Six Bay Area restaurants, including four in San Francisco, one in Napa Valley and one in Sonoma, have earned their first Michelin stars. The annual ratings, bestowed by anonymous restaurant reviewers in the employ of an august French tire company, were revealed Monday evening in a live ceremony.
Cyrus, Nisei, Osito, Press, San Ho Won and SSAL all earned the one-star distinction, which the Michelin guide describes as "high-quality cooking, worth a stop."
Cyrus is a former Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurant that reopened in Geyserville in September. The original incarnation, which closed in 2012, had previously held two stars.
Chef David Yoshimura of Nisei also earned the Michelin Young Chef award. Before opening the modern Japanese restaurant in Polk Gulch, Yoshimura worked as the chef de cuisine at Michelin-starred Californios, Chef Val Cantú's lauded Mexican restaurant in SoMa.
Vincent Morrow, who directs the wine program at Press Restaurant, earned the Michelin sommelier award. Morrow has compiled a fully Californian wine list at his St. Helena restaurant.
Chef Dominique Crenn’s modern French Atelier Crenn in Cow Hollow retained its three stars, as did Bay Area restaurants Benu, Quince, SingleThread, The French Laundry and Manresa. Notably, the 20-year-old Manresa is set to shutter permanently at the end of this year after Chef David Kinch decided to leave the Los Gatos favorite and could not find a buyer.
A significant number of Bay Area restaurants—10 total—lost their stars, including upscale sushi restaurants Ju-Ni and Wako, contemporary Italian spot SPQR and Moroccan eatery Mourad in San Francisco. Madera in Menlo Park and La Toque in Napa got bumped as well. Three restaurants that shuttered this year, Al’s Place and Coi, both in San Francisco, and Rasa in Burlingame, also lost stars. Campton Place, an upscale Indian restaurant that plans to reopen next year inside the Taj Campton Place hotel in Union Square, is down two stars.
The Bib Gourmands, a less prestigious Michelin categorization meant to showcase high-quality yet affordable dining options, were announced in late November.
Michelin began reviewing restaurants along popular driving routes in France in 1926. It wasn’t until 2005 that the company added American restaurants to its guide, all but cementing the Bay Area's status as a global dining destination. In 2006, 28 Bay Area restaurants, including Chez Panisse and The French Laundry, earned their first stars, and by 2021, the total number of Bay Area restaurants with Michelin stars reached 54.