It was Michelin Monday in California.
The famed dining guide doled out its roster of 2024 awardees, bestowing a series of stars on some high-profile restaurants in Los Angeles and beyond during a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay last night. While there weren’t any new three-star ratings in California, Los Angeles landed three new one-star ratings thanks to chef Gilberto Cetina’s Holbox in South Central, Jordan Kahn’s Meteora on Melrose Avenue and Yoshitaka Mitsue and Shingo Kato’s kaiseki restaurant Uka in Hollywood. Also earning one star were R|O-Rebel Omakase in Laguna Beach and 7 Adams in San Francisco.
Kahn’s recently reopened Vespertine, the fine dining mecca in Culver City, also earned back its two stars after being closed for a four year stretch that started with the pandemic in March 2020. L.A.’s other two-star establishments include Hayato, Mélisse and Providence. Also snagging two stars were Aubergine in Carmel, Calif., and Sons & Daughters in San Francisco. It was not the only honor for Vespertine last night as the restaurant landed a Green Star Award for sustainability.
Michelin provides notes on each selection. For Vespertine, inspectors called it a “singular operation” that has emerged from its hiatus with a renewed creative vision. “Each dish is visually stunning, with cuisine that is not only daringly inventive, but also marshals finely honed technique and impeccably balanced flavors as in an artful dish of scallop with passionfruit, ají amarillo and petals of horseradish tuile, or an ‘obsidian mirror’ of smoked mussel cream with salted plum. The meal ends as strong as it begins, with a mesmerizing dessert that features kaleidoscopic flavors,” per Michelin.
