best Chef: California in 2025.
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The dining room at Kato in Los Angeles, which earned a second Michelin star on Wednesday night.
Colleen O’Brien
A dish from Seline in Santa Monica, which earned its first Michelin star on June 25, 2026.
Pete Lee
After the one-star restaurants were announced and it became obvious that Kato was going to receive its second star, chef Aitor Zabala of three-star Spanish tasting menu restaurant Somni ran over to hug Yao. Once onstage, Yao thanked the producers and artisans who support Kato and then said, “It takes a lot of people, a lot of diligent work and persistence to make our guests happy.”
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“Kato is celebrating 10 years literally this week. Many people think this is all happening relatively quickly, but Jon has put in 10 years of his life into building Kato,” co-owner Ryan Bailey told SFGATE. “It’s really great to bring these awards back to not only our team but Los Angeles as a whole. Our community is getting better and stronger, but we’re always trying to represent our city in the best way we possibly can.”
Also coming off a James Beard Award high was longtime fine dining vet Dave Beran, who took home Outstanding Chef: California last week and whose highly personal Santa Monica tasting menu restaurant Seline nabbed its first star at Wednesday night’s ceremony.
Dave Beran of Seline in Santa Monica receives the restaurant’s first Michelin star in San Diego on June 24, 2026.
Steve Lucero/BFA.com
“It’s been a good week and a half,” Beran said with a laugh. “None of it was expected. Sometimes you look around at the team and think, we need a win, not for ego or morale, but more for the team to understand what they’re doing matters.”
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The rest of the glitch-free ceremony yielded various highlights, including the addition of eight new restaurants — five in Southern California, three in Northern California — to Michelin’s one-star rankings. Others, like Savannah Riedler of Carlsbad’s Lilo, received long applause breaks for their recognition. A San Diego area native, Riedler (who has also worked in Los Angeles at Republique and in San Francisco at Saison) won Michelin’s stand-alone sommelier award. Onstage, Riedler joked that she was so blindsided by the award, she almost felt like she was blacking out.
Like any good ceremony, the night built into a tremble of excitement with the announcement of the three-star restaurants, Michelin’s highest honor. The crowd broke out into loud cheers (and a few gasps) when Sonoma’s Enclos earned its third star, and the room erupted when San Francisco’s Californios made history by becoming the first Mexican restaurant in the world to hold the three-star distinction.
A caviar dish from Californios, which is the first Mexican restaurant to earn three Michelin stars.
Casey Lee
The exterior of Enclos in Sonoma, which earned a third Michelin star on June 24, 2026.
Adahlia Cole
“This is for Mexican people. This is for all Latin people in the world,” said chef Val M. Cantú onstage. “We have so much to be proud of.”
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Even longtime restaurant vets like Michael Tusk of Quince — which retained its three stars — felt the sense of inclusivity. With 10 three-star restaurants, California has more than any other state in the country by far. (Tusk also just celebrated a win for Outstanding Chef at the James Beard Awards earlier this month.)
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“I support all chefs, no matter what. It’s not about stars, but it’s a nice community for all of us,” Tusk commented at a cocktail reception following the ceremony. “Seeing Brian [Limoges of Enclos] onstage, who used to work for us, and Val [Cantú] is a great guy … I’m just super happy for them. I just want to provide as much support as possible and be inclusive with everyone.”
Val M. Cantú of Californios in San Francisco receives the restaurant’s third Michelin star in San Diego on June 24, 2026.
Steve Lucero/BFA.com
For many of the chefs and restaurant owners, the night continued at an after-party at the maximalist hotel Lafayette. There, at the 1920s-inspired downstairs bar Lou Lou’s, a roaming saxophone player in sunglasses serenades guests, some of whom took to the dance floor. Others sipped on passed espresso martinis and took caviar bumps. It was a jubilant night filled with the best of the best in California cooking, all letting loose after a year that has been so hard for so many.
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As always, California’s giant restaurant scene is best viewed from space, where it’s possible to see the street food, the fine dining spots, the historic hangouts and the casual neighborhood restaurants equally. But for one night, everyone dancing at the Lafayette knew that Michelin, that French tire company-turned-culinary arbiter, was the center of their universe.
Dining and Cooking